IELTS Vocabulary to Help Your Academic Reading

A strong vocabulary is one of the most important tools for success in the IELTS Academic Reading test.

You don’t need to memorise hundreds of difficult words — what matters most is learning how to recognise useful academic vocabulary, understand words in context, and build topic-specific knowledge step by step.

This page gives you practical ways to improve your IELTS Reading vocabulary with short, focused lessons.

1. Focus on the Academic Word List (AWL)

Many words in IELTS Reading passages come from the Academic Word List, which includes vocabulary used often in university or research texts. These words appear across subjects like education, science, and economics.

Examples from the AWL:

• analyse, assess, concept, evidence, method, significant, vary

You don’t need to study the entire list at once. Start small — learn 5 to 10 new words a week, focus on how they’re used in sentences, and review regularly.

IELTS Master Path FREE AWL: Download our FREE study-version of the AWL where we have condensed the list down to 200 words with examples to help you learn.

2. Learn Topic-Based Vocabulary Sets

IELTS Reading texts often focus on common academic or real-world topics. Building small word sets around these themes helps you understand texts more quickly and recognize familiar ideas.

Useful IELTS topics include:

• Environment: pollution, conservation, renewable, habitat, climate

• Health: treatment, disease, research, nutrition, prevention

• Education: curriculum, assessment, motivation, academic, theory

• Technology: innovation, data, device, digital, development

When you read, note new words connected to these topics and add them to your own word lists.

Tip: Instead of memorising words, learn them in phrases, collocations or chunks of language.

For example:

Collocations:

• conducting research

• providing evidence

• lead to improvement

Academic Phrases:

• in addition to this

• with respect to sustainability

• experts argue that

Chunks of Language:

• It is widely believed that

• there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that

• governments should act urgently

Example Sentence:

It is widely believed that conducting research on climate change is essential, as providing evidence can lead to improvement in global policies; in addition to this, experts argue that with respect to sustainability, governments should act urgently, because there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that immediate action will prevent irreversible damage.

This helps you understand and remember how the word is used naturally.

3. Guessing Meaning from Context

In the IELTS Reading test, you will meet new or unfamiliar words. You don’t need to understand every single one. What’s more important is being able to guess the meaning from the words and sentences around it — this is called using context clues.

How to guess meaning:

1. Read the whole sentence carefully.

2. Look for clues such as examples, definitions, or contrasts (words like however, for example, unlike).

3. Think about what kind of word it is — noun, verb, or adjective.

4. Check if the meaning fits the paragraph’s main idea.

Example:

Skydiving is considered one of the most thrilling sports in the world. As the plane descended rapidly, the man deployed his parachute, a critical action. Without this step, the consequences could be disastrous. Experienced skydivers train for years to master the techniques involved in this process, ensuring that every movement is executed correctly.

Target word: deployed

Context clues:

• “critical action”

• “determine the outcome of his landing”

• “consequences could be disastrous”

• Related to skydiving

You can possibly guess that deploy means to put something into action or use. In this case: 'to open/use the parachute.'

4. Keep Vocabulary Learning Simple

You don’t need huge lists of difficult words. Instead, focus on mini lessons — small, focused study sessions that help you learn deeply and remember better.

Mini lesson example:

• Choose one short IELTS Reading paragraph.

• Highlight 5 useful academic or topic-related words.

• Write your own example sentence for each.

• Review these words again after 2 days, then after one week.

A few minutes of focused learning each day is far more effective than trying to memorise long lists once a week.

Improving your IELTS Reading vocabulary doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start with small, practical goals — a few academic words, one topic set, or a short reading each day.

Over time, your understanding will grow naturally, and you’ll find it easier to read and answer questions confidently in the IELTS test.