Tap through 30 English words sampled from A1 to C2 level. You'll get an instant estimate of your vocabulary size and CEFR level. Free, no signup, ~3 minutes.
An educated native English speaker knows roughly 20,000 to 35,000 words. The good news: you need far fewer to function well. Around 3,000 of the most frequent word families cover about 95% of everyday conversation. This test shows you where you stand on that curve.
How many words are there in English? The Oxford English Dictionary defines around 170,000 words in current use, and over 600,000 word forms across its full historical record. You need a tiny fraction of that: roughly 500 words covers A1 basics and about 4,000 puts you at B2 fluency. This test estimates how many you already know.
30 words · 2–3 minutes · be honest — only count words you could actually translate
Tip: use ← (don't know) and → (know) on a keyboard
Roughly 500 words covers A1, 2,500 gets you to B1 independence, and about 4,000 frequency-ordered words is B2 fluency in English. Counts are approximate and frequency-ordered, so the earliest thousands do most of the work.
| CEFR level | English words needed | What you can actually do |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | ~500 | Greetings, basic needs, and simple set phrases |
| A2 | ~1,200 | Everyday topics, shopping, simple past and future |
| B1 | ~2,500 | Independent: travel, opinions, following the gist of media |
| B2 | ~4,000 | Fluent: follow news and film, hold real conversations, work in the language |
| C1 | ~8,000 | Nuance, idiom, and professional or academic use |
| C2 | ~16,000 | Near-native: subtle register, humour, and specialised vocabulary |
For the same numbers across every language, plus how many words each language actually contains, see the vocabulary size reference.
Large-scale research, including the TestYourVocab project with over 2 million participants, gives useful reference points: native English-speaking adults typically measure between 20,000 and 35,000 words, native 8-year-olds already know around 10,000, and adult learners of English average about 4,500, with the most dedicated learners abroad reaching 10,000+. Most learners add 2 to 3 words a day of study; heavy readers roughly double that pace, which is why reading plus spaced repetition is the fastest sustainable route. For a deeper look at the numbers behind each level, see how many words you need to speak a language.
There is no single official count, but the reference points are useful: the Oxford English Dictionary defines around 170,000 words in current use and documents over 600,000 forms across its full history. For learners the practical numbers are far smaller: the 3,000 to 5,000 most frequent words cover the bulk of everyday English, which is why frequency-ordered decks are the fastest way in. For how word counts map to CEFR levels across languages, see how many words you need to speak a language.
This test measures how many English words you recognize. The free English synonym quiz measures the other half: whether you know those words well enough to connect them to their synonyms — the difference between recognizing vocabulary and actually owning it. Two minutes, no signup, level-matched questions from the same CEFR-graded decks.
Vocabulary research maps CEFR levels to approximate word counts: ~500 words for A1, ~1,200 for A2, ~2,500 for B1, ~4,000 for B2, and 6,000–8,000+ for C1/C2. The test shows you a random sample of words from each level's decks; the share you recognize at each level estimates how much of that level's vocabulary you own. Curious how we schedule reviews after the test? See the interactive forgetting-curve simulator.
A few of the English words the test draws on at each level:
| A1 | hello, goodbye, good morning, good afternoon |
| A2 | get up, turn on, turn off, look for |
| B1 | deadline, achievement, carry out, come across |
| B2 | to account for, to bring about, to pull off, to get away with |
| C1 | torture, confession, ease, bishop |
| C2 | acumen, aplomb, brevity, candor |
The test samples words from CEFR-leveled decks (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) and estimates your vocabulary size from how many you recognize at each level. It's a directional estimate, good for choosing where to start studying, not a certified assessment. Retaking it gives you a fresh random sample.
Take this free test: you tap through a sample of English words from A1 to C2, marking each as known or unknown, and it estimates your total vocabulary size and CEFR level in about 3 minutes. No signup is needed, and you can retake it any time for a fresh sample.
Roughly 500 words covers A1 basics, 1,200 gets you to A2, 2,500 to B1 independence, 4,000 to B2 fluency in most conversations, and 6,000 to 8,000+ to C1/C2 mastery. Frequency matters more than raw count; the most common words do most of the work.
An educated native speaker typically knows tens of thousands of words, but you need far fewer to communicate well. Around 3,000 to 5,000 well-chosen words cover most everyday conversation, which is why frequency-based study is so efficient.
Start studying at the level where you stopped recognizing words. All our English decks are free, so copy one to your library and review with FSRS spaced repetition, which schedules each word right before you'd forget it.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines around 170,000 words in current use, plus roughly 47,000 obsolete ones, and documents over 600,000 word forms across its full historical record. There is no single official total, since English keeps borrowing and coining words. For learners the practical number is much smaller: the 3,000 to 5,000 most frequent English words cover most everyday conversation and reading.
Educated adult native English speakers know an estimated 20,000 to 35,000 word families and use far fewer actively. Learners need much less: about 500 words covers A1 basics, 1,200 reaches A2, 2,500 gives you B1 independence, and around 4,000 frequency-ordered words puts you at B2, where you can follow English media and hold real conversations. This test estimates where you sit on that scale.
Native English-speaking adults typically know 20,000 to 35,000 words, based on the TestYourVocab research project with over 2 million participants. Native 8-year-olds already know around 10,000. Adult learners of English average about 4,500 words, so if you score above 5,000 as a learner you are ahead of the typical range.
For everyday conversation, mostly yes: the 3,000 most frequent word families cover roughly 95% of ordinary speech. That is enough to chat, shop, travel, and follow most of what you hear. It is not enough for university reading or professional writing, which draw on 4,000 to 8,000+ words. The catch is that they must be the right 3,000, which is why frequency-ordered decks beat random word lists.
It samples instead of counting. You see a random sample of words from every CEFR level, and the share you recognize at each level estimates how much of that level you own, the same way a poll estimates a population without asking everyone. A longer test would tighten the estimate a little, but a fresh 3-minute sample each time is accurate enough to pick a starting level, and you can retake it any time.
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