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English vocabulary

A1 English vocabulary

Thirty beginner topics, twelve words each, every one with an exercise. Free, with no signup.

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A1 is the beginner level on the CEFR scale, and its vocabulary is the everyday core: greetings, numbers, food, family, the weather, getting around. Around 360 words are covered across the thirty topics below.

Each topic gives twelve words with a short meaning and an example sentence, then ten questions that mark themselves. Nothing is held back and nothing is sent anywhere.

The thirty A1 vocabulary topics

Every topic is free and every exercise marks itself.

Greetings and introductionsHello, goodbye, and how to give your name Numbers and countingOne to a million, and how to say prices and ages ColoursRed, blue, green and how to describe what you see Days of the weekMonday to Sunday, and the prepositions that go with them Months of the yearJanuary to December, and how to say dates Family membersMother, brother, cousin and the rest of the family Food and drinkBread, rice, water and ordering something to eat AnimalsPets, farm animals and the animals people talk about most Parts of the bodyHead, hand, leg and describing where it hurts ClothesShirt, shoes, coat and what to wear WeatherRain, sun, wind and how to talk about the forecast Jobs and occupationsTeacher, doctor, driver and asking what someone does School suppliesPen, book, desk and everything on the classroom table Sports and activitiesFootball, swimming and the verbs that go with each sport TransportBus, train, car and the prepositions that go with them Places in the cityBank, park, hospital and asking where things are Rooms in a houseKitchen, bedroom, garden and describing where you live Emotions and feelingsHappy, tired, worried and saying how you are Common verbsBe, have, go, make and the verbs behind most A1 sentences Adjectives to describe peopleTall, kind, young and describing what someone is like Adverbs of frequencyAlways, sometimes, never and where to put them Prepositions of placeIn, on, under, between and saying where things are Question wordsWhat, where, when, why and how to ask them Time expressionsO'clock, in the morning, last week and telling the time Daily routinesGet up, have breakfast, go to bed and describing your day Hobbies and interestsReading, cooking, music and saying what you enjoy Holidays and celebrationsBirthday, Christmas, party and wishing people well Technology and gadgetsPhone, laptop, internet and the verbs that go with them ShoppingPrice, cash, size and buying something in a shop Health and the doctorIll, pain, medicine and describing what is wrong

How to work through these

Six things worth knowing before you start.

One topic at a time

Twelve words is a sensible daily set. Two topics in one sitting usually means neither sticks.

Finish the exercise before moving on.

Say the example out loud

Reading silently builds recognition. Saying it builds the sound of the word, which is what speaking needs.

Repeat each example twice.

Rewrite the example

Change the example sentence so it is true about you. A word attached to your own life is remembered far longer.

I live in Auckland, not Manchester.

Come back in a week

Words need several meetings across weeks. Reviewing an old topic beats adding a new one.

Redo the exercise seven days later.

Learn the word family

Cook, cooker, cooking. Three forms take barely longer than one and each opens more sentences.

Rain, rainy, raining.

Move up when it is easy

If you score ten out of ten first time on several topics, the level is no longer stretching you.

A2 vocabulary comes next.

Questions about A1 English vocabulary

How many words are there at A1?

Roughly 500 to 1,000 words covers most of what A1 needs. The thirty topics here work through that core in manageable sets of twelve.

Do I have to work through them in order?

No. Start with whichever topic you need first. Greetings, numbers and food are the most immediately useful.

Is any of this behind a login?

No. There is no account, no email address and no payment. The site is paid for by advertising.

Related pages

100 words for level A1, list 1An alphabetical word list with meanings, and a PDF to download 100 words for level A1, list 2An alphabetical word list with meanings, and a PDF to download 100 words for level A1, list 3An alphabetical word list with meanings, and a PDF to download Not sure of your level?Take the free five-minute test and find out English at CEFR level A1What the beginner level means, with grammar practice All English vocabularyPhrasal verbs, idioms, collocations and topic words General English, A1 to C2Every level on the CEFR scale

Where free stops

Reading and listening you can mark. Writing and speaking you cannot.

Everything on this site is open, and for reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary that is enough: they have right answers, so you can check them yourself.

Writing and speaking are judged against criteria rather than checked against a key, which is why no free page can score them. If you are taking IELTS, IELTStestONLINE assesses both against the four IELTS criteria, using a system built by a former examiner and examiner trainer.

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