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Words by frequency
Every card is one written German word form, taken from a list ranked by how often the form appears. Where you stop recognising them is the thing being measured.
Free German vocabulary test
How many German words do you know?
Grade German words one at a time and get an estimate of your vocabulary, in words. Between fifteen and forty cards, no account, and the result is yours either way.
Take the test
The words come one at a time and you say whether you know each one. The test moves towards the point where your knowledge runs out, and stops once it is confident. It checks word knowledge, not grammar or speaking.
What the number means
The result is a count of German word forms, given as a range — ≈ 2,300–3,300 words you know — and the range is the honest part of it.
A few dozen self-graded cards cannot pin a vocabulary of thousands down to one figure, so the test prints the bracket its answers support and lets it narrow as you answer more. The number inside that bracket sits low on purpose: the estimate is pulled down by its own uncertainty, so the test reports below its own best guess rather than above it.
It is a size, not a score and not a grade. The result names one of five steps on the scale below, and that scale is the same one a text’s difficulty is measured against, so a reader and a page can be read against each other.
What it counts is written word forms you recognise. Recognising a word on a card is easier than meeting it in a sentence, and knowing every word in a paragraph is not the same as understanding the paragraph. Treat the number as a starting point that real reading corrects, not a verdict.
500beginnerjust started
1,500elementarysimple everyday things
3,000intermediatecan follow a clear story
6,000upper intermediatereads novels with a dictionary nearby
12,000advancedreads almost anything
The scale is open at the top: past 12,000 words the estimate keeps rising and the name simply stops changing.
How the estimate is made
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Three at a time, near your edge
Cards come in blocks of three at roughly one difficulty, and the next block moves towards wherever your answers put you. Fifteen cards is the minimum and forty the ceiling; it stops earlier once the estimate settles.
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Summed, then read down
The estimate adds up the words below your level on that list. It is reported as a range, and the figure inside it sits low on purpose, so the test under-reads you rather than flattering you.
Words an English speaker would already read without knowing German — Film, Natur — are never asked, because a card everybody answers “known” measures nothing. The frequency order behind the cards is published data, credited in full on our sources page.
What to read at your size
A number on its own is trivia. These three are what it is for.
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Check a text
Paste a page into the German text checker to see the vocabulary that passage asks for, and whether it is above or below your result.
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See the words
The most common German words are free to read and to download, ranked in the same order the test draws from.
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Find something to read
The German catalogue lists films, books and songs by title, setting and year — somewhere to point the vocabulary.
Frequently asked questions
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How accurate is a vocabulary size estimate?
It is an estimate, which is why it is reported as a range rather than a single number. Forty self-graded cards cannot pin down a vocabulary of thousands of words, and you are the one grading, so nothing is verified. The range narrows as you answer more cards, and the figure printed inside it sits below our own best guess.
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Why a word count rather than a language level?
Because a word count is what this measures. A CEFR letter describes reading, writing, listening and speaking, and a set of vocabulary cards has no evidence about three of those, so the test does not give one. The result names a step instead: beginner, elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate or advanced, at 500, 1,500, 3,000, 6,000 and 12,000 words.
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How many German words do I need to read a newspaper or a novel?
It depends on the text far more than on the number. Our own scale puts following a clear story around 3,000 words and reading novels with a dictionary nearby around 6,000, but a particular article or chapter can sit either side of that. For one specific text, paste a page into the text checker: it reports the vocabulary that passage asks for rather than a guess about the genre.
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Can I retake it, and can the number go down?
Yes to both, as often as you like. The test samples a few dozen words out of thousands, so two runs a week apart can land in different places without either being wrong — that is what the range is for. Nothing is compared against anyone else and no score is kept unless you choose to save it.
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Does it test my grammar?
No. It asks whether you recognise a written word, not whether you can conjugate it, hear it or use it in a sentence. A page you cannot read may be a vocabulary problem or a grammar one, and this test can only speak to the first.