Vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary — Lists of words to learn in 52 weeks

Sites who assist in improving your vocabulary

These are the best sites we have found on the Web.

• Word Fugitives - An interactive column by The Atlantic's Barbara Wallraff.
• The Word Portal - Learn about word meanings, slang, quotations, insults. Wordwizard offers a round trip across the English language.
• The Word Wizard Club - This Club is for anyone fascinated by word or phrase origins, reading and writing, slang, coinages, quotes and insults.
• WordWatch - Digs up a word or phrase out of the Bank of English and holds it up for inspection and comment.
• Plain Language Web that help writers use plain language – or plain English -- to match their needs with the needs of the reader through clear and simple words and sentences.
• Javascript Vocabulary Stretchers
• A Word a Day The music and magic of words. This is the Web site for the mailing list A.Word.A.Day (AWAD), which sends a vocabulary word and its definition to the subscribers every day.
• Vocabulary-R-Us
• Jesse's Word of the Day
• Word Detective
• http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Vocabulary/
  ESL Cafe Web Guide: Vocabulary
  A list of many links to vocabulary-related web pages.
  ESL = English as a Second Language
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/
  Yourdictionary.com
  A great many links related to dictionaries, plus a word of the day, links to games, stories about words, etc.
• http://www.wolinskyweb.com/word.htm
  Word Play
  Links to many vocabulary-related sites. Most of these are not intended for language students, but you may find interesting sites here.
• http://its-online.com/links.html#vocabulary
  Student English Links
  Links to sites, including some for idioms.
• http://www.quinion.com/words/
  World Wide Words: Exploring the English Language
  A large site with a lot of interesting information, plus links to other sites.

Games and Quizzes

• http://www.englishclub.net/quizzes/index.htm
  Quizzes
  Quizzes related to vocabulary (as well as some related to grammar and pronunciation), divided into categories according to difficulty.
• http://www.englishclub.net/games/index.htm
  Games
  Vocabulary-related games.
• http://www.englishclub.net/games/index.htm
  Games
  Vocabulary-related games.
• http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/defsgameform.html
  The Cobuild Definitions Game
  A game in which you are given a definition and try to guess the word being defined.
• http://home.earthlink.net/~ruthpett/safari/index.htm
  Word Safari
  A game that makes use of the World Wide Web to help you improve your vocabulary.
• http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/s/
  Activities for ESL Students
  Includes quizzes and games related to vocabulary and idioms.
• http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~itesls/
  Interesting Things for ESL Students
  Word games, puzzles, quizzes, etc.
• http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/idioms.html
  Idioms, Phrasal Verbs, and Slang Quizzes
  Many quizzes, sorted according to difficulty.
• http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/vocabulary.html
  Vocabulary Quizzes
  Many quizzes, sorted according to difficulty.
• http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz%20center/quiz.htm
  Karin's ESL Partyland: The Quiz Center
  Many games, including some related to vocabulary, idioms, expressions, etc.
• http://www.freeenglish.com/english/quizzesngames/
  Quizzes and Games http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/class/material/quiz/#vocab
  Quizzes: Vocabulary http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/idioms.html
  Idioms, Phrasal Verbs, and Slang Quizzes http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6720/
  The Idiom Connection: English Idioms and Quizzes http://members.home.net/kayem/idioms/idioms.html
  English Zone Idioms
  Quizzes related to idioms on different subjects (animals, food, etc.) and phrasal verbs.
• http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~the2imps/tuindex.html
  Self-study quizzes http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/#idioms
  ESL Quiz Center: Idioms, Words, and Slang http://www.worddragon.org/
  Word Dragon
  A site with word scramble, sentence scramble, and word match puzzles, where you can do the puzzles or write your own.

Information and Advice

• http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/index.htm
  Questions and Answers
  A site where you can ask questions about the origins of words or read answer to other people's questions.
• http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/
  Resources in Vocabulary, Self-Access Learning Centre
  Excellent advice about improving your vocabulary.
• http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/Idiom.html
  Cobuild Idiom of the Day
  A site which provides a new idiom every day, with an explanation and example.
• http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/hist.html
  Idioms: The Histories
  Information about the meanings of idioms and where they come from. A new one each week.
• http://www.englishclub.net/vocabulary/index.htm
  Englishclub.net
  Links to lists of words related to particular topics.
• http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/wordwatch.html
  Word Watch
  Comments about words and how they are used. Users can e-mail comments and questions about how words are used.
• http://www.edu.yorku.ca/wotd/
  Cool Word of the Day
  At this site, you can learn one new word every day, or look up past "cool words."
• http://www.englishclub.net/reference/vocabulary/index.htm
  Vocabulary Reference
  Various types of information about English words.

Reference Works

• http://www.m-w.com/
  Mirriam-Webster Online Mirriam-Webster Online
  A searchable dictionary and thesaurus; also has links to information about words, including a "word of the day."
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction.html
  A Web of On-line Dictionaries
  Links to hundreds of different on-line dictionaries of different types.
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction1.html
  Dictionaries
  Multiple dictionary search engines; you type in a word and get information from several dictionaries.
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction1.html#thesauri
  Thesauri and Other Vocabulary Aids
  Links to many kinds of thesauruses, synonym dictionaries, etc.
• http://www.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn
  WordNet 1.6 Vocabulary Helper
  Searchable database of words in related groups. Has information about how similar words are different.
• http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction4.html
  Specialty Dictionaries in English
  Dictionaries for specific subjects, including art, business, science, computing, humour, and slang.
• http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Dictionaries/
  ESL Cafe Web Guide: Dictionaries http://www.word2word.com/dictionary.html
  Language Dictionaries and Translators
  Links to both dictionaries and free on-line translations

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