According to this site, I have a vocabulary of 34,300 words. Go and test yourself and report back. And while you’re at it, know that you are contributing to serious research about the vocabulary sizes of native English speakers. In the name of research, go forth and suck the very marrow of time.
And if you’re not in the mood for tests – it is school holidays after all – then I give you the silly season, courtesy of my homeland: the couple who were too old to have children and decided to adopt and baptise their very own capuchin monkey.
Stranger fiction truth is than. Arrange these words into a well-known sentence.
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July 28, 2011 at 8:08 am
Naturally I had to have a go – it suggests 37,700, although that can’t quite be true (as yours can’t quite be accurate either) as I know a fair few French words and you have quite a few German ones on board, too! But these tests are always a bit of fun.
July 28, 2011 at 8:23 am
Love words and word tests – you have now diverted me from my dedicated purpose of serious work this morning…. so I shouldn’t have been reading your blog if I was really working…it’s tough staying focussed working from home!
July 28, 2011 at 8:33 am
I got 38,ooo odd – but I think most of the rarer words I know from Georgette Heyer – nothing like a well written Regency romance for expanding your vocab!
July 28, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I had to do it (love tests like those!) and I got 24,700 which puts me in the lower average for English natives, but I think their test might be skewed for non-native speakers (their questions were very much student oriented).
July 28, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Interesting. You did better than me, but we are in the same ballpark. I’m actually a math geek by day, so I’m not shocked at not doing better.
July 28, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Mine was 38,900. I’m surprised that I scored higher than either you or Litlove, based on your writings. I wonder if there are differences between native English speakers from different countries and if it is skewed towards a particular country? We all speak English, but certainly there are differences beyond slang in what we vocabulary we use. Country is asked in the survey, but I didn’t find any stats on it.
July 29, 2011 at 8:33 am
I managed 34,100 – and the questions at the end were interesting. is this part of a research project? would be great to hear their results.
August 1, 2011 at 10:17 am
I got 33,100 which can’t be right. Your vocab is miles better than mine. Maybe you are a little depleted after putting all those words in a book…
August 2, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Hi there,
My English speaking partner has just pointed to me your blogpost. As a competitive orientated Frenchman, I HAD to take the test. I did five years of English in school and another five post baccalaureate. I have been speaking English in my couple for the past twenty years now and I took the bait. My result? A cool(ish) 32400, which is apparently not too bad for a foreign born boy. I worked in English, and I do enjoy a good read in English. I was surprised to spot so many latin rooted words in the test, which means I was able to understand them, since they are so much like the French equivalent (e.g. embonpoint). But I have to admit it is quite humbling to see so many words that you don’t feel you could actually define with certainty. There is still SOOOOOO much to learn, Thanks for the link anyway.
August 12, 2011 at 5:47 pm
I’m at 33,400. Thanks for sharing. What fun!
August 14, 2011 at 12:26 am
I got 39,400, which doesn’t really surprise me since when I was tested in 10th grade I got 25,000. I read a lot, and live in the dictionary even now.