The common bean （Phaseoluus vulgaris L.） is one of the main edible legumminous crops，drought is one of the most critical abiotic stress constraints limiting common bean growth and productivity. Cultivating drought-tolerant germplasm is an important measure to reduce the adverse effects of drought on the growth of common bean. In this study， 60 representative common bean varieties were evaluated through natural drought stress experiments. Comparative physiological analysis between stressed and control groups were performed at 12 leaf physiology characters， such as leaf electrical conductivity， water use efficiency and Photosysm II chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. Drought tolerance was assessed by two complementary approaches， visual seedling wilting grade and quantitative drought tolerance subordinate function value （D value）. The results identified seven highly drought-tolerant varieties （F00000117， F00002179， F00003370， F00004321， F00000518， F000004381， and Nanyang Black） based on D value. Notably， five of these varieties （excluding Nanyang Black and F00004381） were consistently ranked as most tolerant by applying wilting index. Conversely， six highly susceptible varieties （F00001280， F00003346， F00004357， F00004392， F00005243， and F00005237） showed severe wilting， with five （F00001280， F00003346， F00004392， F00005243， and F00005237） also exhibiting the lowest D values. The strong concordance between seedling wilting and D assessments validates both methods for drought tolerance screening. The extreme varieties （drought-tolerant vs. drought-susceptible） identified in this study provide valuable germplasm resources for drought tolerance mechanism analysis and breeding.