The current study examines the verbs used by pre-service primary school teachers in everyday language in the context of the hierarchy of needs using the SOM-Ward clustering method. The study group of this survey research consists of 271 pre-service primary school teachers studying at a public university in Turkey. In this research, pre-service primary school teachers were asked to list the most 10 frequently used verbs in everyday language. Descriptive analysis was conducted by coding the verbs according to the themes of the hierarchy of needs. The intercoders reliability was calculated as 96 percent. The mean ranks were calculated on the data obtained according to this coding. Through the SOM-Ward clustering analysis, it was observed that the pre-service primary school teachers were separated into four clusters. Although not hierarchic, the C1 cluster is compatible in terms of basic needs; biological and physiological needs were preferred, and then the personal preferences of individuals were prioritized in determining the needs. Individual preferences prevent the hierarchical approach in determining the needs of the C2-C3-C4 clusters; it was seen that the love, safety and the aesthetic needs of those who formed these clusters are far greater than their basic needs. This reveals that there may be greater and higher priority life needs than biological and physiological needs in an individual. In addition, it was determined that the needs of esteem and superiority shown in the pyramid did not play a decisive role in the clusters since they did not make a significant impact.