Table: vocabulary size by CEFR level
The CEFR scale (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) describes levels through skills such as “can introduce myself” or “understands the main points of the news”. It does not give word counts. The numbers below come from a study by Milton and Alexiou (2009), who measured how many of the 5,000 most frequent English words learners recognised and compared that with their level.
| Level | Words (recognised when reading) | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | up to 1,500 | Simple phrases about yourself, introductions, shopping, directions |
| A2 | 1,500–2,500 | Everyday topics: work, family, shops, short messages |
| B1 | 2,750–3,250 | Travelling on your own, clear texts and conversations on familiar topics |
| B2 | 3,250–3,750 | Fluent conversation with native speakers, the news, films with subtitles |
| C1 | 3,750–4,500 | Complex texts, working and studying in the language |
| C2 | 4,500–5,000 | Close to a native speaker in most situations |
Important caveats: this is English and receptive vocabulary (words you recognise). Productive vocabulary, the words you actually use, is usually noticeably smaller. Numbers differ for other languages and tests, but the order of magnitude is similar.
How many words you need to follow speech and read
Another way to count is to ask how many words you need to know almost every word in a text. Researchers count word families rather than single words: work, works, worked and worker are one family.
- Spoken language. About 3,000 word families cover roughly 95% of the words in everyday speech (Adolphs and Schmitt, 2003). That is enough to keep up a conversation, asking now and then.
- Minimum for reading. 4,000 to 5,000 families give about 95% of the words in a text (Laufer and Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010). You can read, with some guessing and a dictionary.
- Books and films without a dictionary. To understand 98% of the words you need 8,000 to 9,000 families for books and newspapers and 6,000 to 7,000 for films and conversation (Nation, 2006).
The good news: the first few thousand most frequent words give you a disproportionate return. That is exactly where to start.
How long it takes to learn that many words
Simple arithmetic: 10 new words a day is about 300 a month and about 3,600 a year, roughly a B2 vocabulary. At 20 words a day you reach the same goal in six months.
But a word you learned and forgot a week later does not count. So what matters is not only how many new words you add, but how many stay in memory. That is what spaced repetition is for: every word comes back just before you would forget it and sticks for the long run. More in “Spaced repetition and SM-2”.
Which words to learn first
- The most frequent ones. The first 1,000 to 2,000 words appear in every text and every conversation. Rare words will not help without them.
- Words from your life. Work, moving abroad, hobbies, an exam: words from your own topics stick faster because you meet them again and again.
- Words in chunks. Learn not just “decision” but “make a decision”. Set phrases make your speech sound natural.
- Active vocabulary. For a word to show up in your speech you need to recall and use it yourself, not only recognise it: in writing, in building phrases, in conversation.
How to build your vocabulary in NewLexi
- A daily plan. Every day the app puts together a portion of new words and reviews of the ones due, so your vocabulary grows steadily without overload.
- Your topics. Cards are generated automatically on your request, for example “words for a job interview” or “IELTS vocabulary on the environment”, and you can also add them from the translator, text, a photo or a file.
- Context. AI writes stories and dialogues at your level with your words, turning passive vocabulary into active.
- Visible progress. Four mastery levels show how many words you already “know” and how many you are still “learning”.
Coming from another app? Anki decks and Quizlet sets import in seconds.
Sources
- Milton, J., & Alexiou, T. (2009). Vocabulary size and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In B. Richards et al. (Eds.), Vocabulary Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 194–211). Palgrave Macmillan. www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/paul-nations-resources/vocabulary-lists/vocabulary-cefr-and-word-family-size
- Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82. www.wgtn.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/1626120/2006-How-large-a-vocab.pdf
- Laufer, B., & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, G. C. (2010). Lexical threshold revisited: Lexical text coverage, learners’ vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 15–30. nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/item-detail/206
- Adolphs, S., & Schmitt, N. (2003). Lexical coverage of spoken discourse. Applied Linguistics, 24(4), 425–438. doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.4.425
- Council of Europe. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages
