11+ Vocabulary List: 100 Useful Words by Difficulty

Looking for useful 11+ vocabulary words? This list groups 100 words by difficulty, from accessible late-primary vocabulary through to challenging selective-school and scholarship-level words.

You can use it to spot gaps, revise unfamiliar meanings and find suitably challenging words for your child. But there is an important catch: working through one enormous A-Z word list is rarely the most effective way to learn vocabulary.

A 9-year-old should not be struggling through highly advanced words like arcane before they are secure with useful 11+ vocabulary such as adequate, comprehend and influence. That is why our vocabulary is organised by difficulty rather than alphabetically.

100 Useful 11+ Vocabulary Words

The table below gives a broad spread of useful 11+ words. The difficulty level matters: a child does not need to learn every advanced word before they can make meaningful progress.

This is a representative revision list rather than a checklist that every child must memorise. A pupil preparing for the 11+ will usually benefit more from secure understanding and repeated practice than from rushing through hundreds of words once.

11+ Vocabulary List by Difficulty

To prepare effectively for grammar school and independent school exams, children should build vocabulary progressively. Our levels move from useful late-primary foundations through to demanding selective-school and scholarship vocabulary.

1. Early Starter Vocabulary (Level 7)

Useful words commonly encountered in late primary school. Children should be comfortable with these before moving on to more demanding and abstract vocabulary.

• Avoid
• Bitter (angry)
• Disobey
• Embarrassed
• Vanish

2. Foundation Vocabulary (Level 8)

This level introduces stronger verbs, descriptive words and abstract nouns that support reading comprehension and written expression.

• Abandon
• Ambition
• Courageous
• Defeat (verb)
• Firm

3. Growing Vocabulary (Level 9)

This is where 11+ preparation begins to become more demanding. These words may appear in grammar school and independent school comprehension passages.

• Adequate
• Altitude
• Comprehend
• Influence
• Veil (noun)

4. Strong Vocabulary (Level 10)

This level contains much of the core vocabulary needed for 11+ comprehension, synonym and antonym questions under timed conditions.

• Commission
• Compassion
• Debate
• Flustered
• Ingenious

5. Advanced Vocabulary (Level 11)

These challenging words are useful for highly competitive grammar school exams, including the Sutton S.E.T. and Tiffin Stage 1, as well as selective independent-school papers.

• Elaborate
• Exquisite
• Inkling
• Opaque
• Tedium

6. Expert Vocabulary Stretch (Level 12)

This level contains ambitious scholarship-style vocabulary designed to stretch stronger 11+ candidates.

• Acumen
• Disingenuous
• Loath
• Tempestuous
• Unorthodox

7. Advanced Reader Vocabulary (Level 13)

Rich and complex vocabulary often found beyond typical primary-school reading. These words help confident readers approach demanding literary and historical texts.

• Abstruse
• Arcane
• Corroborate
• Paradoxical
• Unfathomable

Hard Words for 11 Year Olds

Parents often search for “hard words for 11 year olds”, but the most useful difficult words are not simply the rarest words you can find. They should still be relevant to demanding reading, comprehension and verbal reasoning.

Examples of suitably challenging words include ambiguous, arduous, concise, conspicuous, deplete, elaborate, formidable, impartial, ingenious, meticulous, obscure, precarious, resilient, sporadic, vigilant, acumen, disingenuous, exacerbate, tenacious and unorthodox.

A child who already knows most of these confidently may be ready for our Expert or Advanced Reader vocabulary. A child who finds many unfamiliar should normally strengthen the levels below first rather than jumping straight to obscure words.

How to Use an 11+ Vocabulary List

A vocabulary list is most useful as a way to identify gaps — not as a sheet to memorise from top to bottom.

• Learn words in manageable groups. Ten well-understood words are more useful than reading 100 unfamiliar words once.
• Learn meaning in context. A child should be able to recognise what a word means inside a sentence, not just recite a definition.
• Practise synonyms and antonyms. Selective-school questions often require children to distinguish between several closely related options.
• Revisit difficult words. Repeated retrieval helps unfamiliar vocabulary become genuinely usable.
• Increase the difficulty gradually. If almost every word is either obvious or impossible, the list is not pitched at the right level.

You can also use our 11+ synonyms and antonyms guide to practise how vocabulary relationships are tested.

Why Learning Vocabulary by Difficulty Matters

When a child practises vocabulary at the edge of their current capability — not too easy, but not overwhelmingly hard — they can build knowledge progressively without turning vocabulary revision into guesswork.

That is the problem with many enormous alphabetical 11+ vocabulary lists. They may contain useful words, but they give no indication of which ones a child should learn first.

11+ Vocab Trainer instead uses a tiered vocabulary system. A child begins around an appropriate level and moves into more demanding vocabulary as their knowledge develops.

Practise 11+ Vocabulary at the Right Level

Reading a list can show you which words your child knows. Practising them is what turns those words into usable vocabulary.

11+ Vocab Trainer contains 2,700+ words organised by difficulty. The app finds an appropriate starting point, serves short vocabulary sessions and revisits difficult words over time.