IELTS Vocabulary: What to Learn and How to Remember It

IELTS candidates tend to lose vocabulary marks in the same few ways. They repeat important in every paragraph, write do a mistake, or miss an answer because the text phrases it differently from the question. Good IELTS vocabulary comes down to picking the precise word, putting words together the way native speakers do, and saying the same thing in other words. The quickest way to build it is a word list made from your own mistakes in practice tests.

Below you'll find how examiners mark vocabulary, what lifts a Band 6 sentence to Band 7, and which words to learn for each part of the test. After that come paraphrasing practice and a method for turning practice-test mistakes into a list you review every day.

How IELTS assesses vocabulary

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has four parts: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Vocabulary matters in all four, but each part tests it in its own way.

Writing and Speaking: the Lexical Resource criterion

Writing and Speaking are marked against four equally weighted criteria. One of them, Lexical Resource, covers vocabulary alone, so it makes up a quarter of your Writing score and a quarter of your Speaking score (IELTS: scoring in detail).

According to the official assessment criteria, a Writing examiner checks six things:

1. Range: whether you use synonyms instead of repeating yourself.

2. Appropriacy: whether you know the words for the topic and words that show your attitude.

3. Precision: whether you choose the exact word.

4. Collocation: how well you handle collocations, idiomatic expressions and more sophisticated phrasing.

5. Spelling: how many mistakes you make and how far they get in the way of understanding.

6. Word formation: whether you pick the right form, such as economic or economical, success or successful.

Speaking examiners look for much the same things (range, precision, idiomatic language and paraphrase), though spelling naturally plays no part.

The Writing band descriptors and the Speaking band descriptors show how the bands differ:

What takes you to Band 7 and beyond is collocation and precision, not long words. A rare word used wrongly does more harm than a simple word used well.

From Band 6 to Band 7: four rewrites

Not one of these Band 7 versions relies on a rare word:

After each practice essay, rewrite a few of your own sentences like this and add the new phrases to your list.

Listening and Reading: paraphrase and spelling

Listening and Reading each have 40 questions, and your band depends on how many you answer correctly. Band 7 in Listening and Academic Reading takes roughly 30 out of 40 (IELTS). In these two parts, vocabulary does a different job:

• Questions usually paraphrase the text. The question says the number of visitors fell, and the text says attendance declined. If you don't know they mean the same thing, you will miss the answer.

• Spelling counts. A misspelt word is marked wrong, even if you heard it correctly (IDP). British and American spellings are both accepted, but stick to one.

• Word limits are strict. Under an instruction like "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER", one word too many costs you the mark.

What vocabulary to learn for IELTS

There is no official IELTS word list, but the task types are predictable, and so are the groups of words that serve you best.

Topic vocabulary

Writing Task 2 and Part 3 of Speaking revolve around social issues. For each topic, learn whole phrases rather than single words:

Treat this as a starter set. Learn each phrase inside a sentence you could write in the exam, such as Lifelong learning helps older workers keep their digital skills up to date. Then add new phrases from model answers and your own practice tests.

Collocations

A collocation is a pairing of words that a native speaker reaches for without thinking: heavy rain, not strong rain. Collocation is one of the things that separates Band 7 from Band 6. Learners often get it wrong by translating word for word from their own language:

Write down the whole collocation: not impact, but have a significant impact on. You then learn the word, its preposition and a typical adjective in one go.

Words for Writing Task 1

In Academic Writing Task 1 you describe a graph, table or chart in at least 150 words. The vocabulary of change and comparison you need is small, but you have to use it precisely.

Switch between verbs and nouns: Sales rose sharply and There was a sharp rise in sales state the same fact in two ways. For approximate figures, try just under a third, roughly half or the vast majority.

Task 1 may also show a map or a process diagram, and each comes with its own vocabulary:

• Maps: was replaced by, was demolished, was extended, was converted into, to the north of, next to.

• Processes: passive verbs and sequence words such as is heated, is then transported, after that, once the mixture has cooled, finally.

In General Training Task 1, instead of describing a graph, you write a formal, semi-formal or personal letter (IELTS). The set phrases depend on the tone:

In British English, Yours faithfully follows Dear Sir or Madam, and Yours sincerely follows a name.

Words for Speaking

In Speaking there is no time to hunt for the perfect word, so learn phrases that each do a particular job:

• Giving an opinion: I'd say…, As far as I'm concerned…, I'm in two minds about this…

• Qualifying it: It depends on…, to some extent, generally speaking, in most cases

• Describing in Part 2: It's located…, What I like most about it is…, It reminds me of…, I'll never forget…

• Buying time: That's an interesting question., Let me think about that for a moment. Either sounds better than a long silence or um.

• Talking round a word you've forgotten: It's a kind of…, the thing you use to…

At Band 7, the Speaking descriptor asks for less common and idiomatic vocabulary used with an awareness of style and collocation. An idiom learnt by heart and forced into an answer where it doesn't fit won't help you.

Linking words

You need however, therefore, whereas, in contrast, as a result, but they are easy to overdo. The Coherence and Cohesion descriptors count overuse against you: even the Band 7 descriptor mentions some over- or under-use, and the lower bands penalise it more heavily (Writing band descriptors). One moreover in a paragraph sounds natural; three in a row sound mechanical.

Academic vocabulary

For Academic Reading, work through the Academic Word List (AWL): 570 word families that turn up often in academic texts across subjects but fall outside the most frequent words of general English (Coxhead, 2000; the list on the Victoria University of Wellington website). Among them are analyse, approach, factor, significant and require. Knowing them earns you no marks directly, but without them you will struggle to get through Academic Reading passages at the pace the test demands.

Paraphrasing: the skill every part of IELTS tests

Paraphrasing means saying the same thing in different words, and every part of IELTS calls for it:

• in Reading and Listening, you look for the question's idea, worded differently, in the text or recording;

• in Writing, your essay introduction paraphrases the task rather than copying it;

• in Speaking, you talk your way round a word you have forgotten, and the Band 7 descriptor explicitly mentions using paraphrase effectively.

Four techniques worth practising:

1. Synonyms: important → significant, crucial. Check that the synonym fits the context: a crucial role sounds natural, but a crucial person does not.

2. A different part of speech: the population grew → population growth.

3. A different structure: governments should fund… → funding should come from governments.

4. General ↔ specific: cars and buses → vehicles; young people → teenagers and young adults.

How to build your own IELTS word list from practice tests

Ready-made lists give you a foundation. The words most worth learning, though, are the ones you have already got wrong, and practice tests show you exactly which those are.

1. Take a practice test. Start with the official sample test questions on ielts.org.

2. Go through every Reading and Listening mistake. Find the line in the text or transcript that holds the answer, and write down the "question ↔ text" pair, for example fell ↔ declined. These pairs become your personal list of paraphrases.

3. Copy out the words you misspelt. In Listening, a word you heard but couldn't spell is a lost mark, so practise writing each one out.

4. Reread your essay. Spot any word you used three times and note down alternatives, each with an example.

5. Save whole phrases with an example. Save reduce carbon emissions rather than emissions, along with a sentence you could use it in.

6. Group words by part of the test and by topic: "IELTS – Task 1", "IELTS – Environment", "IELTS – Reading paraphrases".

You can also save words from English articles and news as you read. Select a word, and the Polidict extension for Chrome shows its meaning, translation and pronunciation. For tips on choosing texts at your level, see our guide to learning words from context. Already keep a list in a notebook? Add it all at once with batch import.

As for the foundation, Polidict has ready-made collections in British English. There is no IELTS collection yet, but several topics match the exam tasks:

• for Task 1: Increase, Grow and Rise and Decrease, Reduce and Fall;

• for essay cohesion: However, Therefore, Instead and Cause, Effect and Reason;

• for Task 2 and Speaking topics: Opinions and Points of View, Environment, Climate, Energy, Society and Culture and Studying and Exams.

You'll find every topic on the English word collections page.

How to review IELTS vocabulary

Meet a word once in a practice test and it won't last until exam day: you need to see it several more times. That is what spaced repetition is for. Each word comes back just as you are about to forget it, as our article on spaced repetition explains.

Polidict schedules reviews with the Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler (FSRS) algorithm (more about FSRS v6) and trains four modes separately: Definitions, Writing, Listening and Speaking. This suits IELTS well, since each part of the exam tests a different skill:

A realistic pace is 10–15 new words or phrases a day on top of your scheduled reviews, plus one practice test a week and the new words it throws up. Over two months, that adds up to 600–900 phrases drawn from your mistakes, your reading and the collections.

FAQ

How many words do you need for IELTS Band 7?

There is no official figure, because IELTS assesses accuracy and appropriacy rather than quantity. As a rough guide, to read authentic texts comfortably, knowing 98% of the words on the page, you need around 8,000–9,000 word families (Nation, 2006).

Should you learn rare words and idioms?

Only the ones you can use correctly. Natural idiomatic expressions help in Speaking, but informal idioms often sound out of place in a Task 2 essay. An accurate collocation built from simple words does more for you than a rare word in the wrong place.

British or American English?

Both are accepted. Just don't mix spellings in one piece of work: write either colour and organise, or color and organize.

Is there an official IELTS word list?

No. Build your own from topic phrases, Task 1 vocabulary, the Academic Word List for Academic Reading and the mistakes you make in practice tests.

Summary

• Vocabulary makes up a quarter of your Writing and Speaking scores. In Reading and Listening, it decides whether you spot the paraphrase and spell the answer correctly.

• Learn collocations and topic phrases rather than isolated "difficult" words, and practise paraphrasing and word formation.

• Collect words from your own mistakes in practice tests and review them every day with spaced repetition.

Take one practice test, add the first ten words and paraphrases you got wrong to Polidict, and review them every day. If you are still choosing between exams, have a look at our CELPIP study guide too.