A1 English Vocabulary List (CEFR)

This is the A1 vocabulary list from Wordineer’s CEFR ESL dataset (16 words at this level). Each word has part of speech, American English IPA, a plain-language definition, and an example sentence — see the source and methodology.

good

A1

adjective · /ˈɡʊd/

Of high quality or standard; satisfactory

“That was a good film.”

work

A1

verb · /ˈwɜrk/

To do a job to earn money

“She works in a hospital.”

day

A1

noun · /ˈdeɪ/

A period of 24 hours

“Monday is the first day of the week.”

house

A1

noun · /ˈhaʊs/

A building where people live

“We live in a small house near the park.”

school

A1

noun · /ˈskul/

A place where children go to learn

“The children go to school at eight o'clock.”

big

A1

adjective · /ˈbɪɡ/

Large in size

“That is a very big dog.”

family

A1

noun · /ˈfæməli/

A group of people related to each other

“My family lives in Spain.”

name

A1

noun · /ˈneɪm/

The word that a person or thing is known by

“My name is John.”

water

A1

noun · /ˈwɔtər/

A clear liquid that people drink

“Can I have a glass of water?”

book

A1

noun · /ˈbʊk/

A set of printed pages held together with a cover

“I am reading an interesting book.”

friend

A1

noun · /ˈfrɛnd/

A person you like and enjoy spending time with

“Maria is my best friend.”

happy

A1

adjective · /ˈhæpi/

Feeling pleased or joyful

“She was very happy on her birthday.”

Downloads

CSV (imports into Anki, Quizlet)

All A1 words (16)

B

WordPart of speech
bigadjective
booknoun

D

WordPart of speech
daynoun

E

WordPart of speech
eatverb

F

WordPart of speech
familynoun
friendnoun

G

WordPart of speech
goodadjective

H

WordPart of speech
happyadjective
hellointerjection
housenoun

M

WordPart of speech
mothernoun

N

WordPart of speech
namenoun

S

WordPart of speech
schoolnoun

W

WordPart of speech
walkverb
waternoun
workverb

Frequently asked

How many words are on the A1 list?

16 at this level. 16 have a written definition and example sentence.

Can I import the CSV into Anki or Quizlet?

Yes. Both accept comma-separated files with a header row. Columns are word, pos, level, ipa, definition, example.

Where do the pronunciations come from?

American English IPA, transcribed from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Stress marks: ˈ primary, ˌ secondary.

Built and maintained by Garrick Dee. Last verified: 2026-09-29 · Dataset v1.0.0 · Sources: wordfreq (Zipf, en), CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (via NLTK).

Cite: Wordineer CEFR ESL Vocabulary (v1.0.0), Garrick Dee, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.