How big is your English vocabulary?
The average adult native English speaker knows somewhere between 20,000 and 35,000 words β but the distribution is wide, and the difference mostly comes down to one habit: reading. This free vocabulary test samples words across three difficulty tiers to estimate where you fall, from everyday conversational words up to the GRE-level vocabulary that shows up in The New Yorker and rarely anywhere else.
Three tiers, one score
- Everyday words β the working vocabulary of daily American life.
- College level β words like pragmatic, scrutinize, and eloquent that mark a practiced reader.
- Advanced & GRE β the rare birds: perspicacious, obstreperous, and friends.
Why vocabulary is the best single proxy for verbal intelligence
Vocabulary size is one of the strongest single correlates of overall verbal ability and reading comprehension, which is why vocabulary subtests appear in nearly every major intelligence scale, including the WAIS. Unlike reaction time or working memory, vocabulary keeps growing throughout life β it's the one cognitive score that favors age and experience.
For the full verbal-plus-reasoning picture, pair this with the free IQ test, or keep the word games going with the typing speed test.