The 200-word list for a 14-year-old
200 new target words to explore around age 14. A themed word bank, not a required vocabulary total or birthday deadline.
| Number and theme | Words, in sequence |
|---|---|
| 001–020 Reading an argument closely | implicit, explicit, ambiguous, literal, figurative, subtle, nuanced, pertinent, incidental, coherent, inconsistent, plausible, credible, contentious, persuasive, descriptive, analytical, evaluative, prescriptive, speculative |
| 021–040 Judging numerical claims | statistic, dataset, census, survey, questionnaire, respondent, bias, outlier, histogram, percentile, quartile, deviation, variance, dispersion, random, unbiased, skew, normalisation, denominator, numerator |
| 041–060 Finance and contracts | asset, liability, principal, investment, dividend, yield, portfolio, insurance, premium, excess, coverage, deductible, collateral, mortgage, instalment, repayment, arrears, default, bankruptcy, solvency |
| 061–080 Digital design and code | script, subroutine, parameter, operand, iteration, recursion, syntax, semantics, compiler, runtime, debugger, repository, version, checkpoint, commit, merge, deployment, datastore, query, schema |
| 081–100 Living systems | ribosome, epithelium, organ, peptide, hormone, allele, locus, genome, heredity, mutation, evolution, selection, mitosis, fertilisation, embryo, osmosis, nucleolus, organelle, mitochondrion, homeostasis |
| 101–120 Power and resources | joule, kinetic, potential, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, electrolysis, hydroelectric, photovoltaic, biomass, turbine, generator, transformer, efficiency, consumption, cogeneration, wattage, grid, interconnector |
| 121–140 A considered response | reflective, deliberate, measured, discerning, prudent, judicious, impulsivity, restraint, composure, serenity, unpretentious, attunement, probity, sincerity, optimism, pessimism, cynicism, apathy, enthusiasm, conviction |
| 141–160 Arts and culture | aesthetic, composition, portraiture, counterpoint, harmony, rhythm, tempo, melody, timbre, choreography, improvisation, performance, rendition, arrangement, transcreation, curation, preservation, patronage, repertoire, pageantry |
| 161–180 Work and responsibility | occupation, profession, vocation, employment, apprenticeship, expertise, credential, certification, recruitment, shortlist, probation, remuneration, benefit, pension, promotion, appraisal, competency, conduct, compliance, initiative |
| 181–200 Travel and public systems | immigration, emigration, permit, residency, customs, tariff, transit, hub, congestion, layover, mobility, evacuation, relocation, expatriate, asylum, refugee, diaspora, integration, assimilation, nationality |
List audit: 200 entries in 10 groups of 20. Every target word is unique within this list and assigned only once in the complete Age 1–16 collection of 3,200 words. Earlier words should still be reused in conversation. This audit concerns word selection, not a child’s development.
Ages 1–16: vocabulary series index · All vocabulary guides
Choose your next step
Academic precision and independent judgement. Use the list as a reference, then choose the part of the guide that helps today.
Guide contents
1–5: Meanings and everyday use
6–10: More examples, questions and sources
“Seventy-five per cent attended” sounds clear until someone asks, “Seventy-five per cent of whom?” Words such as denominator, respondent and pertinent help you ask the question that makes a statement useful. You can use them when reading an article, discussing a performance, planning a project or explaining a decision.
This selection is for exploring vocabulary during the year from the fourteenth birthday to the fifteenth. It is an editorial collection, not a validated ranking, an age assessment or a requirement to master 200 words. Technical entries such as electrolysis, epithelium and recursion are optional encounters when a relevant topic interests you.
The nonrepeat sequence applies to the selected words in the age tables. Real explanations should reuse familiar vocabulary freely. You will still need ordinary words such as of, some and because to explain a numerical result accurately.
Start with something you want to understand or communicate. The examples below are invented illustrations, with checked arithmetic. They are not findings about actual events, readers or learning outcomes.
A useful first reading question is, “What job is this sentence doing?” It might describe something, interpret a pattern, judge its quality or recommend an action. Those jobs can appear together, but separating them helps you see what support each needs.
Reading words that identify different jobs and meanings
| Words | A working distinction | Try it in context |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit / implicit | Explicit information is stated directly. Implicit information is suggested without being stated directly. | “Submit by Friday” gives an explicit deadline. A character repeatedly checking the clock may suggest impatience. |
| Literal / figurative | A literal use means what the words directly describe. A figurative use makes meaning through an image or comparison. | “The rehearsal flew past” describes the experience of time; it does not describe flight. |
| Descriptive / evaluative | Descriptive writing says what something is like. Evaluative writing judges it against a standard. | “The notice uses three colours” describes it. “The notice is easy to read” evaluates it. |
| Analytical / prescriptive | Analytical writing examines parts and relationships. Prescriptive writing says what should be done. | Explaining how a notice directs attention is analysis. Recommending larger type for the date is a prescription. |
| Plausible / credible | Plausible means apparently reasonable or possible. Credible means worthy of belief. | A plausible explanation still needs checking before you rely on it. Ask what makes the account credible. |
| Pertinent / incidental | Pertinent information matters to the question. Incidental information is secondary or accompanying. | A venue’s opening time is pertinent to planning a visit. Its wall colour may be incidental to that decision. |
Try a margin note beside one sentence: “description”, “judgement” or “recommendation”. Then ask whether the writer has made the move explicit. An ambiguous instruction may need clarification before anyone can follow it; guessing confidently does not remove the ambiguity.
In an attendance fraction, the numerator counts the attendees and the denominator gives the group they are being compared with. Keep both visible. A percentage on its own can hide the question being answered.
Fictional comparison: two arts workshops
Attendance at two invented workshops
| Workshop | Registered people | Attendees | Share of registered people who attended |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 120 | 72 | 72 ÷ 120 × 100 = 60% |
| B | 80 | 60 | 60 ÷ 80 × 100 = 75% |
Workshop A had more attendees: 72 compared with 60, a difference of 12. Workshop B had a higher attendance rate among registered people: 75% compared with 60%. Both statements are accurate. They answer different questions.
The difference between the rates is 15 percentage points: 75 minus 60. A relative percentage comparison uses a base. Relative to A’s 60% rate, B’s rate is 25% higher, because 15 ÷ 60 × 100 = 25. Naming the base keeps the calculation understandable.
Hypothetical conversation: what does “better” mean?
Reader: “B was better because it got 75%.”
Partner: “Better at getting registered people to attend, or better at attracting a larger audience?”
Reader: “Its attendance rate was higher. A had more attendees.”
Partner: “Then let’s say that. The table does not tell us which workshop people enjoyed more.”
Also check what you can combine. Adding 72 and 60 gives 132 workshop attendances. The table does not reveal whether some people attended both, so it cannot establish that 132 different people took part. The label attached to the total matters as much as the addition.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics distinguishes a census of a whole population from a sample drawn from part of it. In probability sampling, population members have known chances of selection. Random describes a selection method; a group that merely looks varied is not enough to establish that method.
A questionnaire is the set of questions. A respondent is someone who answers. Keep the intended population, the people contacted and the people who actually answer separate in your notes.
Fictional poll: would you attend again?
A separate music event sends a questionnaire to all 80 attendees. Twenty people reply. Eighteen answer yes to “Would you attend again?” and two answer no.
- 18 ÷ 20 = 90%: the share of respondents who answered yes.
- 20 ÷ 80 = 25%: the share of attendees who replied.
- 18 ÷ 80 = 22.5%: the share of all attendees known to have replied yes.
The third number does not establish that only 22.5% of attendees would return. Sixty attendees gave no answer. Similarly, “90% of attendees want to return” goes beyond what these replies show. A precise report is: “Eighteen of the 20 respondents said they would attend again; 80 attendees were invited to reply.”
ABS identifies missing responses and problems with question wording among possible sources of survey error. In this invented poll, if enthusiastic attendees were more likely to reply, the answers could overstate enthusiasm across the whole group. We have not established that this happened. We have identified something to investigate.
Before sharing a survey claim, ask who could participate, how they were selected, how many replied and what exact question they answered. “Was the event convenient and enjoyable?” bundles two judgements together. Someone might find the location convenient and the programme disappointing. Separate questions would make their answer easier to interpret.
A dataset needs enough context to explain what its entries represent. Before choosing an impressive statistical word, work through these practical questions.
- What does one row count? A person, a visit, a performance or a reply? One person may produce several visits.
- What period does it cover? A total for a month and a total for a weekend need their time periods attached.
- What are the units? Minutes, hours and seconds should not quietly share a column.
- What does a blank mean? “Not recorded” and zero are different statements. Check the dataset’s explanation.
- How were unusual entries checked? Find the original record before changing a value.
Suppose most entries in a fictional rehearsal log are around ten minutes, with one entry of 110 minutes. Treat this possible outlier as a question. It could describe a longer session, include setup time or contain an entry mistake. The surrounding records must help decide. An unusual value is not permission to replace it with a more comfortable number.
ABS’s discussion of non-sampling error includes mistakes introduced while recording or processing data. If a correction is justified, record the original entry, the correction and the reason. That makes the change open to inspection.
You can leave variance, quartile and normalisation for a source that explains their method in the relevant subject. Identifying what the data count is already a useful analytical step.
Arts and design offer a practical setting for words such as composition, aesthetic, curation and rendition. Start with the work in front of you and the decision someone needs to make.
Hypothetical discussion: an exhibition notice
Designer: “What do you think of the notice?”
Reader: “The title caught my attention, but I had to search for the date.”
Designer: “Is that a problem with the composition?”
Reader: “Yes, with how the parts are arranged. Could we give the date more space and ask a new reader where and when the exhibition is?”
This feedback describes an experience, identifies a feature and proposes a check. It also states a purpose: helping someone find the event details. “I prefer the softer colours” can be a useful aesthetic preference, but it answers a different question.
For a small display, turn curation into a concrete task: choose which pieces to include, arrange them and explain the choices. Are you showing changes across a period, contrasting approaches or telling a particular story? Write the purpose before deciding which piece belongs.
If you compare two renditions of a poem, point to the passage where the delivery differs. “This pause made the final line stand out for me” gives the performer something specific to consider. You can express a preference without presenting it as everyone’s experience.
Keep the response measured: clear enough to be useful, proportionate to the issue and open to an answer. You can maintain a firm judgement while revising the wording that carries it.
A familiar-looking word can mean something different in finance, work, art or code. Write the setting beside the word before trying to remember its definition.
The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s educational glossary describes principal, in a lending context, as the original money borrowed, and premium as the amount paid for an insurance policy. These meanings help you interpret a sentence; they do not tell you which financial product to choose.
Compare “The principal welcomed the visitors” with “The document states the loan principal.” The surrounding words tell you which meaning to investigate. Likewise, a portfolio of drawings and a portfolio of investments need different explanations even though both use portfolio.
For a real agreement, read its own definitions and the relevant local guidance. A short glossary entry cannot supply every condition attached to coverage, repayment or default.
Work vocabulary deserves the same attention. If a role description asks for a credential or certification, note the exact requirement and who issues it. If it mentions probation, find the explanation in that employment setting. Avoid transferring a meaning from an unrelated setting just because the spelling matches.
You can practise with a fictional role for an exhibition team: “Arrange the display, check the labels and report missing materials.” Discuss where someone could show initiative, what conduct the group expects and what would count as evidence of competency. Concrete tasks give these words something to refer to.
Choose an activity when it serves something you are already reading or making. This is an optional menu, with no daily word quota.
- Clarify a claim: add the missing group, time period or source.
- Inspect a percentage: identify the numerator and denominator, then write the calculation.
- Improve feedback: replace a vague judgement with a feature, a reason and a possible next step.
- Resolve a meaning: record the sentence and subject in which a familiar word has a specialist use.
A useful vocabulary note includes the original wording and your revision. “B was better” can become “B had the higher attendance rate among registered people, while A had more attendees.” The change shows what you now understand about the comparison.
If you are reading alongside a teenager, ask which part they want to investigate. Give them time to explain a choice and permission to leave a question open. A reflective response can include “I need the missing information before deciding.” Return to a word when another situation gives you a reason to use it.
Must a fourteen-year-old understand every specialist entry?
No. The table offers possible words to explore. It does not define readiness, intelligence or an age deadline. Select entries that help with a current interest or task.
Does a large number of survey replies guarantee a fair picture?
No. Who could respond and how participants were selected still matter. Read the survey method before treating the replies as an account of a wider population.
What should I do when a percentage has no denominator?
Look for the original table or explanation. Ask “Percentage of what?” If the group remains unclear, keep that limitation attached when discussing the claim.
How can I check understanding without a vocabulary score?
Ask whether the word makes an explanation more precise. Can you distinguish attendees from respondents, identify a pertinent detail or revise an ambiguous instruction? Keep the example that shows the distinction.
Can I explain the idea in another language first?
Yes. Use a language that lets you explain your thinking clearly, then connect the English term to the intended meaning. If a translation seems uncertain, compare the surrounding sentence and subject context.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics: Census and sample — population coverage and probability versus non-probability selection.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics: Types of error — missing replies, question wording and recording or processing errors.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Financial Terms Glossary — bounded meanings of principal and premium in finance.
The sources explain the specific concepts cited. They do not validate this age allocation or rank these 200 words. The workshops, poll, rehearsal log, conversations and suggested activities are original hypothetical examples. The article offers ways to read and communicate more precisely; specialist entries can be explored when they become relevant.
Continue with useful words, at your own pace
This compact collection assigns new target words to each age band. It complements the larger reference banks below. Familiar words remain part of every later conversation.
Choose another age
Age 1 · Age 2 · Age 3 · Age 4 · Age 5 · Age 6 · Age 7 · Age 8 · Age 9 · Age 10 · Age 11 · Age 12 · Age 13 · Age 15 · Age 16
Broader vocabulary resources
- The Age 14 reference bank of 2,000 words — a wider reference when you want more word choices.
All 16 guides in this collection are now published, with 3,200 distinct target entries across Ages 1–16. The nonrepeat rule applies within this Essential 200 collection; other eduKate vocabulary collections may include the same useful words.