English Beginner Level - How Many Words Do I have to Know?

For a basic level of English, you typically need to know around 500 to 1,000 words. This range allows you to:

Introduce yourself and others

Ask and answer simple questions

Talk about everyday topics (family, hobbies, time, shopping, etc.)

Understand and form basic sentences

Here’s a rough breakdown of language levels and word counts:

CEFR level	Number of words	Accumulated vocabulary	Coverage
A1	600 words	600 words	85%
A2	1000 words	1600 words	91%
B1	1100 words	2700 words	94%
B2	1000 words	3700 words	95%
C1	1000 words	4700 words	96.13%
C1+	300 words	5000 words	96.30%