Sep 9, 2026 · 9 min read
This B1 list is the next stage after the A2 list of the next 50 words, starting with 50 words you reach for when you give an opinion, talk about work or study, describe daily life, plan a trip, or join a conversation about your community. Not solid on the first 50 A1 words yet? Start there and return.
Each word shows its part of speech, a plain definition and one example, grouped into five themes of ten; a theme gives your memory a place for every word.
At A1 you name things, at A2 you describe them, and at B1 you argue, plan and explain. That shift changes how to learn words: opinion or afford cannot be pointed at, so each becomes useful inside a phrase, give an opinion or afford a holiday. Learning the company a word keeps now matters as much as the word itself, so every set below mixes word types and natural partners.
Give your view and say how you feel:
Quick check: write one true sentence for each word, such as I support my local team.
For studying, job hunting and the workplace:
Quick check: cover the list and recall each word from its definition; anything slow goes into tomorrow's review.
For routines, money and the people around you:
Quick check: say one sentence with borrow and one with lend; then pair words that travel together, such as save money and repair the car.
For trips, bookings and moving through a new place:
Quick check: describe a trip that went wrong using five of these words; telling a short story makes vocabulary stick far better than rereading.
For news, culture and the world around you:
Quick check: read a short news headline and look for these words; when you find one, say the sentence that contains it out loud.
Take one set of ten per week, learning words in their natural partnerships, and review on a spaced schedule: after one day, three days, then a week. The spaced repetition guide explains why this rhythm builds lasting recall, and the 20 words a week plan shows a faster pace for busy schedules.
Producing a word from its meaning beats recognising it. Cover the example, read the definition and say the word, then write your own sentence the same day. Recall games on this site fit the same habit: a meaning appears and you produce the English word before time runs out, so misses mark tomorrow's review. Five minutes of honest recall a day keeps Set 1 alive by the time you reach Set 5.
B1 is the third stage of the Common European Framework of Reference. At B1 you move beyond naming everyday things and start to explain opinions, experiences and plans in simple connected sentences. Learners at this stage usually recognise roughly 2,000 to 3,000 words (estimates vary), and they begin learning words in natural partnerships, such as make a choice or gain experience, instead of one item at a time.
These 50 are high-frequency words that keep appearing in daily life, work, study, travel and community topics at B1. Each set mixes nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and none of the words repeats the A1 or A2 lists, so every entry is genuinely new. Within a theme, the words are chosen to work together, which lets you build useful phrases rather than isolated items.
The A1 list names the basics of your world, and the A2 list lets you describe that world with feelings, time and routines. This B1 list adds the more abstract everyday words you need for opinions, work and society: opinion, deadline, afford, volunteer, culture. They are harder to point at than apple or station, which is exactly why each word here comes with a definition and an example sentence.
Study one set of ten at a time and do not mix sets on the same day. Learn each word inside a short phrase, then test yourself by producing the word from its meaning: cover the list, read a definition, say the word aloud, and check. Review on a spaced schedule, again after one day, three days and a week, so earlier sets stay alive while you learn the next ones.
Recall-style games suit B1 best because they make you produce the word from its meaning instead of recognising it. Try a timed recall round where a definition appears and you type the word before time runs out, or a memory-match game that pairs each word with its example sentence. A short daily challenge that mixes older and newer words also keeps the whole list fresh.