Understanding Vocabulary Size
Your vocabulary size is a strong indicator of your language proficiency and educational background. However, it's important to distinguish between the two types of vocabulary every speaker possesses:
🗣 Active Vocabulary
The words you confidently use in daily speech and writing. This is typically smaller, ranging from 20,000 to 35,000 words for a native adult speaker.
📚 Passive Vocabulary
The words you recognize and understand when reading or listening, but don't typically use yourself. This can be up to 40,000+ words.
What is Lexical Diversity?
Lexical diversity (or Type-Token Ratio) measures the variety of vocabulary in a text. A higher percentage means you repeat words less often, suggesting a richer vocabulary and more complex writing style.
- High Diversity (>60%): Typical of creative writing, poetry, and academic abstracts.
- Moderate Diversity (40-60%): Common in journalism and blog posts.
- Low Diversity (<40%): Common in simple instructions, children's books, or repetitive SEO content.