Vocabulary

“The spirit of a language is most clearly expressed in its untranslatable words.”

― Baroness Marie ‘Freifrau’ von Ebner-Eschenbach

1. Choose a topic. (Bold Titles:)
2. Choose a source. ~ Example Source Title
3. Click on the title of the source. It is a link to the original website.

   General Vocabulary Skills:
   ~ Word Reading Activities
   ~ English Guide – Simple English Vocabulary
   ~ Commonly Confused Word Pairs
   ~ Confusing Words and Homonyms
   ~ Homonyms Matching
   ~ Word Lists (The 20,000 most common word families in English) – from Paul Nation
   ~ Free Rice (answer English vocabulary questions) Bonus: your correct answers will donate rice to the World Food Program
   ~ Activities for ESL (vocabulary and grammar) – from the TESL organization
   ~ Live Worksheets (many topics – search for topics of interest)
   ~ Learning Chocolate (simple vocabulary exercises)
   ~ Bizmates (vocabulary videos) 
~ Bonus: Wordle!

Note: See the Cultural Information page for Holidays and Symbols vocabulary games.
           See the Games for Learning English page for games with vocabulary practice.

   Popular Studying Sites:
   ~   Anki (make your own vocabulary lists or use someone else’s)
   ~   Memrise (make your own vocabulary lists or use someone else’s)
   —–> Please contact Ms. Huntley for specific Memrise lists for English tests.
   ~ Quizlet (make your own flashcards or use someone else’s, play memory games)
   ~ Quizizz (play existing quizzes or make your own study materials)
   ~ Word Smyth (make your own vocabulary lists and self-tests)
   ~ Duolingo (language learning system)

   Idioms:
   ~ The Idioms (Idioms Dictionary)
   ~ Common English Idioms
   ~ Idioms Worksheets
   ~ Idioms Review (Wordwall)
   ~ Idioms (Talk English)
   ~ Idioms (ESL Café)

   Phrasal Verbs (also see Grammar exercises):
   ~ English Club (list and quiz)
   ~ British Council (quizzes and explanation)
   ~ FluentU (list of verbs with more than one phrasal expression)
   ~ Guide to Grammar (explains the different grammar patterns of phrasal verbs)

   Current Slang:
   ~ ESL Café – General Slang
   ~ Urban Dictionary (not polite, but gives young people’s definitions for new slang)
   ~ Know Your Meme (for internet communication)
   ~ “Do Parents Know Teen Slang?” #1, #2, #3, #4, 2020 Edition
   ~ “Do Elders Know Modern Slang?” #1, #2, #3
   ~ ISMO – “The Word ASS” & “I Didn’t Know Sh*t” (Comedy, vocabulary usage)
   ~ American English Slang Dictionary (Word Document)

Note: Slang often becomes public on social media: Reddit, Imgur, YouTube, Instagram, et cetera. The best way to learn it is to follow young social media influencers.

   SMS Language/Slang:
~ The Complete List of 1500+ Common Text Abbreviations & Acronyms
~ Texting Slang
~ Emojis (English Usage)
~ Emojipedia

Writers’ Advice on using advanced vocabulary:

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

– C.S. Lewis

“Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.“

– Mark Twain

“Don’t use big words. They mean so little.“

– Oscar Wilde

“Polysyllables obfuscate a preponderant ignorance with so much more style and panache.”

– John Patrick Lowrie

 

A popular way to learn vocabulary is through word games. Here are a few classic options: