How do I decide which words are worth learning?
This is an important question. There are a lot more words in English compared to many other languages , and it is impossible to know them all - even native speakers often meet words they have never seen before!
Look at any page in a newspaper or a book - Are there any words that you don't know?
Even if there is only one word on every page that you don't know, it will slow down your reading if you have to stop to look it up. However you don't need to do this because:
some words can be guessed from the context many words are not commonly used and are therefore not worth learning. But how do you know which words are often used in English.
Well, you can check by looking in the Collins COBUILD English Dictionary (new edition) and seeing how many black diamonds are next to the word.
| 5 diamonds | In the most common 700 words in English. You know it already! |
| 4 diamonds | In the most common 1,900 words in English. If you don't know the word, you should learn it, as it's very common |
| 3 diamonds | In the most common 3,400 words of English, which makes up the vast majority of English. Well worth learning. |
| 2 diamonds | In the most common 6,600 words of English. You may want to learn it if you know the first three levels! |
| 1 diamonds | In the most common 14,700 words of English. Not very common. Is it important or interesting to you? If not, you may want to ignore it (unless you know the first four levels!) |
| 0 diamonds | Not in the most common 14,700 words of English. Probably not worth learning, unless it is important or interesting to you. |
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