Top 400 IELTS Vocabulary Words - Most Frequently Used

IELTS vocabulary is the set of words and phrases in the English language. Test-takers must learn the IELTS vocabulary (lexical resources) as it covers 25% of the overall band score. To master that skill, we offer the newly updated IELTS vocabulary list in this article. It includes topic-wise words, various idioms, and phrasal verbs with correct spellings, meanings (synonyms), and examples. These words are commonly used in the IELTS exam. Once you are familiar with this word list, you will enhance your vocabulary knowledge and see progress in all four sections of IELTS (listening, reading, writing, and speaking). So utilize them and achieve a band score of 9.

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List of IELTS Vocabulary Words

Here is the list of 400 IELTS vocabulary words:

S No	Word	Meaning
1	Abate	Moderate
2	Adhere	Comply
3	Acumen	Awareness
4	Abash	Disconcert
5	Accord	Agreement
6	Adjunct	Joined
7	Adversity	Misfortune
8	Adamant	Stubborn
9	Admonish	Reprove
10	Allay	Pacify
11	Baroque	Florid
12	Barrier	Barricade
13	Bustle	Commotion
14	Bind	Predicament
15	Batty	Insane
16	Barren	Sterile
17	Baffle	Astound
18	Brittle	Breakable
19	Bleak	Austere
20	Boisterous	Clamorous
21	Calamity	Adversity
22	Captivity	Imprisonment
23	Captivate	Fascinate
24	Chaste	Virtuous
25	Cease	Terminate
26	Compassion	Kindness
27	Consent	Agree
28	Concur	Approve
29	Consolidate	Solidify
30	Contempt	Scorn
31	Decipher	Interpret
32	Decay	Collapse
33	Defray	Spend
34	Defile	Contaminate
35	Demolish	Ruin
36	Deliberate	Intentional
37	Deride	Mock
38	Deprive	Divest
39	Denounce	Blame
40	Derogatory	Sarcastic
41	Elegy	serious reflection
42	Endure	suffer patently
43	Enigma	mysterious or difficult to understand
44	Epitaph	words written in memory of a person
45	Extinction	Cease to exist
46	Extricate	Free from a constraint
47	Enslave	make someone a slave
48	Endeavour	try hard to achieve something
49	Edifice	a large building
50	Elixir	a (magical) potion
51	Fasten	close up securely
52	Fathom	understand something after lots of thoughts
53	Fete	celebration
54	Fidelity	Faithfulness to someone
55	Flick	A sudden sharp movement
56	Flip	turn over
57	Fragile	easily broken or damaged
58	Franchise	an authorisation to an individual or group to carry out commercial activities
59	Futile	Incapable of producing something useful
60	Foresight	Ability to predict something
61	Gale	a very strong wind
62	Gallant	brave
63	Gamble	play games of chance for money
64	Garment	an item of clothing
65	Gastronomy	Art of choosing, cooking and eating good food
66	Gaze	a steady intent look
67	Genial	friendly and cheerful
68	Genre	a category of artistic composition
69	Gibberish	meaningless speech
70	Generate	to produce
71	Habitual	done or doing constantly
72	Hail	call out to seek attention
73	Harbinger	Announcement or signals the approach of a person
74	Haughty	arrogantly superior
75	Havoc	destruction
76	Heathen	a follower of a polytheistic religion
77	Hegemony	leadership
78	Hostile	unfriendly; antagonistic
79	Hinder	creating difficulties
80	Hang	to suspend
81	Identical	Same
82	Idle	useless
83	Illuminate	to fill with light
84	Imbibe	to adopt
85	Immortal	undead
86	Imminent	occurring very soon
87	immunity	protection against disease
88	impact	to affect
89	Impeach	Charging against someone
90	Impede	Obstructing
91	Jeopardy	Destruction
92	Jettison	Reject or abandon
93	Judicious	sensible
94	Jargon	special words that are difficult to understand
95	Jaunt	a short journey
96	Jolly	Happy and cheerful
97	Juncture	a particular point in time
98	Jurisdiction	territory of a place
99	Juxtapose	place or deal with close together for contrasting effect
100	Junk	old articles that are useless
101	Blameless	Innocent
102	Crazy	Insane
103	Madness	Insanity
104	Arrogant	haughty
105	Awful	terrible
106	Noted	famous
107	Sacristy	vestry
108	Dreadful	terrible
109	Immoderate	excessive
110	Cozy	comfortable
111	Garbage can	trashcan
112	Perception	insight
113	Mind	Intellect
114	Vague	indistinct
115	Immediate	Instant
116	Warranty	guarantee
117	Understandable	comprehensible
118	Indisputable	undeniable
119	Terror	fright
120	Highbrow	intellectual
121	Remoted	isolated
122	Well timed	timely
123	Gratuity	tip
124	Disadvantaged	deprived
125	Abundant	ample
126	Misconceive	misunderstand
127	Denims	jeans
128	Connect	join
129	Ecstasy	joy
130	Magistrate	Justice of the peace
131	Eager	keen
132	Wise	knowing
133	Crusade	campaign
134	Establish	Set up
135	Interplay	interaction
136	To desert	abandon
137	Touchdown	landing
138	Oblique	indirect
139	Hashish	cannabis
140	Defective	faulty
141	Mischievous	impish
142	Dormant	inactive
143	Turbulent	blustering
144	Disclose	reveal
145	Dally	loiter
146	Missing	lost
147	Drab	dull
148	Fortunate	lucky
149	Hearsay	rumour
150	Mendacity	lying
151	Superb	magnificent
152	Leading	main
153	Chiefly	mainly
154	Aggressive	militant
155	Noon	midday
156	Vague	indistinct
157	Misfortune	mishap
158	Misread	misinterpret
159	Deceptive	misleading
160	Lacking	missing
161	Jealous	envious
162	Doubt	mistrust
163	Wrong	mistaken
164	Away	absent
165	To notify	To inform
166	Mannequin	model
167	Dicey	risky
168	Empty	drain
169	Misery	distress
170	Impartial	neutral
171	To behave	To act
172	Bendy	flexible
173	Extra	additional
174	Mediocre	fair
175	Aromatic	fragrant
176	Dispute	debate
177	Ambitious	aspiring
178	Foretell	predict
179	Ignore	disregard
180	Virtue	advantage
181	To cope	To manage
182	Appreciable	considerable
183	Disagreeable	unpleasant
184	Rubbish	nonsense
185	Lousy	awful
186	To consult	To refer to
187	Cranky	cross
188	Mackintosh	Waterproof coat
189	Pocket book	notebook
190	Middleman	intermediary
191	Paper money	notes
192	Infamous	notorious
193	Mirth	fun
194	Selection	choice
195	To quake	To tremble
196	Today	nowadays
197	Hate	loathe
198	Mean	unkind
199	Contaminate	defile
200	Impediment	obstacle
201	Construction	interpretation
202	Hostile	antagonistic
203	To function	To operate
204	Apparent	obvious
205	Negligent	inattentive
206	To differentiate	To distinguish
207	Inferior	substandard
208	Win	succeed
209	Hold	grasp
210	Nominate	appoint
211	Near	Approach
212	Charter	constitution
213	Eccentric	unusual
214	Consecutive	successive
215	Morose	sullen
216	Disagree	differ
217	Invoice	bill
218	To withstand	To resist
219	Insupportable	intolerable
220	Meeting	assembly
221	Convey	communicate
222	Denationalise	privatise
223	Abstract	summary
224	Attractive	appealing
225	Illiberal	intolerant
226	Overhaul	overtake
227	Anyway	besides
228	To respond	To reply
229	Precis	summary
230	Dry	arid
231	Minimise	To play down
232	Satisfied	convinced
233	Vain	useless
234	Conform	comply
235	Conflict	clash
236	Twister	tornado
237	Float	drift
238	Instinct	intuition
239	Admit	confess
240	Intensify	heighten
241	Intriguing	fascinating
242	Moderate	lenient
243	Minor	lesser
244	Infect	contaminate
245	Vacuum	hoover
246	Removable	detachable
247	Sundown	sunset
248	Joy	delight
249	Encourage	support
250	Class	Lesson, course
251	Vanquish	conquer
252	Turmoil	disturbance
253	Transform	convert
254	Deprave	corrupt
255	Chop	cut
256	Diminish	curtail
257	Involve	entail
258	Magnify	exaggerate
259	Constancy	fidelity
260	Ornament	decoration
261	Nugatory	worthless
262	Revolting	disgusting
263	Torpid	lethargic
264	Prompt	immediate
265	To operate	function
266	Vast	huge
267	Inspect	examine
268	Collect	gather
269	Impetuous	reckless
270	Beneficent	generous
271	Nameless	anonymous
272	Confuse	Mix up
273	Overseas	abroad
274	Deduce	Infer
275	High	elevated
276	Convalesce	recover
277	Outside	external
278	Renounce	Give up
279	Grouse	grumble
280	Assure	guarantee
281	Advocate	support
282	Coiffure	hairstyle
283	Forehead	brow
284	Discount	reduction
285	Appear	To seem
286	Except	Apart from
287	Survive	outlive
288	Migrant	Moving from one to another
289	Dead	lifeless
290	Notwithstanding	however
291	Native	local
292	Informal	casual
293	Begin	To start
294	Infuriate	enrage
295	Animated	lively
296	Chorus	refrain
297	Necessary	essential
298	Provided	if
299	Remorse	regret
300	Domesticate	cultivate
301	Steady	regular
302	Testament	testimony
303	If	whether
304	Applicable	relevant
305	Trustworthy	reliable
306	Mend	repair
307	Moral	ethical
308	Nobility	The aristocracy
309	Repute	reputation
310	Abbreviate	condense
311	Unhurt	unharmed
312	Zenith	peak
313	Vacant	empty
314	Fragrance	perfume
315	Maybe	Perhaps, possibly
316	Aid	Help, assist
317	Magician	conjurer
318	Unfortunate	unlucky
319	Gravestone	headstone
320	Housebreaking	burglary
321	To grab	To seize
322	Refrain	chorus
323	Disappear	vanish
324	Painting	portray
325	Adjourn	postpone
326	Instructions	directions
327	Momentus	powerful
328	Priority	precedence
329	Stationary	fixed
330	Praise	compliment
331	Insufferable	unbearable
332	Previous	preceding
333	Exactly	precisely
334	Mistrust	distrust
335	Early	premature
336	Untimely	Not on time
337	Antagonize	provoke
338	Citation	quotation
339	Naughty	disobedient
340	Chessy	corny
341	Huge	vast
342	Hole	gap
343	Magnify	expand
344	Lethal	deadly
345	Immune	exempt
346	Mourn	grieve
347	Ban	forbid
348	Infrequent	rare
349	Spontaneous	automatic
350	To cite	To quote
351	Uncooked	raw
352	Arrive	Reach, come
353	Dark	dismal
354	Unlawful	illegal
355	Knowingly	deliberately
356	Moderately	reasonably
357	Insurgent	rebel
358	Uprising	rebellion
359	Clerk	receptionist
360	Miserable	depressing
361	Curative	healing
362	Equity	fairness
363	Immature	inexperienced
364	Artful	crafty
365	Practically	virtually
366	Unvoiced	voiceless
367	Crook	criminal
368	Labyrinth	lost
369	Scrutinise	Examine or inspect
370	Reiterate	Saying something in a different way
371	Proximity	closeness
372	Optimum	best
373	Intrigue	curious
374	Hereby	As a result of
375	Babysitting	Caretaker of a child
376	Backup	Help or support
377	Charge	Demand an amount or something
378	Contrast	Different from something
379	Collide	Hit with force when moving
380	Cordially	In a warm and friendly way
381	Chase	Pursue in order
382	Conference	A formal meeting
383	Dare	Courage to do something
384	Discriminate	biassed
385	Engagement	An arrangement to do something
386	Friction	conflict
387	Fraction	A tiny part of something
388	Fund	A sum of money
389	Fabulous	extraordinary
390	Hallucination	A perception that is not present
391	Harmony	A pleasant and consistent whole
392	Hilarious	Extremely amusing
393	Heartfelt	sincere
394	Harvest	Result of an action
395	Humanitarian	Concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare
396	Illuminate	Make something visible
397	Imagination	Forming new ideas or images or concepts
398	Impossible	Not able to do
399	Incentive	A thing that motivates or encourages to do something
400	Iconic	Relating to or of the nature of an icon

IELTS Vocabulary PDF

To increase your vocabulary list and make it handy, download our free IELTS vocabulary PDF.

Topic-wise Vocabulary Words for IELTS

In the IELTS exam, questions are given from different topics. To answer them in the correct words, we have listed topic-wise vocabulary below. Here, each topic contains 30+ IELTS vocabulary words along with common phrases and examples.

1. Environment
2. Coronavirus
3. Education
4. Technology
5. Travel
6. Fashion
7. Culture
8. Crime
9. Social Media
10. Work

Phrasal Verbs for IELTS Vocabulary

Phrasal verbs are a group of two or three words acting as a new word with a meaning and giving a different meaning when separated. Phrasal verbs are a single semantic unit constituting a verb combined with a particle or preposition. These words will enrich your IELTS speaking vocabulary and showcase your command over the language.

You can use the phrases for IELTS speaking in your part 2 and part 3 sections to express your opinion on the given topic. As the combined words are from different grammatical groups, you must have a clear understanding of their usage.

Here we have given a list of a few phrasal verbs that can be used to enhance your IELTS speaking vocabulary.

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Break down	Refer to the working stopped condition of the machines	We were not able to reach our destination on time as our car broke down in the mid-way.
Call around	Contacting many people at a time	Abary was calling around to identify the nearby real-estate dealer.
Come down	Attack or punish	The court decided to come down on all those who violate the country’s rules.
End up	Reaching or coming to a place, condition, or situation that was not planned or expected	Eventually, the old man ended up in the nursing home.
Get around	Travel from place to place	It is always easy to get around the city on motorbikes.
Venture forth	Leaving somewhere safe or comfortable	We can venture forth on roads only after the policemen take charge of the situation.
Measure against	Judge or evaluate by comparison	You must not measure against us without knowing our true potential.
Take after	Resemble like their parents	John took after his mother’s health.
Limber up for	Prepare for work that will need great effort	People in this locality limber up for make ends meet in spite of their financial conditions.
Tee off	Start or launch	We are looking to tee off the grand event.
Peel away	From leave a group by moving in a different direction	They peeled away from the group and went down the sideways.
Pass over	Ignore, refuse to discuss	Let’s pass over what they said and get on.
Kick back	Relax	We plan to kick back and watch the cricket match.
Go by	The passing of time	The years go by so quickly.
Carry out	Performing a task	The workers will carry out the assignment.
Get along	Have a relationship with a person	My spouse gets along with my friends very well.
Take off	Remove something or become airborne	The flight is set to take off at 6 PM.
Turn on	Activate or start something	Turn on the radio.
Put off	Postpone or delay an event	Board members put off the meeting until next week.
Bring in	Introduce or generate income	The team plans to bring in new members.
Set up	Establish or arrange something	We need to set up a conference for stakeholders.
Call off	Cancel or terminate an event	The match was called off due to rain.
Run into	Experience something unexpectedly	I ran into my colleague to buy movie tickets.
Bring about	Make something happen	The new policy will bring about significant changes.
Find out	Discover something	The team needs to find out a solution.
Show up	Appearing at a place or event	I will show up for the music concert tonight.
Stand for	To honour or symbolise something	India will stand for women and children.
Break up	Disperse or ending a relationship	I don’t want to break up our relationship.
Get out	Expel or leave from a place	Let’s get out of this place.
Look forward to	Excited about something that is going to happen	I’m looking forward to working with you.
Get away	Escape from something	We need to get away from this summer.
Come across	Find unexpectedly	I came across this interesting movie about Indian culture.
Go through	To experience or endure something	He’s going through a hard time.
Cut down	Reducing the size, amount or number	I need to cut down on my weight.

Idioms for IELTS Vocabulary

Idioms are expressions that contain a figurative meaning rather than a literal meaning for individual words. Idioms in IELTS vocabulary are used to express your thoughts more vividly or imaginatively or perhaps to convey shades of meaning.

Here are the most repeated idiomatic expressions that you can incorporate in your IELTS Speaking test:

• On top of the world - Feeling extremely happy.
• A dime a dozen - Something in common.
• Get the hang of - To understand or become skillful at something.
• A piece of cake - Easily accomplished.
• Cutting corners - Doing things to reduce expenses.
• Nailed it - To be precisely accurate.
• Bend over backward - Making a great effort.
• Easy does it - Slow down the process.
• In the blink of an eye - Something happened instantly or very quickly.
• Miss the boat - It is too late.
• Get your act together - Encouraging to work better.
• A blessing in disguise - A bad or unfortunate thing happened but the outcome was beneficial.
• Speak of the devil - People showing up when you are speaking about them.
• Let the cat out of the bag - Tell or reveal the secrets.
• Keep your chin up - Being positive and optimistic during difficult times.
• That’s the last straw - Patience has run out.
• Put all your eggs in one basket - Relying on one thing can be risky.
• Catch someone’s eye - To grab someone’s attention.
• Kill two birds with one stone - Accomplishing two things at the same time.
• Break the ice - Alleviating from shyness or awkwardness.
• Keep your fingers crossed - Hoping for something good to happen.
• See eye to eye - To agree with someone.
• Pull someone’s leg - Playfully banter or jest with someone light-heartedly.
• The ball is in your court - It’s your turn to act.
• Under the weather - Falling sick.
• Bite the bullet - Facing an unpleasant or difficult situation with courage.
• By the skin of your teeth - To barely succeed in something.
• To be on cloud nine - To be extremely excited or happy.
• If my memory serves me well - A way to say you think you are remembering something correctly.
• It makes my blood boil - Making me very angry.
• Call it a day - Stopped doing something due to tiredness or not successful.
• I hit the ceiling - Becoming extremely angry.
• Fresh as a daisy - Full of energy and enthusiasm.
• Couch potato - Being lazy and inactive.
• Full of beans - Having so much energy.
• A bad egg - A person who is bad, dishonest or good-for-nothing.
• Eager beaver - A person who is very enthusiastic about doing something.
• Actions speak louder than words - People’s actions show their real attitudes, rather than what they say.

Collocations for IELTS Vocabulary

Collocations are words that often come together to give meaning to a sentence. It can be of any kind like nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. These combinations of words occur smoothly and can be used to express your views. Collocations help you sound more natural and fluent. Following are six types of collateral combinations of collocation words (with examples) that are commonly used:

• Verb & noun
  Example: I have to give a presentation for my project.
• Verb & adverb
  Example: I vaguely remember my childhood days.
• Adverb & adjective
  Example: You must be fully aware of the exam pattern before taking the test.
• Adjective & noun
  Example: In order to maintain your health, you must regularly exercise
• Noun & noun
  Example: everyone present in the auditorium gave a round of applause when the event was concluded.
• Verb & expression of the preposition
  Example: Abraham ran out of money after his business tie-ups were closed.

IELTS Section-Wise Vocabulary Words

As IELTS contains four sections—listening, reading, writing and speaking, each requires a set of vocabulary words. The section-wise vocabulary words are given below.

• IELTS Listening Vocabulary
• IELTS Reading Vocabulary
• IELTS Writing Vocabulary
• IELTS Speaking Vocabulary

Synonyms and Antonyms for IELTS Vocabulary

Synonyms are words with the same or similar meanings, and Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. Candidates with a good knowledge of Synonyms & Antonyms can write better essays in IELTS. The often-used synonyms and antonyms are given in the table below.

Word	Meaning	Synonym	Antonym
Abrogate	Revoke formally	Abolish, renegade	Approve, permit
Adduce	affirm	Prove, show	hide
Admonish	Warn	Tip, off, alert	Permit, laud
Bemused	Absent minded	Distracted, absorbed	Bored, existing
Bequest	Something given in will	Endowment, devisal	Divest, disown, dispossess
Bigotry	Intolerance	Bias, injustice, unfairness	Fairness, neutral, impartiality
Churlish	crude	Rude, uncivilised	Nice, refined
Cohort	Partner in an activity	Companion, comrade, disciple	Enemy, foe, opponent
Colossal	Very large	Enormous, immense	Little, miniscule
Dialectic	Logical, rational	Analytic, Controversial, persuasive	Illogical, irrational
Deceit	Practice of misleading	Fraud, duplicity	Fairness, honesty
Diligent	Persevering, hardworking	Active, assiduous	Careless, inactive
Efficacy	Productiveness	Adequacy, capability, capacity	Inability, failure
Elfish	Usually good-naturedly mischievous	Elfin, naughty	Behave, good
Engulf	Absorb	Bury, consume	Dry, uncover
Farcical	absurd	Comical, funny, laughable	Grave, reasonable, sad
Fidgety	Nervous and unable to relax	Apprehensive, jittery, twitchy	Restful, unmoving, composed
Fissure	A long, narrow opening	Hole, cleavage, crack	Closure, solid
Gory	bloody	Horrible, imbrued	Mild, pleasing, pleasant
Grim	hopeless	Gloomy, cruel	Bright, cheerful
Gullible	Trusting	Naive, credulous, innocent	Wary, sceptical
Heckle	jeer	Ridicule, taunt, tease	Please, praise, aid
Imbibe	Absorb or assimilate (ideas of knowledge)	Assimilate, absorb, soak up, take in, digest	Abstain, fast
Jaunt	Short trip	Outing, trip, journey	Stay, bolt, abide

Tips to improve your vocabulary for IELTS

Here a few expert-proven tips are given to help you improve your vocabulary for IELTS.

• Read, listen, speak and write in English - Start using English in all your daily activities. To improve your overall linguistic skills you must be using English in all the stages like reading newspapers, watching English movies, conversing with friends, etc. These activities will boost your confidence to use the language.
• Practice what you have learned - Start incorporating the new words you have learned in your daily activities. You can also take online test series to evaluate your vocabulary skills. During these tests implement the new words and check how well you can use them.
• Learn the words along with their meaning - You must learn the words, not just memorise them. Because only if you learn a word will you know its meaning and the places to use them. You must also get familiar with their pronunciation and expression to identify them in the listening test.
• Search for words you don’t know - While coming across a native speaker or a native writer's work, start looking for new words. These words may be commonly used by the natives but completely new to you. Thus enrich your vocabulary by learning new words daily.
• Have youtube for aid - You can use youtube to improve your vocabulary words for IELTS. There are many youtube channels that will be aiding you with lexical resources and their meanings.

Summary

It is always the best idea to keep improving your “vocabulary for IELTS” at all stages of your preparation. This article will be an ultimate guide for you to increase your lexical resources which will contribute to your higher band score.

FAQ on Vocabulary for IELTS

1. How can I improve my vocabulary?

• Practice reading English newspapers, journals, and magazines regularly.
• Start speaking in English
• Take the online IELTS tests
• Learn new words regularly along with their meaning and usage
• Shadowing

2. Is it good to use vocabulary in the IELTS tests?

Yes, it is always better to show off your lexical resources, as the exam is used to assess your language proficiency. Vocabulary is considered a marking criterion for both speaking and writing tests.

3. Can I score 9 in IELTS?

Yes, it is possible to score a perfect band 9 in IELTS if you have a regular practice, good vocabulary, an answering strategy, and familiarity with the exam pattern.

4. Is there any Vocabulary test in IELTS?

No, there is no separate test for vocabulary in IELTS. It is one of the important skills required to clear the 4 IELTS sections.

5. What vocabulary do I need for IELTS?

For IELTS you need to improve your overall vocabulary. You have concentrated more on speaking vocabulary and writing vocabulary because, in both these sections, 25% of the marks are depending on the lexical resources.

6. What is Paraphrasing and how does it differ from summarizing technique?

Paraphrasing is one of the important skills required to accomplish the reading, listening, writing, and speaking tests. It has its part in all 4 sections, as you will be responding to the questions with the paraphrased content. Paraphrasing is the ability to express another’s opinions in your own words without changing their intended meaning.

Paraphrasing is different from summarizing as, paraphrasing is the process of duplicating the entire content, whereas summarizing means you will be reading a long text and replicating only the main content.