B2 English Vocabulary Course

The course does one thing. It is not a grammar course and it does not teach conversation. It gives you the words, with enough context to use them correctly, so that the grammar you learn elsewhere has something to work with.

B2 vocabulary by topic

The words are split into 29 units. Each unit is built around a topic, so the words in each unit are ones you would naturally use together:

• People — stages of life, family, feelings and emotions, and positive and negative qualities
• Communication — speech, agreeing and disagreeing, and expressing opinion, importance and probability
• Thinking and perception — mental processes, the senses, reactions and impressions
• Places and things — cities, travel, the home and describing things
• Daily life — health and the body, food and cooking, money and shopping
• Free time — sport, leisure and celebrations
• Events and change — experience, accidents and problems, success and failure
• Work and study — work and careers, business, education and science
• Society — art and media, information technology, social and political life, crime and the law
• Nature and the environment
• Words used across topics — action verbs, and words for time, frequency, speed, measurement and size

Because the units are grouped by topic, you do not have to work through them in order. Start with the topic you need most and come back to the rest later.

How the words were chosen

The word list is based on an analysis of spoken and written English, so the course concentrates on the words that come up most often. It is aligned with the Oxford 3000™, the core word list published by Oxford University Press, and was put together with input from English teachers on what learners need at this level.

EnglishLeo is not affiliated with Oxford University Press.

What changes from B1

B1 gives you the words to give an opinion. B2 gives you the words to make it more exact. A unit on opinion, importance and probability covers how sure you are and how much something matters, and a unit on senses, reactions and impressions covers how things seem as well as what they are.

Describing people also becomes more detailed, with a unit on positive and negative qualities. Science appears for the first time, and topics from B1, such as business, technology, politics and the law, come back with less common and more specific words.

Word lists with definitions, audio and quizzes

Every entry gives the word, its part of speech, a short definition in plain English, and an example sentence showing how the word is used in context.

Each word has audio, so you can hear how it is pronounced. Each unit also has a recording of the whole list, which you can play from start to finish.

Each unit ends with a Test Yourself quiz on that unit’s words. Answers are shown straight away, so you can see what you missed while it is still fresh.

A flashcard module with spaced repetition is being added. It will bring back each word at increasing intervals, just before you are likely to forget it, which is one of the most reliable ways to remember new words in the long term. Like the rest of the course, it will work without an account.

On the translated versions of this site, you can show a translation of each definition and example in your own language, or hide it to test yourself.

Who this B2 course is for

• Learners who have finished B1 and want to reach upper-intermediate level
• Learners working towards B2, or building up to C1
• Teachers who need ready-made upper-intermediate word lists for class
• Adults who use English at work and want to sound more precise
• Learners preparing for an exam at B2 level who want a general vocabulary base first

If many B1 words are still unfamiliar, start with the B1 vocabulary course instead. If you already read complex texts and discuss abstract ideas without difficulty, C1 will suit you better.

What you need

• About fifteen to twenty minutes per unit. At one unit a day the course takes about a month, though there is no schedule to keep to.
• Nothing to buy, install or sign up for.

After B2: moving on to C1

When you finish, the C1 vocabulary course continues with the next set of words. It uses the same format and is also free.

If you are preparing for IELTS, TOEFL or PTE, the exam vocabulary course covers the B2 to C1 words those exams test, in American English. All 1,100 of its words are also available as a free PDF download.