# HSK Order Explains Little of Bible Frequency (r 0.312)

> Across the 4,175 words that carry an HSK level and occur in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), the correlation between HSK level and Bible frequency rank is only 0.312 — the syllabus and the text disagree about what is common.

Question: does HSK order match Bible frequency
Answer: r = 0.312
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/does-hsk-order-match-bible-frequency

HSK levels order vocabulary by what a learner of contemporary Mandarin needs; Bible frequency orders it by what Scripture actually uses. This page measures how far the two agree: Pearson correlation between a word's HSK level and its frequency rank in the Bible, over the 4,175 words that have both. The answer is 0.312 — positive, so HSK level does track Bible frequency a little, and weak, so it cannot be used as a substitute for it.

That is not a criticism of HSK. It is the arithmetic behind a practical decision: studying HSK levels in order gets you 59.7% of this text by HSK 3 and stalls at 77.5%, because 22.5% of the word tokens here are on no HSK list at all. A list built from the Bible's own frequencies reaches the same coverage with far fewer words.

The honest use of both: HSK for the grammar and the everyday core, a Bible frequency list for the rest. The decks on this site exist in both shapes for exactly that reason — six by HSK level, and the rest ordered by how often each word occurs in the text.

## Coverage by HSK level, and what is left

| Level | Word tokens covered | Still unknown |
| --- | --- | --- |
| HSK 1 | 44.2% | 55.8% |
| HSK 2 | 53% | 47% |
| HSK 3 | 59.7% | 40.3% |
| HSK 4 | 63.2% | 36.8% |
| HSK 5 | 67.5% | 32.5% |
| HSK 6 | 71.4% | 28.6% |
| HSK 7-9 | 77.5% | 22.5% |
| Not in HSK at all | 22.5% | — |

Correlation between HSK level and Bible frequency rank: 0.312 over 4,175 words.

## Questions

**Does that mean HSK study is wasted?**

No — HSK 1 alone covers 44.2% of the text. It means HSK order is not the fastest route through *this* text.

**Why Pearson rather than a rank correlation?**

Because HSK level is a coarse 1-7 scale with huge ties, and a rank correlation on ties is harder to read. The figure is a weak-positive indicator, not a precise estimate, and it is published as one.

**What should I study instead?**

A book's own frequency list: the 3,754 words of Isaiah already cover 90% of the whole Bible.

## Method

- Text: 和合本 (Chinese Union Version), simplified script — public domain
- Words: forward maximum matching against CC-CEDICT (this site's own segmentation)
- HSK levels: HSK 3.0 levels from the complete-hsk-vocabulary list; band 7 covers HSK 7-9
- Reading times: 260 characters a minute (an assumption)
- Computed: 2026-09-22

These are reproducible counts over a public-domain text, not a peer-reviewed study. Difficulty ranks are one stated formula, not a validated readability score.


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- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com