Vocabulary tests

There are three kinds of vocabulary proficiency tests on this page:

• The Vocabulary Size Test measures total vocabulary size (i.e., how many words someone knows).
• The Vocabulary Levels Test measures knowledge of particular frequency levels of words (e.g., the first 1,000 and second 1,000 words).
• The 1,000 and 2,000 level tests are based on Michael West's A General Service List of English Words. They are useful for testing low-proficiency learners, and the bilingual versions make sure that the learners do not have to struggle with English definitions.

The Vocabulary Size Test covers 20,000 word families and can be used with native speakers and advanced non-native speakers. The 14,000 version is best used with only advanced non-native speakers or native speakers under 12 years old. There are some bilingual versions of the tests and these should be preferred ahead of monolingual versions, especially for lower proficiency learners.

The Vocabulary Levels Test should be used with learners of English as a foreign language who know less than 5,000 words. The vocabulary size test is not suitable for such learners.

Permission is not required to use the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test in research, although acknowledgement in any thesis or publication is appreciated. The reference is Webb, S., Sasao, Y., & Ballance, O. (2017). The updated vocabulary levels test: Developing and validating two new forms of the VLT. ITL, 168(1), 33–69. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.168.1.02web"