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Free English vocabulary lists

English vocabulary with meanings and examples

1297 essential English words, from the 1000 most common words to advanced exam vocabulary. Every word has a plain-English meaning, pronunciation, example sentences, synonyms and a tip for using it correctly.

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Word lists

By CEFR level

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How to learn English vocabulary faster

Five habits that help new words stick, whichever list you are working through.

  1. 1

    Start with the most common words

    The 1000 most common words make up most of what you read and hear every day. Learn them first and everything else gets easier to understand.

  2. 2

    Learn words in phrases, not alone

    Remember “make a decision” and “pay attention”, not just “decision” and “attention”. The collocations on each word page show you which words go together.

  3. 3

    Say it out loud

    Read the pronunciation and say the word a few times. A word you can say is much easier to recognise when you hear it in a conversation or a film.

  4. 4

    Review, then review again

    Look at new words again after a day, then after a few days, then after a week. Spaced review moves words into long-term memory far better than one long session.

  5. 5

    Use new words the same day

    Write your own example sentence, or use the word in a message or a conversation. Using a word once is worth more than reading it ten times.

Start with the 1000 most common English words

Where these word lists come from

The most common words follow the widely used list of the 1000 most frequent English words, built from large collections of real speech and writing and published by EF and 1000mostcommonenglishwords.com.

The advanced vocabulary comes from the top of the Vocabulary.com Top 1000, a list of difficult but common words that appear in academic and business writing and on the SAT, GRE and TOEFL.

Every definition, example sentence, tip and CEFR level on this site is written by our team in simple English for learners.

All English words from A to Z

English vocabulary: frequently asked questions

How many English words do I need to know?

Around 1,000 of the most common words let you understand a large part of everyday English, and about 3,000 words are enough for most conversations, TV and simple articles. For comfortable reading of newspapers and academic texts, learners usually need 5,000 to 8,000 word families.

What are the 1000 most common English words?

They are the words that appear most often in English speech and writing, such as “the”, “be”, “have”, “people”, “time”, “know” and “good”. Our list follows widely used frequency lists and gives every word a simple definition, its pronunciation and an example sentence.

What do the levels A1, B1 and C1 mean?

They are levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). A1 and A2 are beginner levels, B1 and B2 are intermediate, and C1 and C2 are advanced. The level on each word shows roughly when learners usually meet and need that word.

Which words should I learn for IELTS, TOEFL, SAT or GRE?

Start with the advanced vocabulary list: it collects harder words that keep appearing in academic writing and on these exams, like “ascertain”, “substantial” and “arbitrary”. Then make sure you know the B2 and C1 words in the topics you are likely to write about, such as education, work and society.

What is the best way to remember new English words?

Learn each word with an example sentence and the words it usually goes with, say it out loud, and review it several times over the following days. Using the word yourself, in writing or speech, is the fastest way to make it stick.