New General
Service List
A carefully developed list of approximately 2,800 high-frequency English words, organized to support efficient vocabulary learning and informed teaching-material design.
About the NGSL
The New General Service List (NGSL) is a list of approximately 2,800 high-frequency English words designed to give learners an efficient foundation for understanding and using the language in everyday situations.
The list was created by three researchers (Browne, Culligan, and Phillips) using a carefully selected 273-million-word subsection of the Cambridge English Corpus, a very large collection of modern written and spoken English. It was developed as a modern, corpus-based successor to earlier general-service vocabulary lists such as West’s General Service List (GSL).
For teaching and learning purposes, the NGSL is divided into seven bands of 400 words. This banding allows educators and learners to build high-frequency vocabulary step by step and to check how well a text matches a particular stage of vocabulary knowledge.
Explore the tools
Use the NGSL to examine teaching materials or obtain an informal estimate of a learner’s receptive vocabulary across the seven bands.
NGSL Text Profiler
Paste a reading, worksheet, or other classroom text to see its coverage across all seven NGSL bands and identify words learners may need help with. Edit the passage on the fly and analyze it again immediately, making it easy to adapt materials for a target level.
Open the Text ProfilerNGSL Band Check
Complete a short, adaptive yes-or-no vocabulary check to obtain an informal profile across the NGSL bands. The result identifies developing knowledge and suggests a band at which to begin studying.
Open the Band CheckNGSL Word Explorer
Search or browse all 2,800 NGSL headwords. See each word’s frequency rank, NGSL band, and position within its 400-word band, or choose a random word for a classroom activity.
Open the Word ExplorerPlease note: The Band Check is a pilot diagnostic intended to guide learning and teaching decisions. It is not a formal proficiency or placement test.