#vocabulary
featuresSee Your Vocabulary in Color as You Read
Turn on word-status highlighting and the Reader tints each word by what you know: new words, words you're learning, and the ones you can already skip.
featuresTest Your English Reading Level in 60 Seconds
A free 60-second check of the gap between the English words you recognize and the ones you can actually recall. Read a short passage and see your level.
vocabularyOne Word, Many Voices: How 'Death' Changes Across Twenty-Five Centuries
Follow the word 'death' from Aesop and Boethius to Austen, Dickens and beyond: one plain word remade by twenty-five centuries of writers.
vocabularyDish and Desk: The Secret Twins Hiding in Everyday English
Costume and custom, loyal and legal, dish and desk — three pairs of everyday words that each split from its own Latin ancestor.
vocabularyOccur, Current, Course: The Hidden 'Run' in Cur- Words
Occur, current, course and cursor come from one Latin verb meaning 'to run.' Secure looks like one of them but comes from a different root — care.
vocabularyDisaster Literally Means 'Bad Star': The Astrology Hidden in Everyday English
Disaster once meant 'a bad star,' a lunatic is moonstruck, and influence flowed from the heavens: everyday English still carries the old astrology.
vocabularyGlamour Is Literally the Word 'Grammar': From a Spell to Dazzling Charm
Glamour and grammar are the same word. It began as a Scots term for magic, a spell that deceives the eye, long before it ever meant dazzling charm.
vocabularyOne Word, Many Voices: How 'Time' Changes Across Fourteen Centuries
Follow the word 'time' from Boethius in the sixth century to Jane Austen and beyond: one plain, everyday word remade by every age of English writing.
vocabularyContain, Retain, Detain: The Hidden 'Hold' in English's -tain Words
Contain, retain, detain and maintain come from one Latin verb meaning 'to hold.' Attain looks like one of them, but belongs to a different family.
vocabularyIs Pride and Prejudice Hard to Read? It's the Sentences, Not the Words
Pride and Prejudice isn't hard because of its words — you'll recognise about 97 in every 100. The difficulty is Austen's long sentences and her irony.
vocabularyOne Root, Ten Words: How Greek and Latin Roots Build English Vocabulary
Learn one Latin root like spect ('to look') and you can decode inspect, perspective, conspicuous, and a dozen more — how word roots grow your English.
guidesOne Text, Every Level: Teaching a Mixed-Ability Reading Class
A mixed-ability class doesn't need different books — it needs different tasks. How to differentiate one shared reading by support and challenge.