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For ESL teachers + learners · Updated 2026

CEFR A1 vs A2 Vocabulary: What's the Difference?

Short answer: A1 covers 500–1,000 high-frequency English words for everyday survival (greetings, family, food, weather, numbers, simple present-tense verbs). A2 doubles to 1,500–2,500 words and adds past + future tense vocabulary, comparisons, opinions, and broader topics like travel, jobs, hobbies, and shopping. A2 learners can hold short familiar conversations; A1 learners use rehearsed phrases.

Side-by-side comparison

A1 (Beginner)A2 (Elementary)
Word count500–1,0001,500–2,500
TensesPresent simple, imperatives+ Past simple, going-to future, present continuous
TopicsSelf, family, food, school, body, weather, animals, numbers+ Travel, jobs, hobbies, shopping, simple feelings about events
Conversation abilityGreetings + rehearsed phrasesShort familiar conversations on past + present + future events
Reading abilitySingle signs, very short notesShort personal letters, simple menus, basic instructions
Estimated study hours from zero80–100 hours180–300 hours total

Example words at each level

A1 vocabulary examples

Concrete, everyday, mostly nouns + simple verbs:

family, eat, big, hot, school, today, like, want, blue, dog, walk, happy, book, play, house, cold, red, five, tea, drink

A2 vocabulary examples

More descriptive, more abstract, more time-related:

usually, although, exciting, careful, abroad, journey, decide, suggest, opportunity, comfortable, especially, traffic, experience, polite, borrow, opposite, guess, practice, exam, noisy

What's hard about the A1 → A2 jump

  1. Tense expansion. Suddenly you need past + future. The vocabulary of time (yesterday, last week, in two months, before, after) has to land too.
  2. Adverbs of frequency. always, sometimes, often, rarely, never — these are abstract concepts that A1 didn't require.
  3. Connectors. because, but, however, although, so — A1 communicates in simple sentences; A2 starts to chain them.
  4. Opinions. Vocabulary for liking / disliking / preferring + the grammar to express it (I'd rather, I think, in my opinion).

How to teach the jump

The vocabulary expansion is doable with structured exposure: 10–15 new words per week, spaced repetition over 2–3 weeks per batch, plus mixing in past-tense practice immediately so the new words land in the new grammar. Gamified drilling tools work well here because students need 4–6 exposures before a word sticks, and that's tedious without the right format.

Practice CEFR A1–B2 vocabulary on Vocaband — free for teachers to create a class →

Vocaband — gamified English vocabulary games for ESL classrooms. CEFR A1 to B2. Free for teachers to create a class. Open the app →