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Vocabulary: discussions and interactive exercises

Words are the building blocks of any language. The more words you have in your written or spoken vocabulary, the greater are the possibilities of your success in academics, business or career.

Listed below are links to discussions and interactive exercises in vocabulary from the best ESL and EFL resources on the Internet. Clicking the blue links will take you to the specific pages where the discussions and activities are, while clicking the website name will take you to the home page. Take time to browse these excellent websites; they are consistently good and fast loading. Besides the activities and exercises listed below, these sites generously offer, free of charge, a tremendous range of valuable resources for ESL and EFL teachers and students.

In answering the interactive exercises, you should follow carefully the prompts and directions. You should read each sentence or part aloud before clicking the answer you think is right. After the correct answer is displayed, think it over as to why it is the correct answer. (Please take note that the correct answer may depend on whether the exercise comes from an American English or a British English website.) After doing so, read the complete sentence again aloud with the correct answer.

To train yourself to think in English, try to recite the sentences with the correct answers from memory and at your full speaking volume. Or you can ask a friend to read out loud the sentences with the correct answers and you repeat them without looking at the computer screen.

[01] Vocabulary activities, from About.com

Action Idioms Quiz (Understanding through context of selected action verbs)
Key Words List (850 word-list developed by Charles K. Ogden in 1930, a great starting point for building up a vocabulary which allows you to converse fluently in English)
Financial Terminology Quiz
British to American / American to British - Vocabulary Converter
Building Phrasal Verb Vocabulary
Collocations
Useful Business English Phrases

[02] Vocabulary Quizzes, from Activities for ESL Students

Vocabulary – Easy
Vocabulary - Easy with Pictures
Vocabulary – Medium
Vocabulary - Difficult

Bilingual Vocabulary Quizzes

Arabic - English
Chinese - English
Indonesian - English
Japanese - English
Korean -English
Kurdish - English
Lingala - English
Malay - English
Persian - English
Portuguese - English
Russian - English
Sesotho - English
Somali - English
Spanish - English
Swahili - English
Tagalog - English
Thai - English
Tshiluba - English
Turkish-English
Urdu - English
Vietnamese - English
Zulu - English
Other languages

[03] Antagonyms

Extensive list of English words with meanings which contradict each other

[04] Grammar and Vocabulary, from BBC Learning English

News vocabulary, Science vocabulary, Football vocabulary, and Tennis vocabulary

[05] The University Word List, from John Bauman

[06] Business English Vocabulary Lessons, from Business English Grammar Lessons (Pearson Brown)

[07] Building a Better Vocabulary, from Capital Community College Guide to Good Grammar

Numerous college-level work quizzes, including words that have appeared on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests and Graduate Record Exams, and with a downloadable Pop-up Lexicon (93Kb) containing 365 SAT- and GRE- level vocabulary words, definitions, and sample sentences

[08] Full Dolch Word List (220 Words and 95 Nouns), from Dolch-words

The Dolch words are the 220 most frequently found words in books thatchildren read, and are usually learned in first and second grade. Students who learn these words have a good base for beginning reading. Many of these words cannot be sounded out because they do not follow decoding rules, so they must be learned as sight words.

[09] The Academic Word List, from English as Second Language

[10] Vocabulary, from English at Home

Numerous activities and resources include English Phonetic Spelling, Say or Tell? Say or Tell Quiz; Do or Make? Do or Make Quiz; Irregular Adjectives (good, better, the best); Prefixes (non-, inter-, post-); Contractions (I'm, aren't, here's); Informal Contractions (gimme, gonna, wanna); Figures of Speech (like a bat outta hell); Illustrated Vocabulary ; Computer Vocabulary (backup, cache, DOS); Football Vocabulary (foul, goal, pass); Practical Vocabulary

Test Yourself

[11] Vocabulary, from English Corner (Rod Rodgers)

Activities include Collocations; Crosswords; Definitions; False Cognates; Games; Picture Quizzes; Vocabulary Links; Word Formation; Word Lists; Word Studies

[12] Vocabulary exercises to practice phrases used in business, from English Exercises Online

[13] TOEFL Vocabulary, from English Daily

Over a thousand real multiple-choice questions for TOEFL test preparation

[14] English Vocabulary, from E L Easton Materials for Teaching and Learning

Vocabulary A -Z
Quizzes

[15] Index to topics, from English Learner

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Vocabulary categories, including Colours crossword, Idioms with colors, Fruit quiz and Eponyms (words from names)

[16] Advanced Vocabulary and Holiday Vocabulary Lessons, from English Page

[17] Actvities in vocabulary, from Esl-lounge

Elementary
Pre-Intermediate
Intermediate
Advanced

[18] ESL Vocabulary, from English Works! (Gallaudet)

Ideas for Improving Your Vocabulary
Suffixes to Know
Vocabulary Exercises

[19] Vocabulary for learners of English, from Frankfurt International School

Categories of activities include Easier, Harder, Random, and with lessons in Geography/History, Science, Math, and Mainstream English

[20] 5000 Collegiate Words with Brief Definitions, by Free Vocabulary (Steve Baba, Ph.D)

Words from from abase to zodiac, with PDF version

[21] Vocabulary and Idioms, from Interlink Language Resources

[22] Vocabulary activities, from Interesting Things for ESL Students

Numerous activities and resources including Easy Vocabulary Quizzes, English Vocabulary Games with Pictures, English Vocabulary Word Lists with Games, Puzzles and Quizzes, Anagrams, Flashcards

[23] Vocabulary Exercises, from Isabel's ESL site

[24] Vocabulary Quizzes, from John’s ESL

Activities and resources include Vocabulary Lists, 1000 Commonly Used Words, specialized vocabulary (Geography, Aviation and Medical), and Picture Vocabulary

[25] Vocabulary activities, from Karin’s ESL Partyland

Easy, Medium and Difficult categories; multiple choice, fill-in, cloze

[26] ESL Online Wordsearches, from 1-language.com

Fun and easy way to learn vocabulary through 100 different puzzles; Note: Java-enabled browser required

[27] Vocabulary activities, from LanguageGuide.org

Practice the 100 most common words in the English

Pictorial Vocabulary Guides
Learn the pronunciation and spelling of thousands of words using an image based interface, with supported languages as English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Chinese (traditional characters), Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian

[28] Vocabulary Activities, from Lauri’s ESL Website

[29] Free Online Vocabulary Exercises, from Learn English Feel Good

Each exercise centers around one theme or topic, using only common and useful English words and expressions; Business English Vocabulary; and American and British English: Differences in Vocabulary

[30] English vocabulary – Index, from englisch hilfen

[31] The Most Important Vocabulary for Students of English, from Teacher Joe

Topics include Business English and Basic English Vocabulary

[32] ESL Vocabulary Lessons, from 5 Minute English

[33] Vocabulary activities and resources, from Michael Buckhoff

Topics include Picture Vocabulary, Professions and Tools

[34] 50 commonly misspelled words, from A Spelling Test by Mindy McAdams

[35] Ogden's Basic Word List

[36] Free Online Spelling Tutor and game, from OZspeller

Categories from Kinder to Frequent and Advanced; words spoken by your computer, with hints, definitions and sentences, repeatable audio clips, and three versions: Oz Speller with Australian Spelling; Oz speller with US Spelling; Oz speller with British Words

[37] Vocabulary for English Language Learners, from Ohio ESL

[38] Vocabulary lessons, from One Stop English

Theme-based lesson plans for American and British English, including phrasal verbs, and metaphors

[39] Professional Word Web

Business and financial texts, engineering reports, legal documents, and social work papers; meaning, pronunciation, sample passages and exercises

[40] Puzzles, Games, etc. from The Puzzle Depot

[41] 100 Most Common SAT Words, from Quia Web

[42] SAT Preparation

[43] Vocabulary Level Test, from The Compleat Lexical Tutor

Use these tests to find the growth-edge of your vocabulary: Version A and B, 1000 level up to University Word List and 10,000 level

[44] The Heteronym Homepage

Extensive list of English words which have different meanings when pronounced differently

[45] Free vocabulary test for TOEFL, GMT, SAT, GRE and VOA Special English, from Vocaboly

[46] Vocabulary University

Free interactive vocabulary puzzle and activity sessions use Latin and Greek "roots and cells" to help unlock word meanings;

Vocabulary from texts: 111 Recommended High School/Junior High Reading, among others, 1984; All Quiet on the Western Front; Animal Farm; A Raisin in the Sun; A Tale of Two Cities; Call of the Wild Jane Eyre; Julius Caesar; Johnny Got His Gun; The Joy Luck Club; Lonesome Dove, etc

[47] Vocabulary Builder, from Vocabulix

Improve your vocabulary in various foreign languages (English, German and Spanish), online and free

[48] Vocabulary Training Exercises In English, German, French and Spanish

[49] Focusing On Words, from wordfocus.com

Vocabulary builder based on learning the Latin and Greek roots from which half the words in English come from

[50] A Word A Day, from Wordsmith

Explore the world of words, share, and delight in the joy of words with a community of more than 600,000 linguaphiles in at least 200 countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe

Today’s Word

Internet Anagram Server (Advanced programming, Topical Anagrams, Anagram Hall of Fame, Odds and Ends)

[51] Vocabulary activities and tests, from World English

Activities and topics include English First Names and Meanings, Difficult English Words, Vocabulary test from A to Z, and specialized vocabulary (Banking, Medical and Financial)

[52] Interactive games and exercises, from Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun

CrossWords; HangMouse; Match Game; UnScramble; Letter Blocks; Clueless Crossword

[53] Online vocabulary topics for intermediate and advanced ESL learners, from English Gateway

[54] Word Cup (an international, online vocabulary competition for all ages, students and adults, sponsored among others by Oxford University Press), from eSpindle

eSpindle is a non-profit organization offering customized vocabulary tutoring online. It is supported through memberships, and memberships are matched with free licenses for disadvantaged students. Other services and resources offered by eSpindle are:

Practice quiz for the Word Cup (Choose between easy, average and hard words; quiz updated twice a month)

Free, moderated online spelling bee and Word Cup forum (exchange ideas, make friends, find encouragement)

Root word directory (prefixes, root words and suffixes)

Fun trivia about the English language and learning

Facts and statistics about literacy in the US

[55] Free online, interactive vocabulary exercises, from Language Project (approved by the British Council; also includes hundreds of free grammar and discourse exercises)

Elementary Vocabulary Questions

At Home; Basic Adjectives; Clothes; Common Verbs; Confusing Words; Days and Dates; Driving Words and Phrases; Family Members; Groups Of Things; More Word Building; Possessions; Sports; The Natural World; The Weather; Things On The Street; Work: People and Places

Intermediate Vocabulary Questions

Accommodation; At Work; Body Movement; Verbs; Cinema Film Reviews; Flying; General Nouns; Health; Problems; Health Word Building; Opposite Adjectives; Personality Adjectives; Personality Word Building; Prefixes: Re-Roads and Trains; Science; Shopping; Shopping Word Building; Speech Verbs; Strong Adjectives; Television; The Environment; Verbs With Up; Word Building

Advanced Vocabulary Questions

-ate Verbs; -en Verbs; -ify Verbs; Animal Noises; Body Idioms; Body Parts; Cars And Driving; Colour Idioms; Comparatives with 'as'; Containers and Quantifiers; Eating Out; Expressions with "as"; Expressions with "for"; Expressions with "no"; Expressions With "with"; Food; Food Idioms; Health; Key Moments; Law And Order; Money; More "no" Expressions; Newspapers; On The Road; Parks; Problem Adjectives; Proverbs; Quantity Expressions; Reflexive Expressions; Relationships; Slang; Sounds; Sports Equipment; Telephones; The Environment; Types of writing; Verbs With "Off"; Water Words; Ways Of Walking; Weather Adjectives; Words Ending "-less"

[56] Dolch word lists, phrases, worksheets and activities, from Mrs. Perkins' Dolch Words

Vocabulary word lists, flashcards and Powerpoint presentations; variety of lists with the Dolch words ordered alphabetically, by frequency or by grade; lesson plan templates, counting charts, blank calendars, cut-out dominoes, and forms for testing and assessment; for teachers and parents who want to teach Dolch sight words to their children

Dolch Word Lists
Dolch Phrases
Dolch Worksheets
Classroom Forms and Testing

Note: Olympics ESL exercises and activities, from ESLTower.com (prepare and motivate your English class for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games through printable vocabulary puzzles, quizzes, flashcards, game cards and exercises related to Olympic Games, sports and countries)

Olympic sports
“Olympic Sports” Dictionary Hunt
"Olympic Sports" Wheel Search Puzzle
"Olympic Sports" Matching Quiz
Olympic Games word puzzle
What we do in sports crossword verbs puzzle
Olympics Games word puzzle
"Olympic Sports" Spelling Quiz
"Olympic Sports" Multiple Choice Quiz
Olympic Sports Vocabulary Game Sheet
Sports and Olympics - Word Puzzle
Countries, Sports and Athletes