English Vocabulary Practice
Which words are worth learning first, how to actually remember them, and exercises to practice with.
Everyday vocabulary
These are the words and phrases that come up constantly in daily conversation — worth learning before anything more specialized:
- Routines: get up, head out, run errands, catch up (on something), wind down
- Opinions: I'd say..., to be honest, I'm not sure, it depends, as far as I know
- Small talk: How's it going? / Not bad, can't complain. / What have you been up to?
Academic vocabulary
Useful for coursework, presentations, and formal writing or discussion:
- analyze, evaluate, significant, in contrast, furthermore, as a result, to summarize
- hypothesis, methodology, findings, evidence suggests that..., it can be argued that...
Workplace vocabulary
Common in meetings, emails, and everyday office conversation:
- deadline, follow up, touch base, circle back, prioritize, delegate, stakeholder
- "Could you loop me in on that?" / "Let's take this offline." / "I'll get back to you by end of day."
Useful everyday phrases
- "I see what you mean, but..." (disagreeing politely)
- "That makes sense." (showing understanding)
- "Could you say that again?" / "Sorry, I didn't catch that." (asking for repetition)
- "Long story short..." (summarizing)
Collocations (natural word pairs)
Collocations are combinations native speakers use automatically — getting them right makes you sound far more natural, even if each word is individually simple.
| Natural | Not natural |
|---|---|
| make a decision | do a decision |
| make a mistake | do a mistake |
| heavy rain | strong rain |
| take a break | make a break |
| pay attention | give attention |
| save time | gain time |
Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs (verb + preposition/particle combinations) are extremely common in spoken English:
- give up — stop trying: "Don't give up on your goal."
- look into — investigate: "I'll look into that issue today."
- put off — postpone: "Let's not put off this decision."
- run into — meet by chance: "I ran into an old friend yesterday."
- get along with — have a good relationship: "I get along with my coworkers."
Vocabulary-learning techniques
- Learn phrases, not isolated words. Learning "make a decision" as one chunk is more useful for speaking than memorizing "make" and "decision" separately.
- Use new words within 24 hours. Actively using a new word — in a sentence, out loud, or in writing — soon after learning it dramatically improves recall compared to only reading it.
- Group by topic, not alphabet. Learning words connected to one theme (travel, work, food) at the same time builds associations that are easier to retrieve in real conversations about that theme.
Spaced repetition, explained simply
Spaced repetition is the practice of reviewing something right as you're about to forget it, rather than either too soon (when you still remember it easily) or too late (after you've already forgotten it). Each successful review pushes the next review further into the future — a word you review 5 times over two months is remembered far better than a word you review 5 times in one afternoon and never see again. This is the same principle behind a flashcard system: instead of guessing what to review, you let your own mistakes and past reviews decide what needs attention next.
Turning mistakes into flashcards
The most efficient vocabulary to study is often the vocabulary you personally got wrong, not a generic list — a mistake shows you exactly where your own knowledge has a gap. When you're corrected during a conversation (for example, using the wrong preposition or an unnatural collocation), saving that correction as a flashcard — with the wrong version, the correct version, and the context — turns a real mistake directly into targeted practice. Speak & Fix does this automatically as you chat, building a personal review deck from your actual conversations rather than a generic word list.
Practice exercises
- Rewrite using a collocation from the table above: "She did a big mistake in the report."
- Use one phrasal verb from this page in a sentence about your own week.
- Replace the underlined word with a more natural academic phrase: "The results show that the method works." (Hint: try "indicate" or "suggest.")
FAQ
How many new words should I learn per day?
Fewer, well-practiced words tend to stick better than a long list skimmed once. Five to ten words or phrases a day, actually used in a sentence, is a reasonable and sustainable pace for most learners.
Should I learn words in isolation or in sentences?
In sentences or phrases wherever possible — it gives you the grammar and collocation for free, alongside the meaning, which is closer to how you'll actually need to use the word.
Practice new vocabulary in a real conversation and get corrections in the moment with Speak & Fix's practice app.