A1Beginner
Everyday words and basic phrases. Enough to greet, ask for essentials, and understand simple signs.
50 words at this level.
300 words across six CEFR levels, 50 per level, anchored to the Oxford 3000 and Oxford 5000 (A1–C1) and the English Vocabulary Profile (C2). Each word has American English IPA, a plain-language definition, and an example sentence. Free CSV and PDF per level.
Everyday words and basic phrases. Enough to greet, ask for essentials, and understand simple signs.
50 words at this level.
Sentences on familiar topics — family, shopping, work, weather.
50 words at this level.
Handle most travel situations, describe experiences, give short reasons and explanations.
50 words at this level.
Discuss abstract topics, argue a point, follow most native-speaker conversation.
50 words at this level.
Read demanding texts, use language flexibly in social, academic, and professional settings.
50 words at this level.
Precise, nuanced vocabulary. Handle any text, spoken or written, with fine shades of meaning.
50 words at this level.
Free vocabulary resources for learners at every level
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is the most common way to measure language ability. It defines six levels: A1 and A2 (basic user), B1 and B2 (independent user), and C1 and C2 (proficient user). While B2 is sufficient for most goals of everyday conversation, higher levels like C1 are required for academic and professional purposes.
CEFR level compared with IELTS bands, TOEFL iBT on the new 1–6 scale (in use for tests taken on or after January 21, 2026), and Cambridge English exams.
Comparing CEFR levels and IELTS, TOEFL iBT and IELTS, and CEFR levels and Cambridge English exams (A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 levels: A1 adult exam not part of standard Cambridge Qualifications; A1 Movers is a Young Learners test).
| CEFR | IELTS band | TOEFL iBT total (1–6 scale) | Cambridge English exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| C2 | 8–9 | 6 | C2 Proficiency |
| C1 | 7–7.5 | 5 – 5.5 | C1 Advanced |
| B2 | 6–6.5 | 4 – 4.5 | B2 First |
| B1 | 5.5 | 3 – 3.5 | B1 Preliminary |
| A2 | 4.5 – 5 | 2 – 2.5 | A2 Key |
| A1 | 4 | 1 – 1.5 | Young Learners only (A1 Movers) — no adult A1 exam |
See: TOEFL iBT scores converted to the CEFR and to IELTS bands (for tests taken on or after January 21, 2026): ets.org/toefl/institutions/ibt/score-scale-update.html. IELTS compared with the CEFR (with C1 threshold): ielts.org/organisations/ielts-for-organisations/compare-ielts/ielts-and-the-cefr. The CEFR levels for the following exams are stated on the relevant exam pages: A2 Key, B1 Preliminary, B2 First, C1 Advanced, C2 Proficiency. There is no A1 adult exam in the standard Cambridge English Qualifications suite, although there is an A1 Movers Young Learners' test (see Sources for these).
Data sources. This list contains around 300 headwords, or 50 per level (A1 to C2). These come from the Oxford 3000 (A1 to B1), the Oxford 5000 (B2 to C1), and the English Vocabulary Profile (C2). Each word listed is sourced from these websites. The "frequency score" utilizes the wordfreq Python library (Zipf, English), while pronunciations come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary through NLTK.
How levels are assigned. The reference list is used as is. Nothing is re-tagged, so if a word doesn't appear on the reference sites, it does not appear here. However, if a word appears (Oxford 3000 or 5000), it appears in the level those sources assign it to.
Card selection within a level. The default list shown is the highest-frequency words within their level as measured by the wordfreq Zipf score. Function words (articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and proper nouns) aren't included in these cards.
IPA source and convention. All pronunciations are in standard American IPA. This is derived from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. An ˈ before a syllable indicates that that syllable is stressed; an ˌ before a syllable indicates that that syllable is lightly stressed. The 'r' in butter is ər, and ɜr when stressed (as in bird). We follow CMU in giving preference to the first listed pronunciation for words with more than one listed pronunciation. A small number of words (e.g. some of the properly-named parts of animals) are not found in CMU; for these we leave the IPA blank rather than making something up.
Definitions and examples. The list here was written by yours truly, Garrick Dee, in plain English to make it as easy to understand as possible. I drafted each word, fact-checked it, and then listed it on the site based on the Oxford 3000 and 5000 lists. If you see any errors, contact me and let me know.
Limits and known gaps. Note that this is only a curated list of 300 word examples for teaching, and not a full lexicon. By no means do these pages replace the Oxford 3000/5000 or EVP word lists, and an expanded list is in the pipeline. Check the changelog below for more details.
The content of Wordineer (definitions and examples as well as the page content) is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means you are free to use, adapt and redistribute the content for free or for commercial purposes as long as you attribute Garrick Dee / Wordineer in the appropriate place (e.g. at the end of an article).
The necessary Attribution string for redistributing Wordineer CEFR ESL Vocabulary, definitions and examples is: “Wordineer CEFR ESL Vocabulary, definitions and examples © 2026 Garrick Dee / Wordineer, licensed under CC BY 4.0.”
CEFR level assignments for headwords are marked with A1–C2 labels. If this level data is redistributed in derived datasets, and the tags are used consistently in downstream copies of the data, e.g. to implement a wordlist from CEFR-J or an Octanove supplement, the usual terms and conditions of that wordlist (in addition to those already imposed by this site) apply.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. The public domain dictionary for phonetic transcription is released under a BSD-style license. In other words, no rights are given or implied, and no attribution is required to Wordineer for the IPA code generated from this dictionary. If cited at all, inclusion in the Wordineer methodology would be sufficient.
APA:
Dee, G. (2026). Wordineer CEFR ESL Vocabulary (v2.0.0) [Data set]. Wordineer. https://wordineer.com/esl-vocabulary-cefr/
MLA:
Dee, Garrick. "Wordineer CEFR ESL Vocabulary." Version 2.0.0, Wordineer, 2026, wordineer.com/esl-vocabulary-cefr/.
Plain link:
https://wordineer.com/esl-vocabulary-cefr/
Built and maintained by Garrick Dee. Last verified: 2026-09-30 · Dataset v2.0.0 · Sources: Oxford 3000, Oxford 5000, English Vocabulary Profile.
source field. Regenerated all CSV and PDF downloads.ər / ɜr, no syllable dots). Attached wordfreq Zipf scores to every headword.Select a level that feels a step above your comfort level. For example, if your comfort level is B1, work on the B2 level. Doing this will help you build comprehension faster than just reviewing words you already know.
Note that the TOEFL iBT scores from 1-6 map to the following CEFR levels: 5 - C1, 4 - B2, 3 - B1, 2 - A2, 1 - A1. The equivalent IELTS band scores are: 7 - C1, 6.5 - B2, 5.5 - B1. Please refer to the Exam Mapping Table above for more detailed information on the scores for both TOEFL iBT and IELTS.
Level assignments follow three published learner-facing CEFR references: the Oxford 3000 (A1–B1), the Oxford 5000 (B2–C1), and the English Vocabulary Profile from Cambridge (C2). Words are not editorially re-tagged. Each entry records which reference it came from — see the methodology section above for details.
Yes, there is a printable version available for each level. Content is available under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to Wordineer. In other words, if you find it useful, a small token would be to let others know where it came from.
Yes. Each CSV has one row per word with columns: word, pos, level, ipa, definition, example. Both Anki and Quizlet accept comma-separated files with a header row.
Wordineer isn't responsible for the level assignment and doesn't re-tag levels. This information comes from the CEFR Lexicon resource. In each level, the featured cards are the high-frequency words based on the wordfreq Zipf scores. Check the alphabetical table to see the whole level.