diff --git a/src/WordNet.jl b/src/WordNet.jl
index 7bb0723..6a5c58d 100644
--- a/src/WordNet.jl
+++ b/src/WordNet.jl
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@ include("synset.jl")
 include("db.jl")
 include("operations.jl")
 include("sensekeys.jl")
+include("sensecounts.jl")
 
 end
diff --git a/src/db.jl b/src/db.jl
index 0af4c45..e3c2c19 100644
--- a/src/db.jl
+++ b/src/db.jl
@@ -4,13 +4,15 @@ immutable DB
     lemmas::Dict{Char, Dict{AbstractString, Lemma}}
     synsets::Dict{Char, Dict{Int, Synset}}
     sensekeys::Dict{Tuple{Int, AbstractString}, AbstractString}
+	counts::Dict{AbstractString, Int}
 end
 
 function DB(base_dir::AbstractString)
     DB(
         load_lemmas(base_dir),
         load_synsets(base_dir),
-        load_sensekeys(base_dir)
+        load_sensekeys(base_dir),
+		load_counts(base_dir)
     )
 end
 
@@ -80,6 +82,19 @@ function load_sensekeys(basedir)
 end
 
 
+function load_counts(basedir)
+    path=joinpath(basedir, "dict", "cntlist")
+    counts =Dict{AbstractString, Int}()
+    
+    for line in eachline(path)
+        tag_cnt, sense_key, sense_number = split(line)
+        counts[sense_key] = parse(Int, tag_cnt)
+    end
+
+    counts
+end
+
+
 function path_to_data_file(base_dir, pos)
     joinpath(base_dir, "dict", "data.$(SYNSET_TYPES[pos])")
 end
diff --git a/src/sensecounts.jl b/src/sensecounts.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb1ee2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sensecounts.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+export sensecount, sensecounts
+
+function sensecount(db::DB, ss::Synset, lem::Lemma)
+    get(db.counts, sensekey(db, ss, lem), 0)
+    # zero is default for senses that are not found in CNTLIST
+    # note: this will still error for senses that doen't have a sense key
+    # that is a good thing.
+end
+
+function sensecounts(db::DB, lem::Lemma)
+    Dict([ss=>sensecount(db,  ss, lem) for ss in synsets(db, lem)])
+end
diff --git a/test/test_db.jl b/test/test_db.jl
index d03d8f9..f35ff83 100644
--- a/test/test_db.jl
+++ b/test/test_db.jl
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ facts("DB") do
     const mock_db = DB(
         Dict{Char, Dict{AbstractString, Lemma}}(),
         Dict{Char, Dict{Int, Synset}}(),
-		Dict{Tuple{Int,AbstractString}, AbstractString}()
-    )
+		Dict{Tuple{Int,AbstractString}, AbstractString}(),
+		Dict{AbstractString, Int}()
+	)
 
     context("path_to_data_file") do 
         expected = joinpath("MockDB", "dict", "data.verb")