Tap through 30 French 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.
30 words · 2–3 minutes · be honest — only count words you could actually translate
Tip: use ← (don't know) and → (know) on a keyboard
| Score | CEFR | What you can actually do |
|---|---|---|
| ~500 | A1 | Introduce yourself, order food, survive as a tourist |
| ~1,200 | A2 | Handle routine daily exchanges and simple messages |
| ~2,500 | B1 | Hold real conversations and understand most everyday texts |
| ~4,000 | B2 | Work in French, follow films and news comfortably |
| ~6,000–8,000 | C1 | Study at university level, read novels without a dictionary |
| 8,000+ | C2 | Near-native range: nuance, idiom, and register |
This test measures how many French words you recognize. The free French 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 French words the test draws on at each level:
| A1 | bonjour, au revoir, merci, s'il vous plaît |
| A2 | l'apparence, mince, gros, blond |
| B1 | la rémunération, le contrat à durée déterminée, le contrat à durée indéterminée, l'embauche |
| B2 | le suffrage, la juridiction, l'immunité, l'amnistie |
| C1 | une problématique, étayer, corroborer, une recension |
| C2 | la diégèse, extradiégétique, intradiégétique, la focalisation |
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 French 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 French 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.
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