The 2,000-word list for Age 16
A reference for teenagers exploring words independently or with support. The 2,000 entries are choices for reading and conversation, not a requirement for Age 16. Advanced entries are optional specialist extensions. Age guidance.
Beginner 1–138 · Intermediate 139–514 · Advanced 515–2000 · How to use the bank · Vocabulary growth: why, what and how
Words run alphabetically within each band. Use the letter links or your browser’s Find in Page to locate a word. Every entry is visible below.
Move through this 24-age collection: All 2,000-word lists by age (1–24) · Previous: Age 15 · Next: Age 17 · How to use this bank. These are reference choices, not age-based word quotas.
Beginner: words 1–138
B · C · D · F · G · H · I · K · L · M · N · O · P · R · S · T · U · W · Z
| Sequence and initial | Words, in sequence |
|---|---|
| 0001–0011 · B | backless, backsplash, baggageman, bagginess, basketful, bedpan, booklist, built-in, burglarproof, buttonhook, buttonless |
| 0012–0021 · C | carry-on, carryout, casework, casing, checkmark, chip-and-pin, close-fitting, clothesbrush, clothespin, collarless |
| 0022–0037 · D | deadbolt, declutter, deice, descale, dishrag, dishtowel, dishwashing, do-over, doorcase, doorplate, drainboard, draining-board, drop-in, dunnage, duplicate, dustjacket |
| 0038–0040 · F | fob, frying-pan, frypan |
| 0041–0044 · G | go-ahead, go-between, go-to, guttering |
| 0045–0050 · H | hand-me-down, handbasin, handtruck, hardcopy, hotpot, how-to |
| 0051–0052 · I | interfacing, interlining |
| 0053–0053 · K | keyless |
| 0054–0060 · L | latchbolt, launderette, laundress, laundryman, lockable, longlist, loose-fitting |
| 0061–0064 · M | make-do, mangler, moneybox, mothproof |
| 0065–0066 · N | notecard, notelet |
| 0067–0067 · O | oversized |
| 0068–0072 · P | pay-as-you-go, piggybank, plasticware, pocketful, press-stud |
| 0073–0075 · R | read-aloud, read-through, run-through |
| 0076–0092 · S | set-up, shockproof, shortlist, sit-down, sleeveless, snap-fastener, spillproof, splashguard, splashproof, stairlift, stand-up, standby, standpipe, steamroller, stepstool, stopgap, stovetop |
| 0093–0103 · T | take-home, takeaway, takeout, takeup, tamperproof, teaware, thank-you, tickbox, top-up, trashcan, triplicate |
| 0104–0123 · U | unbend, unbolt, unclench, unclip, unclog, uncork, uncross, undersized, unhook, unlace, unpick, unpin, unseal, unseat, unsnap, unsnarl, unstack, unstick, unstrap, unthread |
| 0124–0125 · U | uplight, uplighter |
| 0126–0137 · W | waistline, walk-in, walkthrough, washbowl, washstand, washtub, wastage, wasteful, wastepaper, workaround, wringer, write-up |
| 0138–0138 · Z | zip-up |
Intermediate: words 139–514
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W
| Sequence and initial | Words, in sequence |
|---|---|
| 0139–0145 · A | accommodator, adblocker, adjacently, allegedly, ambiguousness, autofill, autoplay |
| 0146–0153 · B | backcheck, blue-collar, bootable, bootleg, bootloader, bootloop, break-even, breaktime |
| 0154–0172 · C | captcha, changemaker, changemaking, charlady, charwoman, checker, checkoff, clickstream, clock-in, clock-out, clockwatcher, clockwatching, consultee, correspondingly, coworking, crosscheck, cyberculture, cybernaut, cyberstalking |
| 0173–0192 · D | datestamp, dead-end, deadtime, debounce, decision-making, decisionmaker, defrag, defragment, defragmentation, deliveryman, deliverywoman, deskbound, desynchronise, disconnection, discriminator, diskette, diskless, dispatch, dissentient, dissentious |
| 0193–0197 · D | dongle, doorperson, doorwoman, double-check, dragnet |
| 0198–0205 · E | e-book, e-learning, emailable, emailer, emotive, employee-owned, expat, expatriate |
| 0206–0217 · F | facemask, favicon, flamebait, flashcard, flashtube, form-filling, forthright, freeloader, freemium, frontend, full-time, furnishings |
| 0218–0221 · G | gatekeeping, geoblock, gigahertz, guideline |
| 0222–0241 · H | handyperson, handywoman, hashtag, headhunter, headshot, helpmate, henceforth, henceforward, hereafter, hereby, herein, hereupon, herewith, high-visibility, hiree, hirer, holidaymaking, homebound, homemaker, homemaking |
| 0242–0255 · H | homeowner, homework, homeworker, house-sitter, housecleaning, householder, househusband, housekeeping, housesitting, housewares, housewarming, housewife, housework, hybrid |
| 0256–0270 · I | in-store, inasmuch, incomer, indistinctness, infodemic, infodump, informality, infowar, infowarfare, insofar, interconnectedness, interdependently, interviewee, interviewer, inversely |
| 0271–0277 · J | jailbreak, jailbreaking, janitorial, jobholder, jobless, joblessness, jobseeker |
| 0278–0279 · K | keybinding, kneepad |
| 0280–0286 · L | labour-saving, labourer, landowner, lanyard, lateness, leave-taking, livestreamer |
| 0287–0306 · M | mailbomb, maildrop, malinformation, mediational, memecoin, microblogger, microfiche, microfilm, minidisc, misapprehend, misclick, miscommunicate, miscommunication, misconceive, misconception, misconstruction, misconstrue, misidentification, misstatement, moonlighter |
| 0307–0309 · M | mouthpiece, multichannel, multiuser |
| 0310–0320 · N | namecheck, negotiability, negotiatory, nominally, nonattendance, nonconsensual, nonequivalent, nonidentical, nonjudgemental, nonnegotiable, nonviable |
| 0321–0331 · O | off-duty, officialdom, offsite, on-call, onsite, opt-in, opt-out, outbalance, outworker, overrepresent, overstock |
| 0332–0351 · P | part-time, passkey, paycheque, payola, phablet, photoblog, photostream, piecework, pieceworker, pink-collar, platformer, preinstall, preliminarily, preparedness, presumably, printshop, probationary, productiveness, prospectively, provisionally |
| 0352–0358 · P | proximally, pull-down, purpose-built, purposefulness, purposelessness, purposive, pushbutton |
| 0359–0360 · Q | queue-jumper, queue-jumping |
| 0361–0380 · R | railcard, rapport, readme, recheck, reciprocally, recode, recondition, recyclability, redecoration, redirect, refit, refreshable, refurbisher, reload, renovator, rent-free, rent-seeker, repairer, reparable, replaster |
| 0381–0394 · R | replumb, reportability, reportable, reportage, representable, residentiary, respectively, restock, retweet, rewire, rightsizing, roommate, rule-of-thumb, rulemaking |
| 0395–0414 · S | scamware, screencast, screensaver, screenshot, scrollable, searchlight, secondhand, self-catering, self-checkout, self-employment, self-service, self-storage, shareable, sharenting, shareowner, shelf-life, shelfmark, shelfware, shiftwork, shiftworker |
| 0415–0434 · S | shoppable, sideline, sideload, signifier, simultaneity, skippable, slacktivism, smartwatch, smiley, snapback, snapshot, sniffer, solderer, spambot, spammer, spokesman, spokesperson, spokeswoman, squatter, squatting |
| 0435–0448 · S | stakeholder, stakeholding, stalker, steel-toed, stewardess, stockkeeper, stockout, storekeeper, stylesheet, subreddit, subtenancy, subtenant, suitability, supposedly |
| 0449–0468 · T | technically, telephonist, tenancy, tenant, thenceforth, theoretically, thereafter, thereby, therefrom, therein, theretofore, thereupon, therewith, thumb-rule, ticket-holder, timecard, timeclock, tradesman, tradesperson, tradeswoman |
| 0469–0472 · T | trailblazing, trojan, turning-point, tweetable |
| 0473–0485 · U | uncollectable, underrepresent, understock, undertaker, undertime, unequalled, unfitness, unfollow, unrelatedness, unsuitability, updater, uptake, upvote |
| 0486–0487 · V | videoblog, vlog |
| 0488–0507 · W | waitlist, warehouseperson, warehousewoman, watchlist, watchperson, watchwoman, watchword, webcam, webchat, webcomic, webform, whence, whereafter, whereby, wherefrom, wherein, whereupon, wherewith, white-collar, whither |
| 0508–0514 · W | wiki, workfare, workman, workperson, workshy, workwear, workwoman |
Advanced — optional supported reading: words 515–2000
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z
| Sequence and initial | Words, in sequence |
|---|---|
| 0515–0534 · A | abductive, abeyance, abjuration, absconder, abstention, acceptation, accession, accessor, accrual, acquittance, actionability, actuarially, acyclic, acyclicity, addend, addressability, addressable, adjoint, administrability, administrable |
| 0535–0554 · A | administratorship, admiralty, advisement, aetiological, aetiology, affiant, agential, aggregator, aldermanship, alderperson, aleatory, alienee, alienor, alimony, allocution, allometric, allometry, allonge, amicus, amortisable |
| 0555–0574 · A | analyticity, anarchism, ancillary, annuitant, anonymiser, antebellum, antenuptial, anthropocentric, anthropocentrism, antibot, anticolonial, anticolonialism, antimalware, antinomial, antiparliamentary, antipattern, antipoverty, antirealism, antirealist, antispam |
| 0575–0594 · A | antispyware, apodictic, apolitical, apoliticism, apparatchik, applicative, appraisement, appurtenance, appurtenant, arbitrability, aristocracy, arity, arraignment, arrestee, arrestment, assemblyman, assemblyperson, assemblywoman, asset-backed, assetless |
| 0595–0614 · A | assignee, assignor, assize, atomicity, austerity, autarchy, autarky, authoriser, autocompletion, autoconfiguration, autocorrelation, autodetect, autodiscover, autodiscovery, autoencoder, autoregressive, autostart, averment, axiological, axiology |
| 0615–0634 · B | backend, backplane, backpropagation, backtesting, backwardation, bail, bail-in, bailee, bailiwick, bailment, bailor, bancassurance, baseband, batcher, bearishness, behaviouralism, behaviourism, behaviourist, behaviouristic, bicommunal |
| 0635–0654 · B | bigamy, bigram, bijection, bijective, bimetallism, binational, bipartite, bitness, bivalence, blockchain, blue-chip, bondman, bondsman, bookbuilding, bookrunner, bootstrapping, broker-dealer, bufferless, bullishness, burden |
| 0655–0660 · B | burglary, buy-side, buyback, buyout, by-election, bytewise |
| 0661–0680 · C | cabinetmaking, cacheable, caching, cadastral, cadastre, callability, callable, cantonment, capitation, caseload, caseworker, caveator, certiorari, cession, chaining, chairman, chamberlain, champerty, chargeback, chargee |
| 0681–0700 · C | chargor, chartist, circulant, civilianisation, classifier, clawback, clearinghouse, clickjacking, clickwrap, client-side, clientelism, clustering, clusterware, co-governance, co-insurance, co-payment, coalescing, coalitionist, codepoint, codicil |
| 0701–0720 · C | codifier, cognitivism, cognitivist, cohabitant, cohabitation, coherentism, coherentist, collaterally, collectability, collectible, collectivist, collinear, collinearity, combinator, combinatorics, committal, committer, commonalty, commonweal, commonwealth |
| 0721–0740 · C | communalist, communism, communist, communistic, communitarian, communitarianism, commutation, commutativity, comparative, comparativism, compellable, composability, composable, compositing, compossible, compounding, comptroller, concatenation, conceptualisation, conceptualism |
| 0741–0760 · C | conceptualist, conceptuality, condemnation, condonation, configurator, confiscation, confluent, congressman, congresswoman, consequentialism, consequentialist, consociational, consociationalism, consol, consolidation, consortium, constitutionalisation, constructor, consulship, consultor |
| 0761–0780 · C | contempt, contextless, contextualism, contextualist, contextuality, contraband, contractee, contravariance, contravariant, contribution, contributory, contumacy, convertibility, convexity, conveyance, conveyancer, conveyancing, convolute, convolution, copartner |
| 0781–0800 · C | copay, corporatism, corporatist, corporative, corporatocracy, cosmopolitanism, cotenancy, cotenant, countercyclical, counterevidence, counterfactuality, counterinsurgency, counterintuition, counterrevolution, countertrade, coup, couponing, courtship, covariant, covariation |
| 0801–0820 · C | covenant, covenantee, covenantor, credal, creditable, criminalise, cross-examiner, cross-question, crossholding, crowdfund, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, cryptoeconomics, cryptojacker, cryptominer, cryptomining, cryptonym, custodial, cyberwarfare |
| 0821–0822 · C | cyclicality, cyclomatic |
| 0823–0842 · D | daemon, debentureholder, debouncer, debtholder, decapitalisation, decedent, decipherability, decolonisation, decolonise, decomposability, deconstructionism, deconstructionist, decumulation, dedollarisation, deduplicate, deduplication, defeasance, deferment, deferral, deficiency |
| 0843–0862 · D | deflationism, defragmenter, deinterlace, deleveraging, delimiter, demarcation, demographer, demographic, demography, demos, demultiplex, demultiplexing, demurrer, denominational, denormalise, deontic, deontological, deontology, depacketisation, depoliticisation |
| 0863–0882 · D | depoliticise, derivability, deserialiser, devisee, devisor, dial-up, dialectic, dialectical, dialectician, dictatorial, digester, disanalogue, disanalogy, disburse, disbursement, disconfirmable, disconfirmation, disestablish, disestablishment, disjunct |
| 0883–0902 · D | disjuncture, dispatchable, dispatcher, dispositional, disproval, disputability, dissidence, dissident, distrain, distraint, distributable, distributee, districting, divorcee, dockerisation, docstring, dollarisation, domicile, domiciliary, donative |
| 0903–0915 · D | donee, double-dealing, doubleword, dower, downside, downsizing, dowry, doxastic, drawee, dualist, duplexer, durably, dyarchy |
| 0916–0935 · E | earmark, earn-out, economism, eigenbasis, ejectment, electioneering, eligibility, eliminativism, eliminativist, embezzlement, emergentism, emergentist, encapsulator, encash, encashment, endianness, endorse, endorsee, endorsement, endorser |
| 0936–0955 · E | entailment, epsilon, equalisation, equaliser, equifinality, equiprobable, equivocator, escheat, escrow, estop, estoppel, ethicist, ethnocentrism, ethnocracy, ethnonationalism, ethnopolitics, eurocentric, eurocentrism, evaluability, eventing |
| 0956–0975 · E | evictee, evidentialism, evidentialist, ex-dividend, exaction, exception, exceptionality, exchangeability, exchequer, executor, executory, exemplarity, exfiltrate, exfiltration, exogenous, explanandum, explanans, explicability, explicandum, explicans |
| 0976–0987 · E | explicative, expropriate, expropriation, expungement, extensibility, extensible, externalisation, externalism, externalist, externality, extraditable, extradition |
| 0988–1007 · F | facticity, factoring, failback, falsificationism, falsificationist, fanout, fiduciary, filestore, filesystem, filiation, filibusterer, filterability, filterable, fineable, fintech, fiscalism, fissiparous, flexbox, floatability, floorplan |
| 1008–1024 · F | flowchart, foreperson, forewoman, forex, forfaiting, foundationalism, foundationalist, franchisee, franchising, franchisor, freeholder, frontbencher, frontside, fungibility, fungible, fuzzer, fuzzing |
| 1025–1044 · G | garnishee, garnishment, gendarmerie, generativity, geocoder, geocoding, geofence, gerontocracy, gerrymander, gerrymandering, gigaflop, gilt-edged, glob, globbing, governability, governmentality, governorate, grantee, grantor, grassroots |
| 1045–1051 · G | greenback, greenmail, greenwashing, greylisting, greyscale, gross-up, guardianship |
| 1052–1071 · H | habilitation, haircut, handler, harassment, hardcode, hawkishness, heapify, heapsort, hegemonic, heritable, hireling, homicide, homomorphic, homothetic, hoster, hyperthreading, hypostasis, hypostatise, hypothecate, hypothecation |
| 1072–1091 · I | ideational, ideologue, iframe, immaterialism, immaterialist, immiseration, impairment, implead, impleader, implementer, impurity, incendiary, incentivisation, incidental, inconvertible, incorporeal, incrementalism, indefeasibility, indemnitor, indenture |
| 1092–1111 · I | indiscernibility, individualist, inductivism, inductivist, industrialisation, industrialism, industrialist, inferentialism, inferentialist, infinitism, infinitist, inflation-linked, inflation-proof, informant, infosec, initialiser, inode, instantiable, instantiate, instantiation |
| 1112–1131 · I | institutional, institutionalisation, instrumentality, insufficiency, insurability, intentionalist, interbank, interdealer, interdict, interdiction, interleave, internalism, internalist, interpleader, interpretivism, interpretivist, interprocess, interruptibility, interruptible, intertemporal |
| 1132–1151 · I | intestacy, intestate, intimidate, intraday, intransitive, intrusiveness, intuitionism, intuitionist, intuitionistic, inure, invalidly, invertibility, invertible, irrationality, irreconcilability, irredentism, irredentist, irresoluble, issuance, issuer |
| 1152–1152 · I | iterability |
| 1153–1164 · J | jitter, jobber, jobbing, joinder, judgelike, judicator, judicature, judicialisation, jurist, justiciability, justiciable, justificatory |
| 1165–1175 · K | kakistocracy, keymap, keyspace, keystore, kibibyte, kidnapper, kidnapping, kleptocracy, kleptocrat, knowledgeability, kurtosis |
| 1176–1195 · L | laches, laissez-faire, larceny, lawfulness, leakiness, leaseback, leftism, leftist, legitimisation, lemma, lessee, lessor, lexeme, lexicalisation, lexicalise, lexing, liberalist, libertarian, libertarianism, libertine |
| 1196–1214 · L | lien, lienholder, liturgy, loadable, lobbying, localise, localiser, localist, lock-in, lockout, logicality, logician, logicism, logicist, long-run, long-term, lookahead, lookbehind, loss-making |
| 1215–1234 · M | macroblock, macrocode, macroinstruction, macroprudential, maintainability, majoritarian, majoritarianism, malapportionment, marginalism, marginalist, marital, mark-to-market, marketisation, materialism, materialist, materialistic, materiality, matrixwise, maximisation, maximiser |
| 1235–1254 · M | meaningfulness, meaninglessness, memoisation, memoise, memoryless, mercantilism, mercantilist, merchantability, merger, meshing, metaclass, metacognitive, metalinguistics, metaprogramming, metastructure, metasyntax, methodological, methodologically, methodology, microarchitecture |
| 1255–1274 · M | microcredit, microfinance, microinstruction, microinsurance, microkernel, microloan, microprudential, midcap, militarism, militarist, minification, minifier, minimax, misjoinder, mistrial, modalism, modulo, moneylender, moneylending, moneyless |
| 1275–1294 · M | moneyness, monocameral, monocracy, monoid, monopsonist, monotonic, monotonicity, mortgage, mortgage-backed, mortgagee, mortgagor, multibyte, multicast, multicausal, multicore, multifactorial, multifarious, multigraph, multihop, multilingualism |
| 1295–1301 · M | multipath, multiversion, multiversioning, mutex, mutualisation, mutualise, mutualist |
| 1302–1321 · N | namespace, nationalistic, nativism, nativist, necessitarian, necessitarianism, necessitate, necessitation, negation, negationism, negationist, negotiable, neocolonial, neocolonialism, neoconservative, neoliberal, neoliberalism, next-of-kin, no-fault, node-based |
| 1322–1341 · N | nolition, nominalistic, nonbank, noncash, noncognitive, noncognitivist, nondeterminism, nondeterministic, nondurable, nonjoinder, nonjusticiable, nonpartisanship, nonperformance, nonperforming, nonrecourse, nonresident, nonsuit, nontrivial, nontriviality, normaliser |
| 1342–1355 · N | normative, normatively, normativity, notarial, notional, novate, novation, nullability, nullable, nullary, nullification, nullish, nullity, numeraire |
| 1356–1375 · O | obiter, objectivism, objectivist, obscurantism, obscurantist, obstructionism, obstructionist, occupancy, occupier, octree, off-balance-sheet, officialese, offloading, oligopolist, oligopsonist, oligopsony, ombudswoman, open-ended, operationalisation, operationalise |
| 1376–1395 · O | operationalism, operationalist, oppositionist, optimality, optimisable, optionality, optionee, ordoliberalism, origination, originator, outplacement, overbanked, overcapitalisation, overcapitalise, overfitting, overfunding, overgeneralise, overheating, overinterpret, overleveraged |
| 1396–1401 · O | overloading, oversimplification, oversimplify, oversubscribe, oversubscription, overtrading |
| 1402–1421 · P | packetisation, packetiser, padding, palindrome, paradigmatic, paradoxical, paralegal, parameterless, parastatal, paravirtualisation, pardoner, parity, parliamentarism, parolee, parseability, partiality, particularise, particularity, patentee, paternalism |
| 1422–1441 · P | paternalist, patriarchy, patrimonial, patriotism, pawnbroker, pawnor, peacekeeper, peacekeeping, peacemaking, pecuniary, penology, pensionable, perceptibility, perceptron, peremptory, perpetrator, perpetuity, petabit, phenomenal, phenomenalism |
| 1442–1461 · P | phenomenalist, physicalism, physicalist, pipelining, pixelwise, placement, pledgee, pledgor, plenary, plurality, politburo, politician, politicise, politicking, politico, polity, polyarchy, portfolio, portlet, positivism |
| 1462–1481 · P | positivist, possessory, possibilism, possibilist, postcolonial, postcolonialism, postcondition, postfix, postnational, postnationalism, postnuptial, postprocessor, postulate, postulation, potentiality, pre-emption, pre-emptive, precompilation, precompile, predecease |
| 1482–1501 · P | predicator, prefect, prefectorial, prefecture, prefetch, prefetcher, prehearing, preloader, premier, prenuptial, preprocessor, prescriptive, presidency, presidential, presidentialism, presumptive, presuppose, presupposition, pretokenisation, price-sensitive |
| 1502–1521 · P | price-taker, primitivism, primitivist, privy, probabilism, probabilist, probate, probation, probationer, proceduralism, proceduralist, proconsulship, proctor, procuration, procurator, procyclical, procyclicality, profitless, progovernment, promisee |
| 1522–1541 · P | promisor, promissory, proponent, propositional, prorate, proration, prorogation, prorogue, protester, protocol, provability, provable, provincialism, proximate, proxy, prudential, pseudocode, psychologism, psychologistic, publicisation |
| 1542–1546 · P | publicist, pullup, purview, pushdown, puttable |
| 1547–1563 · Q | quadtree, quale, qualifier, qualitatively, quango, quantifiably, quantifier, quantile, quantitatively, quasi-contract, quaternion, questionable, quietus, quintile, quintillion, quitclaim, quittance |
| 1564–1583 · R | radicalisation, radicalise, radicalism, radix, randomisation, randomiser, rangefinder, rasterisation, rasteriser, rateable, ratemaking, rating, rationalisation, rationalist, rationalistic, rationally, read-only, readback, readhead, realisability |
| 1584–1603 · R | realisable, realpolitik, reargument, reassembly, reassign, reattachment, rebalancing, rebus, rebuttable, receivable, receivership, recognisance, recogniser, reconceptualisation, reconceptualise, reconcilable, reconsolidation, reconstructive, reconveyance, recoup |
| 1604–1623 · R | recoupment, redemption, redirection, rediscount, redispatch, redistributor, redownload, reductive, refactoring, reflexiveness, reflexivity, reformation, refoulement, refundability, refutability, refutable, regicide, regime, regimentation, registration |
| 1624–1643 · R | registry, regnal, regulariser, regulative, reification, reify, reinstate, reinsurance, reinsure, reinsurer, reinterpret, rejoinder, releasee, releasor, releveraging, reliabilism, reliabilist, reliably, relink, remainderman |
| 1644–1663 · R | remand, remit, remittal, remittance, remitter, remonetisation, remoting, renderable, rent-seeking, rentier, repatriation, replayability, replicative, replicator, repo, representationalist, repression, repressive, repricing, reprieve |
| 1664–1683 · R | reprivatisation, reproducibly, republisher, repudiation, repurchase, requester, resampling, resizable, resizer, resolvability, resolver, resourcing, restructuring, resumption, resynchronisation, resynchronise, retainer, retarget, rethrow, retrenchment |
| 1684–1703 · R | retrial, retriever, retryable, revanchism, revanchist, reverse-engineer, reversion, reversionary, reversioner, revisability, revisable, revolutionary, rewind, rightism, rightist, rigorous, rigour, riot, riskless, rollover |
| 1704–1708 · R | rout, royalism, royalist, royalty, runnable |
| 1709–1728 · S | salience, salient, salting, salvager, scienter, scientism, scientistic, screenful, scriptable, scriptlet, scrollback, secessionism, secretaryship, sectarian, sectarianism, secularisation, secularist, sedition, seditious, seeder |
| 1729–1748 · S | segmentation, segregation, segregationism, segregationist, seigniorage, selectional, self-determination, selloff, semantic, semantics, semaphore, sensibility, sentencing, sequencer, sequestrator, serialisability, serialisable, serialiser, set-off, settlor |
| 1749–1768 · S | severability, severance, shadowing, shellcode, short-run, short-term, shortage, shrinkflation, sideband, simplism, simplistic, singleton, singularly, slander, slanderer, smoothing, socialise, socialism, socialist, softmax |
| 1769–1788 · S | solipsism, solipsist, soviet, sparsity, specifiable, specifier, speedup, spoliation, spooler, spooling, stackless, stagflationary, statecraft, stateful, statefulness, statesman, stateswoman, statism, statist, steganography |
| 1789–1808 · S | stipendiary, stochastic, stochasticity, stockholding, stockjobber, stoppage, strategist, structural, structuralism, structuralist, subagent, subarray, subgraph, subjectivism, subjectivist, sublease, sublessee, sublessor, sublet, subletting |
| 1809–1828 · S | subnational, subordination, subpixel, subprime, subrogation, subsidiarity, subsidy, substantive, substantively, substring, subsume, subsumption, suffragan, suffragette, summative, superannuation, supererogation, supererogatory, supermajority, superscalar |
| 1829–1847 · S | superuser, supervene, supervenience, suretyship, surrogate, survivorship, suspensive, swappable, syllogise, symlink, synonymous, synonymy, syntactic, synthetically, syscall, systematisation, systematise, systemic, systemwide |
| 1848–1867 · T | tabstop, teardown, technopolitics, teleonomy, tenability, tenable, tenderer, tenge, teraflop, testament, testamentary, testate, testator, theocrat, theoretician, theorisation, theorist, thread-safe, tightness, timebase |
| 1868–1887 · T | timeout, timeslice, timezone, tokenisable, tokeniser, tokenism, tokenless, totaliser, traceback, traceroute, trackback, tradability, tradeoff, tranche, transactional, transactor, transcendence, transcendent, transcompiler, transferability |
| 1888–1907 · T | transferee, transferor, transgress, transitive, transitivity, transpilation, transpile, transpiler, treason, treasurership, treasury, trespasser, tribalist, trichotomous, trichotomy, trier, tripartite, triviality, trustee, trusteeship |
| 1908–1916 · T | trustor, tuple, type-safe, typecast, typeform, typeless, typicality, typification, typological |
| 1917–1936 · U | unborn, unbuffered, unconscionable, undecidability, undecidable, undercapitalisation, underdetermination, underinvestment, undervalue, unencumbered, unicasting, unification, unitarian, unitary, unitisation, universalisation, universalistic, unlevered, unlockable, unmarshal |
| 1937–1949 · U | unprovable, unquestionable, unserialise, untenability, upswing, uptrend, urbanist, userland, usurious, usury, utilisation, utilise, utopianism |
| 1950–1969 · V | vagueness, validator, validly, valuator, value-added, vectorisation, vectoriser, vendee, vendible, veridical, veridicality, verisimilitude, vesting, veto, vetoer, viceregal, viceroy, viceroyalty, victimisation, viewport |
| 1970–1979 · V | violative, virality, virtuality, virtuousness, voidable, volitional, voluntariness, voluntarism, voluntarist, voxel |
| 1980–1993 · W | warehouseman, warrantor, websocket, weightage, whitespace, wildcard, wireframe, wittingly, worthwhileness, writable, write-down, write-off, writeback, wrongful |
| 1994–1994 · X | xenophobic |
| 1995–1996 · Y | yottabyte, yuan |
| 1997–2000 · Z | zeroisation, zeroise, zettabyte, zloty |
Using this bank
Understand a claim, read the conditions and ask a useful question before deciding.
The complete list is above. Go to age guidance, the practical method, definitions and examples, common problems, frequent questions or all published age banks.
A promising headline can leave the important question unanswered. What does the offer include? Who has to do something next? Which condition could change the result? This bank helps you find words for those questions when you read a notice, compare a service, discuss a proposal or prepare a clear request.
Begin with the decision or passage in front of you. Look up the one word that changes its meaning, explain it in ordinary language and return to the complete sentence. You do not need to collect impressive expressions before asking someone to explain an unclear condition.
The earlier volumes already contain many everyday words. This volume therefore includes substantial specialist material from public life, economics, technology and reasoning. Keep those terms available for a relevant interest. A teenager is not expected to recognise the entire list, and the word count is not a measure of readiness for adult life.
What Age 16 means here
The Institute of Education Sciences adolescent literacy guide recommends explicit vocabulary teaching and discussion of a text’s meaning. Those recommendations concern classroom practice. They support attention to meaning and explanation, but do not validate this list, its age label or a requirement to learn 2,000 words. IES / What Works Clearinghouse: Improving Adolescent Literacy · EEF: Secondary literacy recommendations.
Age 16 identifies a volume in this editorial sequence. Children/Teen includes young people browsing for themselves and adults supporting them. The bands are routes through this particular selection, not examination levels, developmental norms or a test of intelligence. Specialist legal and financial vocabulary can vary with the document and jurisdiction; the examples here illustrate word meanings.
| Band | What it means here | How to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | A starting route within this collection | Choose an entry that fits something you already notice, discuss or enjoy. |
| Intermediate | More detail, description and relationships | Choose a word that makes an existing idea more precise or adds a useful distinction. |
| Advanced | Optional supported reading extension | Use a term only when a suitable text, interest or question gives it a meaningful context. |
Back to the word list · Guide and examples
Turn an unfamiliar expression into a question you can answer
1. Keep the promise and its condition together
Copy or reread the whole relevant sentence, including words such as if, unless, until and subject to. Notice who makes the claim and who is expected to act. A condition in the next sentence may change what the headline appears to promise.
2. Choose the word that changes the decision
You may understand most of the passage already. Start with the term that changes the cost, timing, responsibility or evidence. Write a short explanation in familiar language. Check a reliable dictionary or the document’s own definitions when the intended sense is uncertain.
3. Make a small example
Imagine one ordinary case in which the term applies. Then change one detail: the date, the person, the amount or the condition. Ask whether the same explanation still works. A made-up example helps test your interpretation; it does not establish what a real provider has agreed to.
4. Ask what remains unknown
Identify the missing information precisely. You might ask which features require payment, when a postponed event will happen, or what evidence could change a conclusion. A useful question is specific enough for someone to answer without guessing what you meant.
5. Keep a short record and revisit it
For a decision that matters to you, save the relevant wording and the explanation you received. When the word appears again, compare the new context with the earlier one. Change your interpretation if the facts or the document’s definition change.
EEF’s Vocabulary in Action resource encourages clear explanations, meaningful examples and encounters with words in different contexts. The sequence above is an original practical application of those broad principles. It is not a tested programme or a prescribed daily routine. EEF: Vocabulary in Action.
Back to the word list · Guide and examples
Useful meanings and examples from ordinary life
Examples use familiar words from across the series, including earlier volumes. The no-repeat rule applies only to the numbered bank entries. The short meanings below explain the intended sense in each example; they are not exhaustive dictionary entries.
1. Compare a benefit with a disadvantage
downside — a disadvantage or unwanted aspect of an option
“The later workshop gives us more preparation time. Its downside is that two team members cannot attend.”
Name the actual disadvantage. Calling something a downside does not establish how serious it is or whether it outweighs the benefit.
Meaning reference: Cambridge Dictionary: downside.
2. Check what has been postponed
deferment — putting an event or requirement off until a later time
“The fictional club notice grants a deferment of the equipment inspection until Friday.”
The inspection has moved to a later date. The word alone does not say it has been cancelled, that an exception is permanent or that every other deadline has changed.
Meaning reference: Cambridge Dictionary: deferment.
3. Read what the free version includes
freemium — an offering with a free basic version and paid additional features
“In this made-up editing app, cropping a photograph is free; removing the watermark requires a paid upgrade. The app uses a freemium model.”
List which features you need and which version includes them. The label alone does not tell you the price, renewal terms, advertising arrangements or data practices.
Meaning reference: Cambridge Dictionary: freemium.
4. Notice a condition for recovering a payment
clawback — recovery of money or a benefit that was previously paid or provided
“In a fictional grant agreement, a clawback clause allows recovery of the unused part of an advance when the project is cancelled.”
The example concerns one written condition. For an actual agreement, read what triggers recovery, what can be recovered and who can require it. Do not infer those details from the word alone.
Meaning reference: Cornell Legal Information Institute: clawback.
5. Ask whether one unit can replace another
fungible — interchangeable with another unit of the same kind and value
“Identical, unused tokens for the same fairground ride are fungible in this example: either token buys the same ride.”
A signed token kept as a personal souvenir may matter to its owner in a different way. The relevant kind, value and context determine whether substitution works.
Meaning reference: Cambridge Dictionary: fungible.
6. Find who holds something until a condition is met
escrow — an arrangement in which a neutral third party holds assets until agreed conditions are satisfied
“In the fictional transaction described in a novel, the buyer’s money remains in escrow until the required documents arrive.”
The reader should identify the holder, the assets and the release condition. Merely calling a service escrow does not establish that a real service is trustworthy or that its terms suit you.
Meaning reference: Cornell Legal Information Institute: escrow.
7. Leave room for evidence to change an assumption
rebuttable — capable of being challenged and overturned by sufficient contrary evidence
“The report treats its starting assumption as rebuttable and explains what evidence would overturn it.”
Ask what the assumption is and what would count against it. In legal writing, a rebuttable presumption has a particular procedural role; an everyday discussion does not automatically follow those legal rules.
Meaning reference: Cornell Legal Information Institute: rebuttable presumption.
8. Look beyond the people making the transaction
externality — an effect of an economic activity on others that is not reflected in the transaction’s price
“A fictional outdoor event sells tickets, while its loudspeakers disturb nearby residents who are not attending. The disturbance illustrates a negative externality.”
The concept can also describe beneficial effects. First identify who is affected and how; the word by itself does not settle the size of the effect or the best response.
Meaning reference: International Monetary Fund: externalities.
Knowing the label is the beginning of understanding the situation
A precise term can compress a complicated idea. That is useful only when the reader can unpack it. After meeting a word such as deferment, try completing this sentence: “In this document, it means that…” Add the person, action and relevant condition. If you cannot finish the sentence, you have found a worthwhile question to ask.
Separate an observation, an interpretation and a decision. An observation might be that a notice gives no end date. Your interpretation might be that the arrangement is open-ended. Your decision might be to ask for the end date before proceeding. Keeping those steps visible makes it easier for someone else to correct a misunderstanding without turning the conversation into an argument.
Specialist language also has boundaries. A legal dictionary may explain a term through one jurisdiction; a software manual may give a word a precise technical meaning. Read the context and source alongside the definition. For an actual commitment, the complete current terms matter more than a short glossary example.
You can remain uncertain and still communicate clearly. Say which part you understand, which part you are unsure about and what information you need. “Does the deferment move this deadline to Friday?” is a useful question. There is no need to hide uncertainty behind a longer sentence.
Back to the word list · Guide and examples
Five possible occasions to return to a useful word
Choose occasions that fit naturally. These are not five compulsory days, and there is no daily quota or completion deadline. Repeat, change or stop an activity according to your interest and purpose.
| Occasion | What to try |
|---|---|
| A service description | Choose one term affecting what is included. Find the sentence that explains the condition or limitation. |
| A public proposal | Identify who gains a benefit and who may bear a cost. Distinguish a stated fact from your own prediction. |
| An unfamiliar form | Explain one instruction plainly. Ask the issuing organisation about any wording that affects what you must provide. |
| A discussion with different opinions | Ask what evidence would change each interpretation. Keep the question connected to the actual disagreement. |
| A later encounter with the same term | Check whether the word has the same meaning in this setting. Keep the useful distinction and revise any mistaken assumption. |
Reading and languages at home
Let the topic guide your reading. A story, information book, picture, recipe, sign or instruction can give a word a useful context. Read with someone when you want support, or discuss an unfamiliar passage afterwards. Pause for a necessary explanation and return to the meaning of the passage.
Use the languages you are comfortable using, and welcome connections between them. The Communication Health Support Association encourages families to give children opportunities to use their languages. This English bank cannot represent everything a multilingual reader knows. CHSA: Learning More Than One Language.
When something is not working
| What you notice | A useful adjustment |
|---|---|
| The definition is as difficult as the original word | Start with a concrete example, then explain the example in familiar language. Consult another reliable reference if the intended sense is still unclear. |
| A headline seems clearer than the detailed conditions | Read the relevant conditions together with the headline. Ask a specific question about the part that appears inconsistent. |
| A technical word is being used as proof | Ask for the observation, calculation or reason behind the claim. A correct label does not supply missing evidence. |
| The word appears to mean something different elsewhere | Compare the subject, grammar and source. A word can have several legitimate senses, and a document may define one explicitly. |
| The list feels too specialised to be useful | Return to the passage or task you actually need to understand. Choose a different volume or a familiar word; there is no requirement to finish this one. |
Back to the word list · Guide and examples
Frequently asked questions
Must a sixteen-year-old know all these words?
No. This is a reference selection, including specialist extensions. The age label identifies a volume, and the bands organise its contents. Neither the list nor its length establishes what a young person should know.
Why does the bank include work, public life and technology?
Those contexts offer useful reasons to ask about meaning, evidence and responsibility. Choose the area connected to your current reading or interests. You do not need every specialist term to make an ordinary request or understand an everyday notice.
Can this page explain an actual contract or financial product?
Its short examples explain vocabulary. An actual document may define its terms differently and include conditions this page does not cover. Read the complete document and seek a qualified explanation when its consequences matter.
How many words should I choose each day?
There is no daily requirement. One useful word explained well may be enough for the passage you are reading. Return when another question arises, and repeat familiar language freely.
What happens after the Age 16 volume?
The expanded collection now includes Ages 1–24. You can revisit any age bank by topic, interest or the word you need. The sequence is an editorial allocation, so moving to an earlier volume is simply choosing another useful reference.
The sequence and word audit
Age 16: 2,000 distinct listed entries. This volume occupies series positions 30,001–32,000. The published collection currently contains Ages 1–24, with 48,000 distinct listed entries across twenty-four banks.
The audit checks the numbered list entries, rather than every word in the article. Case, spacing, hyphens, apostrophes, accents and recorded spelling variants are normalised to catch duplicates. Established single words and conventional hyphenated headwords count as entries. Different meanings of the same spelling do not receive extra entries. Some useful derived forms are separate entries; the total is not a count of unrelated word families.
“Top” means an editorial selection for this reference project. It does not mean the most frequent words in a measured language corpus or the best 2,000 words for every reader. Sequence numbers locate entries in the collection; they are not importance scores or developmental measures.
Keep repeating useful words in real life. The non-repeating lists offer additional choices. They do not recommend withholding familiar language or learning 2,000 new words at each birthday.
Age 1: 2,000-word bank · Age 2: 2,000-word bank · Age 3: 2,000-word bank · Age 4: 2,000-word bank · Age 5: 2,000-word bank · Age 6: 2,000-word bank · Age 7: 2,000-word bank · Age 8: 2,000-word bank · Age 9: 2,000-word bank · Age 10: 2,000-word bank · Age 11: 2,000-word bank · Age 12: 2,000-word bank · Age 13: 2,000-word bank · Age 14: 2,000-word bank · Age 15: 2,000-word bank · Age 16: 2,000-word bank · Age 17: 2,000-word bank · Age 18: 2,000-word bank · Age 19: 2,000-word bank · Age 20: 2,000-word bank · Age 21: 2,000-word bank · Age 22: 2,000-word bank · Age 23: 2,000-word bank · Age 24: 2,000-word bank
| Published volume | Series positions |
|---|---|
| Age 1 | 1–2,000 |
| Age 2 | 2,001–4,000 |
| Age 3 | 4,001–6,000 |
| Age 4 | 6,001–8,000 |
| Age 5 | 8,001–10,000 |
| Age 6 | 10,001–12,000 |
| Age 7 | 12,001–14,000 |
| Age 8 | 14,001–16,000 |
| Age 9 | 16,001–18,000 |
| Age 10 | 18,001–20,000 |
| Age 11 | 20,001–22,000 |
| Age 12 | 22,001–24,000 |
| Age 13 | 24,001–26,000 |
| Age 14 | 26,001–28,000 |
| Age 15 | 28,001–30,000 |
| Age 16 | 30,001–32,000 |
| Age 17 | 32,001–34,000 |
| Age 18 | 34,001–36,000 |
| Age 19 | 36,001–38,000 |
| Age 20 | 38,001–40,000 |
| Age 21 | 40,001–42,000 |
| Age 22 | 42,001–44,000 |
| Age 23 | 44,001–46,000 |
| Age 24 | 46,001–48,000 |
Entry counts and cross-age allocation checked on 3 November 2026 (Asia/Singapore). The selection is an original editorial resource. The sources below support the attributed communication, observation and reading guidance; they do not endorse or validate this particular word bank.
A useful next step
Take one claim, instruction or offer you want to understand. Explain the key term plainly, identify its condition and write one question that would help you decide what to do next.
Back to the word list · Guide and examples
Sources and editorial note
IES / What Works Clearinghouse: Improving Adolescent Literacy
CHSA: Learning More Than One Language
Cambridge Dictionary: downside
Cambridge Dictionary: deferment
Cambridge Dictionary: freemium
Cornell Legal Information Institute: clawback
Cambridge Dictionary: fungible
Cornell Legal Information Institute: escrow
Cornell Legal Information Institute: rebuttable presumption
International Monetary Fund: externalities
EEF: Secondary literacy recommendations
The guides, definitions and examples are original eduKate editorial explanations. The cited organisations do not endorse this page. “Top” describes the editorial selection; no search ranking, measured word-frequency order or learning outcome is promised.
edu|Kate Singapore · Clear words for useful conversations, reading and everyday understanding.
Vocabulary Growth Guide for Age 16: Why, What and How
A useful vocabulary helps you move from “This seems better” to an explanation someone else can examine. Better for which purpose? Under what conditions? What would make you change your mind? Words such as tradeoff, provisionally and counterevidence can help organise those questions, but only when you can connect them to the actual decision.
Choose language for a real question, check its meaning, inspect the relevant evidence and explain a decision with its limits. This guide develops a repeatable way to do that work independently or with support. The bank above offers options; it is not a test of readiness for adulthood or a requirement to master 2,000 specialist entries.
Why vocabulary supports decisions · What independence involves · Research and its limits · A worked example · A practical routine · Recognising progress
Why a precise word should improve the question
A tradeoff involves gaining something while giving up something else. Naming it invites you to identify both sides rather than talk only about the attractive feature. Provisionally describes a position adopted for now, subject to later confirmation or revision. It should help explain the current state of a decision, not provide an excuse to avoid giving reasons.
Counterevidence is evidence that counts against a claim or interpretation. It is not simply another person disagreeing with you. To use the word well, identify the claim, the relevant evidence and why the two do not fit comfortably together. You may discover that a stronger claim needs narrowing rather than rejecting every part of it.
The Age 16 guide to research literacy and academic writing offers related reading tasks. Here, the focus is on making the link between a useful term and a real piece of reasoning visible.
What independent word learning involves
Independence does not mean understanding everything without help. It means noticing which part is unclear, selecting an appropriate way to check it and returning to the task with a better explanation. A dictionary may resolve a word meaning. A subject source may explain a mechanism. A record or direct observation may be needed to check whether a particular claim is true.
Keep those checks separate. A correct definition of offline does not establish whether a particular tool works without an internet connection. A definition of methodology does not establish that a study used a sound method. Vocabulary makes the question easier to formulate; evidence is still needed to answer it.
A metacognitive routine makes your own understanding an object of attention. Ask, “Which part can I explain? Which part am I assuming? What check would help?” Then act on the answer. Merely naming metacognition is not the routine. The useful work is identifying a gap, choosing a response and checking whether that response resolved it.
What research supports about checking online information
The researchers behind Lateral Reading on the Open Internet tested classroom instruction in online evaluation. Students practised leaving an unfamiliar website to investigate it elsewhere before investing attention in its claims. The study found improvement in judging digital credibility. This supports teaching an information-checking practice; it is not evidence that memorising vocabulary automatically produces the same skill or that every additional webpage is independent confirmation.
For this guide, the application is to check a claim’s origin and relevant support rather than judge it by polished wording alone. A technical term, attractive page or confident tone cannot supply missing evidence. When several sites repeat the same original claim, identify that shared origin before treating the repetition as multiple independent checks.
The decision exercise below is an original editorial suggestion, not the intervention tested in the study. No source cited here validates this exact word bank, a fixed yearly learning quota or a guarantee of improved general intelligence. The learning goal is more accurate interpretation and use in the task you actually perform.
A worked example: choosing a presentation format
Start with a fictional, low-stakes decision. A club needs a short presentation that can run in a room without internet access. In this exercise, Format A has been tested on the room’s computer and works offline, but it lacks the animations the team likes. Format B offers those animations, but the team has not yet checked whether it works offline. These are invented formats, not recommendations about real software.
Separate a requirement from a preference. Working without internet access is necessary for this task. Animations are a preference. Do not treat both as equally decisive simply because both appear on the team’s list. State the purpose first, then judge which features matter for that purpose.
Describe the tradeoff without inventing a fact. Format A gives the team a tested offline route while giving up the preferred animations. Format B’s offline status is unknown. “Format B cannot work offline” would go beyond the information supplied. Unchecked and impossible are different descriptions.
Make a provisional recommendation. “We provisionally recommend Format A because it meets the offline requirement in our test. We will reconsider if Format B can be shown to meet that requirement on the same computer.” This states the present reason and the kind of new information that could change the decision.
Specify a relevant check. A demonstration of Format B while connected to the internet would not answer the offline question. A claim on a page about a different version might also be insufficient. Identify the version, the actual presentation file, the computer and whether the needed features remain available without the connection.
Introduce counterevidence carefully. Suppose someone had claimed, “Format B always needs internet access.” A successful offline demonstration under the specified conditions would count against that universal claim. It would not establish that every feature of every version works offline. Explain exactly which statement the evidence challenges.
Update the decision rather than defend the first answer at all costs. If Format B passes the relevant test, reconsider the options using the same requirements and preferences. If it does not, record what failed. A revisable recommendation is one that can change for a reason, not one that changes whenever somebody speaks more confidently.
Transfer the reasoning to a new setting. Compare two possible rehearsal times: one allows more preparation, while the other allows all members to attend. Identify the new requirements and tradeoffs. The vocabulary remains useful, but there is no automatic answer carried over from the software example.
How to build a usable vocabulary rather than a collection of definitions
Notice a genuine obstacle. Select a word because it affects the passage or decision. You might need to distinguish a condition from a preference, an assumption from an observation or a current recommendation from a final commitment. Use the ordinary explanation first when it makes the distinction easier to see.
Keep the relevant context. Record the original sentence, the checked meaning and a source you can return to. Include a usage note when needed. “Provisionally describes our present recommendation” is more useful here than copying every dictionary sense without deciding which one belongs in the sentence.
Compare related forms and nearby meanings. Provisional and provisionally require different sentence structures. Evidence and counterevidence concern a relationship to a claim, not separate kinds of physical objects. Reuse familiar words from earlier banks to explain these relationships; non-repeating list entries do not imply non-repeating learning.
Give the word a communication task. Write a recommendation for a reader who does not share your background knowledge. Include the reason, the important condition and one uncertainty. Read it aloud and remove wording that adds formality without adding information. Precision should make the decision easier to inspect.
Return later with feedback. Try explaining a selected distinction without immediately consulting the note. Check the explanation afterwards, correct errors and apply it to a different example. This is a flexible practice suggestion, not an exact spacing formula or a requirement to test every word in the bank.
The Age 16 guide to synthesis and critical evaluation provides further activities. Adults can ask what would change the recommendation and help locate an appropriate source without making the decision on the teenager’s behalf.
How to recognise progress beyond fluent-sounding language
Look for a clearer connection: naming both sides of a tradeoff, stating why a recommendation is provisional or identifying the particular claim challenged by counterevidence. A useful response might also be, “I know what this term means, but I have not checked whether it applies here.” That makes an uncertainty visible rather than hiding it.
When a definition is accurate but its application is weak, return to the example and a contrasting case. When the reasoning is clear but the writing is tangled, simplify the sentence before adding terminology. When source information is missing, find that information rather than search for a stronger adjective.
Keep observations specific to the task. Do not infer overall ability from one specialist passage or one difficult spelling. Home-language explanations, diagrams and spoken rehearsal can help reveal an idea while the English wording is developing. The Age 16 guide to advanced reading and synthesis difficulties offers related discussion, not a diagnostic test.
How this becomes a continuing learning habit
The Age 15 growth guide develops fair comparison and synthesis. The Age 17 word bank provides further choices for reading and practical questions. There is no requirement to finish one volume before consulting another.
The growth goal is language you can explain, check and use responsibly. A new word is valuable when it helps you notice an important distinction, ask a better question or communicate a justified decision. The habit continues whenever a new text, project or conversation gives that word another useful job.
Research-informed guide added on 3 November 2026 by edu|Kate Singapore. Practical examples are original editorial suggestions, not a validated intervention. Return to the 2,000-word list · Return to this growth guide.