Can anyone list some of the common minecraft commands?

There's no commands in single player minecraft. I'm assuming you mean playing minecraft on a server.

if not here is the single player commands for modded single player
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/...r_Commands

On a server your basic commands will be the following and it's dependent on the server and what plugins are running but heres some that are essential and most servers have these commands.
/help
/help 1
/help 2 (and so on /help 3 etc)
/spawn (goes to the servers spawn point)
/sethome (sets your home)
/home (goes to the place where your home is)
/back (goes to the last place you commanded to)
/msg playernamehere (msgs the player that you named)
/r (replies to the last player that messaged u)

if the server is running factions.
/f (lists faction commands)
/f help (faction related help)

The answer by 'd' is incorrect, as of around Minecraft beta 1.8 single player commands were added to the game, visit this wiki page for all commands that are already in the game.
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/...m/Commands