Oxford Learner's Word Lists
Our word lists are designed to help English language learners at any level focus on the most important words to learn in their area of study. Based on our extensive corpora (= collections of written and spoken texts) and aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the word lists have been carefully researched and developed together with vocabulary experts, so that you know you can rely on them in your learning or teaching.
These word lists are available on this site:
Oxford 3000
A revised and updated version of the existing core word list. The Oxford 3000 is defined as ‘the most important words to know in English’ for learners at A1 to B2 levels on the CEFR. All the words on the updated list are aligned to the CEFR.
Find out more about the Oxford 3000
Oxford 5000
An expanded core word list for advanced learners. It includes the full Oxford 3000 plus an additional 2,000 words at B2 and C1 level on the CEFR.
Find out more about the Oxford 5000
Oxford Phrase List
A list of 650 common phrases for learners at A1 to C1 level. The phrases covered include idioms and phrasal verbs, but also collocations (for example a good idea), common complementation patterns (for example agree with somebody), multi-word headwords (for example high school) and alternative forms of headwords (for example a lot of something).
Find out more about the Oxford Phrase List
OPAL (Oxford Phrasal Academic Lexicon)
A set of four word lists for learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). These are the most important words to learn for writing and speaking academic English.
- Written words: 1200 words, divided into 12 sublists. Sublist 1 contains the most important academic words, with the next most important in sublist 2, and so on.
- Spoken words: 600 words, divided into 10 sublists. Sublist 1 contains the most important academic words, with the next most important in sublist 2, and so on.
- Written phrases: approximately 380 phrases, grouped by function, for example ‘specifying topics and relations between ideas’ (in terms of, in relation to, etc.)
- Spoken phrases: approximately 260 phrases, grouped by function, for example ‘signposting and focusing in lectures/lessons’ (I was going to, I want to talk about, etc.)