What is the Academic Word List?
The AWL was compiled by Averil Coxhead (2000) after analysing a corpus of 3.5 million words from 414 academic texts across 28 subject areas. The 570 word families selected are not the most frequent words in general English, but the most frequent words specific to academic writing.
Each “word family” groups together related forms. For example, the family analyse includes: analyse, analysis, analyst, analytical, analytically.
Browse word list570
Word families totalSublist 1 has 60 families (most frequent); Sublists 2–10 have 30–60 each.
10%
Of academic reading coveredAWL words appear roughly once every 10 words in university-level texts.
4–6
Forms per word familyLearning one root word unlocks its noun, verb, adjective, and adverb forms.
6.5+
IELTS band targetActive use of AWL vocabulary in Writing Task 2 is a key Band 6–7 differentiator.
Word list by sublist
570 AWL Word Families
Choose a sublist to study its word families, forms, and example sentences. Sublist 1 contains the most frequent academic words — start here.
Sublist 1 — Core Academic Verbs59 wordsThe most frequent academic word families. These appear in virtually every university-level text. Learn these first.Sublist 2 — Essential Academic Nouns58 wordsHigh-frequency academic words used across arts, science, and social science texts. Focus: achievement, community, evaluation.Sublist 3 — Analysis & Research Terms63 wordsAnalysis, identification, and research terminology. Key for writing literature reviews and academic arguments.Sublist 4 — Social & Economic Words60 wordsSocial, economic, and organisational terms. Includes: access, adequate, annual, apparent, approximate, attitude, attribute.Sublist 5 — Process & Evaluation Words60 wordsProcess and evaluation vocabulary. Includes: academic, capacity, challenge, clause, compound, conflict, consult, decline, discrete.Sublist 6 — Precision & Citation60 wordsIncludes: abstract, accurate, acknowledge, aggregate, allocate, assign, attach, author, bond, brief, capable, cite, cooperate, discriminate.Sublist 7 — Adaptation & Scope60 wordsIncludes: adapt, adult, advocate, aid, channel, chemical, classic, comprehensive, comprise, confirm, contrary, convert, couple, decade, definite.Sublist 8 — Nuance & Bias59 wordsLess frequent but still high-value academic vocabulary. Includes: abandon, accompany, accumulate, ambiguous, appendix, appreciate, arbitrary, automate, bias.Sublist 9 — Specialist Academic Terms60 wordsSpecialist academic terms. Includes: accommodate, analogy, anticipate, assure, attain, behalf, bulk, cease, coherent, coincide, commence.Sublist 10 — Advanced Academic Register31 wordsThe least frequent AWL words — rarer but used in advanced academic writing. Includes: adjacent, albeit, assemble, collapse, compile, convince, currency, denote, detect.
Frequently asked questions
IELTS Academic Vocabulary Questions
The Academic Word List (AWL) is a list of 570 word families compiled by Averil Coxhead that appear frequently in academic texts but not in general everyday English. These words are crucial for IELTS Academic reading and writing tasks.
The AWL is organised into 10 sublists ordered by frequency. Sublist 1 contains the 60 most frequent academic word families; Sublist 10 contains the least frequent. Sublist 1 should always be learned first.
Active use of AWL vocabulary in IELTS Writing Task 2 is a key differentiator between Band 6 and Band 7. Learners who accurately use academic vocabulary in their writing typically score higher on the Lexical Resource criterion.
Prioritise Sublists 1–3 first — these 180 families cover the majority of academic vocabulary you will encounter. Sublists 4–6 add significant value before an exam. Sublists 7–10 are useful for C1 learners aiming for Band 7.5+.
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