FREE WORD LIST · PRINTABLE
100 11+ words to start with.
A starter sample drawn from all six levels, with plain meanings. Print it, stick it on the fridge, tick words off together — then practise them here, free for 7 days.
Level 0 · everyday words · 10 words
- abstract
- Dealing with general ideas and qualities rather than particular things
- audience
- The people who watch or listen to a performance or talk.
- comparison
- The act of examining things to see how they are similar or different.
- desperate
- Feeling that a situation is so bad that you will try almost anything.
- faint
- So little that it can hardly be noticed, especially a sound or a smell
- identity
- Who someone is, or what makes them recognisable.
- literal
- Using the ordinary, exact meaning of words.
- poetry
- Literary writing using rhythm, imagery, and expressive language
- rhyme
- A match between the end sounds of words, such as 'cat' and 'hat'.
- summarise
- To give the main points in a shorter form.
Level 1 · common words · 18 words
- abandon
- To leave someone or something behind completely.
- anxious
- Worried and nervous about something that may happen
- bland
- Lacking strong flavour or interest
- companion
- A person or animal that spends its time with someone
- crucial
- So important that it affects the whole result
- desire
- A strong wish to have or achieve something
- dumb
- Unable to speak or having nothing to say
- evolve
- To develop gradually and naturally over a long period of time
- foil
- To prevent a plan from succeeding
- heroic
- Extremely brave and noble, especially in the face of great danger or serious difficulty
- intense
- Extreme in strength, degree or feeling, much stronger than usual
- lieu
- Standing in the place or stead of another thing, or given in exchange for it
- naive
- Inexperienced and too willing to believe people
- potent
- Powerful or having a strong effect
- relevant
- Closely connected with or appropriate to the matter being considered.
- sane
- Having a calm, sensible mind, able to think clearly and behave reasonably
- stability
- The quality of remaining firm and unchanging, with no risk of collapse
- thorough
- Careful, detailed, and complete
Level 2 · less common · 18 words
- abode
- A place where someone lives; a home.
- architecture
- The art and science of designing buildings and other structures
- canopy
- A covering like a roof that shelters a space below it
- concur
- To agree
- deceive
- To make someone believe something that is not true.
- disguise
- To change appearance to hide identity
- exhausted
- Extremely tired
- folly
- Foolish behaviour or a foolish action
- hamper
- To obstruct or make progress difficult
- incentive
- Something that encourages a person to make an effort or keep trying
- investigate
- To look into a matter carefully in order to find out what really happened
- mogul
- A powerful and wealthy person who has built a huge empire in one industry, such as the media
- overt
- Open and clearly visible
- porous
- Full of tiny holes that let water, air or gases pass through.
- proximity
- How near one thing is to another, either in space or in time
- responsibility
- Being the one who must deal with something carefully and make sure that a job is finished properly
- solace
- Comfort during sadness or distress
- tenet
- A rule or principle that a person or group of people firmly believes in
Level 3 · uncommon · 18 words
- abate
- To become less intense or widespread
- antidote
- A substance that cancels out the harmful effects of a poison
- barbarian
- A person who is cruel and uncivilised, with no regard for other people's feelings
- complement
- Something that completes or improves something else.
- curate
- To select and arrange items for a display or a collection
- deranged
- Wildly out of one's mind, behaving crazily in an unreasonable way
- divulge
- To reveal secret information
- errand
- A short journey made to deliver, collect, or do something.
- fragrant
- Having a pleasant, sweet smell
- hubris
- Pride so overconfident that it oversteps, and often brings disaster on the person who feels it.
- intentional
- Done deliberately
- mediate
- To help two people who disagree reach agreement by talking between them
- outrageous
- Extremely wrong or shocking, and likely to make people very angry
- portrayal
- The way a person or character is represented or played in a play, film or book
- ratify
- To give official agreement to a plan, treaty or promise, so that it becomes binding
- retort
- A quick, sharp reply that answers a remark with something equally cutting
- sophisticated
- Highly developed and advanced, showing great skill or refinement
- tepid
- Slightly warm
Level 4 · literary · 18 words
- aberrant
- Departing noticeably from what is normal or expected
- animosity
- Strong hostility or dislike
- bewildered
- Very confused and unable to understand what is happening.
- commemorate
- To remember an important person or event with respect
- convoluted
- So involved and difficult to follow that even an expert struggles to explain the process clearly
- deride
- To mock someone publicly by laughing at them and treating them with contempt
- emanate
- To flow or spread outwards from a particular source or place, like light or smell
- facile
- Appearing easy or requiring little effort; sometimes overly simple
- godsend
- Something unexpectedly helpful
- impediment
- Something that obstructs or slows progress
- innocuous
- Harmless and unlikely to cause offence or injury.
- lethargy
- The condition of having almost no energy, so that you cannot rouse yourself
- murine
- Relating to mice and rats
- peruse
- To read a document or list carefully, taking in every word before deciding
- quagmire
- An area of very soft wet ground that is hard to walk across, or a problem that is just as hard to get out of
- rhapsody
- A long piece of music with no fixed shape that expresses strong feelings or tells a story
- snicker
- To laugh quietly in a disrespectful way
- tactful
- Careful not to upset or offend others
Level 5 · rare · 18 words
- ablest
- The most able of a group, meaning better at something than anyone else.
- antipathy
- A strong feeling of dislike towards a particular person or thing
- brusque
- Abrupt and rather rude in manner or speech.
- confiscate
- To take away somebody's property because a rule has been broken
- derisive
- Showing mockery and contempt, as though laughing at someone
- disparage
- To speak critically of something, saying it is not good enough
- erasable
- Able to be wiped away or rubbed out, so that no lasting mark is left behind
- flippant
- Treating a serious subject carelessly, as though it were a good joke
- homograph
- A word that is spelled exactly like another word but has a completely different meaning from it
- inattentive
- Not paying close attention; too easily distracted from what is going on
- insinuate
- To suggest something unpleasant indirectly, in a way that is not said openly
- leonine
- Relating to or resembling lions
- nonentity
- A person or thing so unimportant that nobody notices it or takes it seriously
- pessimist
- A person who expects the worst to happen and doubts that things will turn out well
- pulverise
- To break something down into extremely tiny particles, or to smash it to bits
- repercussions
- The bad effects that an action or event has on other people later on
- stolid
- Feeling very little and showing no reaction, in a slow and unchanging way
- tempestuous
- Full of strong emotions, conflict, or violent storms.
How to use this list
Little and often beats everything: five words a day, said aloud and used in a sentence each, will do more than an evening spent staring at all hundred. When a word sticks, tick it off. When one keeps slipping, read how to practise it here.
These are ordinary English words grouped by how rarely they turn up — there is no official 11+ word list, and every school sets its own test. For what the papers actually ask, read how the 11+ papers work.
Two questions come up more than any other: how many words a child actually needs, and why synonyms and antonyms decide so much of the paper.
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Seven days, all of it, no card. The full collection, five ways of being tested, words yours gets wrong collected for revision, and printable sheets of exactly those words.
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