B1 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.

B1 vocabulary by topic

The words are split into 34 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, describing people, feelings, emotions and reactions, and personal experience
• Events and change — accidents, success and failure, and how things rise, fall and change
• The body, health and illness
• Places and things — the city and living spaces, describing things, materials
• Daily life — clothes, money and shopping, food and cooking
• Work and study — jobs and careers, business life, school, college and university
• Media and technology — art and media, information technology
• Society — social life, political life, law and order
• Travel, sport and leisure
• Nature and the environment
• Communicating and thinking — speaking, agreeing and disagreeing, thinking and knowing
• Words used across topics — action verbs, adverbs, and words for time, distance, size and numbers

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 A2

A2 gives you the words for familiar, concrete things. B1 adds the words for what you think about them. There are units on agreeing and disagreeing, on thinking and knowing, and on experience — the vocabulary you need to give an opinion, explain a reason or tell someone what happened.

The topics also widen. Some are new at this level, such as law and order and materials. Others from A2, such as business, technology and political life, come back in more depth. Describing a thing now covers what it is made of and how big it is, not just its colour, and health covers illness in more detail.

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 B1 course is for

• Learners who have finished A2 and want to move to intermediate level
• Learners working towards B1, or building up to B2
• Teachers who need ready-made intermediate word lists for class
• Adults who use English at work and need to give opinions and explanations, not just facts
• Self-study learners who want a clear path from one level to the next

If many A2 words are still unfamiliar, start with the A2 vocabulary course instead. If you already read newspaper articles and discuss abstract topics comfortably, B2 will suit you better.

What you need

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

After B1: moving on to B2

When you finish, the B2 vocabulary course continues with the next set of words. It uses the same format and is also free. The series runs through to C1, and there is a separate course for IELTS, TOEFL and PTE vocabulary if you are preparing for an exam.