[Iustinus]

I think you guys will enjoy this one.

I'm at 27,300.



Test Your Vocabulary

[TaleofMisunderstood]

17,900 words.

Don't overestimate my intelligence!

[Tincan]

Only 22,800. I stopped reading a few years ago, and was mostly into casual fantasy books before.

[Sonne]

O.O

29,500

words

[bromide]

Your total vocabulary size is estimated to be:
36,300

words

I am a bit embarrassed to say that I only knew a third of the words in the last column of the second page.

[Wellsy]

17,100 words.
I pretty much don't read books in my free time and the things I do read tend to be on the computer.

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Your total vocabulary size is estimated to be: 22,200 words

Wow, I thought I had a pretty good vocabulary, but you guys make me feel stupid...

[Wellsy]

The way I mask what ever intellectual insecurity there could be with in me is to think that I haven't a strong need for an elaborate vocabulary. I speak simply because its most effective communication, even if I had a large vocab, it'd be wasted on those who dont share such a range.
So im not that bothered because its not something im interested in purposely expanding for the sake of saying words others dont know, nor do I have the self satisfying desire to befriend my oxford dictionary too much.
A good vocab is impressive but im happy not knowing more than I need or want to know. Im a simple mind most of the time :)

[RetroVortex]

I got 25,100 words! XD

Not bad. Not much of a reader though.

[GenericUser]

30,000 words. Humbling. There were a lot of words I don't ever remember seeing before. I looked a few of them up just make sure they were actual words.

Based on over 200,000 participations so far, we've got some initial statistics already. Most Native English adult speakers who have taken the test fall in the range 20,000–35,000 words.

New results for native speakers

25 July 2011

Over the past week, we've had a flood of participation, with over 200,000 visitors. (If you haven't taken the quiz, you can do it here.) So now it's about time we gave something back! Previously, we'd only been able to calculate a very narrow range of statistics.
But now, we've been able to produce two great new charts which give a much fuller picture of the vocabulary sizes of native English speakers. First, since we've had much more participation from both younger and older speakers, we can calculate meaningful average vocabulary sizes from native English speakers who took the test, for ages 3–71:
Click here to link to the page with the chart

This is a fantastic chart, because it shows the speed at which our vocabulary really grows. Between the ages of 3 and roughly 16, our vocabulary explodes at an average rate of almost 4 new words a day (3.8, to be more exact). Then, between the ages of 16 and 50, our vocabulary growth is slower, but still fairly consistent: around 1 new word a day (0.85, to be precise). Finally, beyond 50, vocabulary size appears to remain fairly constant. (Note that the data is still a bit jagged both for younger and older participants — we still need more data at both ends to smooth things out.)

I'm guessing those of you who scored lower are simply younger. The chart clearly shows that vocabulary expands with age. Here is a chart I made using their data showing the average vocabulary for some different ages:

18 - 22,777
20 - 23,874
25 - 26,065
30 - 27,808
40 - 30,213
50 - 32,013
60 - 32,434

I am below average for my age. The numbers appear to be dynamic because this is an ongoing research project from what I can tell. They may drift or even change significantly as more people participate.