What A1 vocabulary means
A1 learners understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases: introducing themselves, asking where someone lives, talking about family, food, time and prices. The A1 list is the core of English: articles, pronouns, numbers, days, common verbs such as have, go and like, and the nouns of daily life.
The 1,000 or so A1 words are also the most frequent words in English. In an ordinary novel they make up around two thirds of every page, which is why learning them first pays off more than any other list.
The 100 most common A1 words
These are the words on the A1 list you will meet most often in real English texts. Start with them.
- the
- to
- and
- of
- a
- in
- I
- is
- that
- for
- you
- it
- on
- with
- was
- this
- be
- as
- have
- are
- at
- he
- not
- by
- but
- from
- my
- we
- or
- an
- your
- so
- all
- get
- his
- they
- one
- me
- if
- can
- will
- like
- just
- make
- go
- about
- up
- out
- what
- say
- has
- when
- more
- do
- no
- who
- were
- had
- their
- there
- her
- which
- time
- would
- year
- she
- new
- people
- take
- how
- see
- other
- know
- some
- them
- also
- want
- now
- think
- come
- its
- our
- look
- than
- need
- good
- only
- day
- first
- after
- him
- into
- two
- work
- over
- any
- then
- could
- back
- way
A1 words by part of speech
| Part of speech | Most common examples |
|---|---|
| Nouns | make, go, say, time, year, people, take, want, look, day |
| Verbs | is, was, be, have, are, get, like, make, go, say |
| Adjectives | new, good, only, first, back, well, right, very, great, off |
| Adverbs | in, that, on, not, so, all, just, about, up, out |
How many words do you need for A1?
This list has 1,047 words. Together, the lists from A1 to A1 contain 1,047 words. The CEFR itself does not define word counts; these figures are the size of the CEFR-J and Octanove lists. Your real vocabulary also includes names, new words and specialist words that no list covers.
To measure your overall vocabulary, take the English vocabulary size test; it also estimates your CEFR level.
How to learn A1 words
Learn A1 words in small groups by topic (family, food, home, time) and meet them again in very simple stories. Picture books and A1 graded readers recycle the same words on every page.
- Use the self-test above to see what share of the A1 words you already know.
- Pick one of the free A1 English books and start reading.
- Tap any word you don't know in Okuzeka to see its meaning in that sentence, in your language.
- Save useful words as flashcards with their sentences and review them over the next few days.
- When you score above 85%, move on to the A2 list.
Where this list comes from
The A1–B2 words come from the CEFR-J Wordlist, compiled by the CEFR-J project at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Okuzeka kept the single-word headwords and sorted them by word frequency. Other lists, such as the Cambridge English Vocabulary Profile or the Oxford 3000/5000, may give some words a different level, and a word's level can depend on the meaning being taught.
