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- The AWL contains 570 word families common across academic disciplines.
- It was compiled by Averil Coxhead and published in 2000.
- Words are grouped into 10 sublists by frequency, sublist 1 being most common.
- AWL words make up a large share of vocabulary in academic texts.
- Learn whole word families, not single words, for the biggest gains.
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The Academic Word List (AWL) is a research-based list of the words that appear most often across academic texts in every subject. Compiled by Averil Coxhead in 2000, it contains 570 word families that are essential for university study and exams such as IELTS. This guide explains what the AWL is, how it is organised, and the most effective ways to learn it.
What Is the Academic Word List?
The AWL is a list of 570 word families that occur frequently in academic texts across the humanities, sciences, law and commerce, but are not in the most common 2,000 general words. It was developed by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University of Wellington and published in 2000.
The 10 Sublists
The AWL is divided into ten sublists, ordered by frequency. Sublist 1 contains the most common families (such as analyse, concept, data), and sublist 10 the least common. Studying sublist by sublist lets you prioritise the highest-value words first.
Sublist 1 examples: analyse, approach, area, assess, concept, data, define, environment.
Word Families
Each entry is a word family — a base word plus its forms. The family for analyse includes analysis, analyst, analytical and analysed.
One Family
| Form | Part of speech |
|---|---|
| analyse | verb |
| analysis | noun |
| analyst | noun (person) |
| analytical | adjective |
Examples in Use
AWL words appear constantly in academic writing.
The study aims to analyse the data and assess the impact of the policy.
This approach provides a useful framework for the research.
How to Study the AWL
The most effective method is to learn whole word families and to study sublist by sublist, starting with sublist 1. Use spaced repetition, meet the words in real academic reading, and practise producing them in your own sentences.
Common Mistakes
A common mistake is memorising single words rather than whole families, which limits how flexibly you can use them. Another is learning definitions without seeing the words in context, so you cannot use them naturally. Finally, learners sometimes overuse academic words in informal writing, which sounds unnatural. Study families in context and reserve them for academic registers.
A Practical Study Plan
Because the AWL is large, a structured plan helps you make steady progress without feeling overwhelmed. Working through it sublist by sublist, with regular review, is far more effective than trying to learn everything at once.
Four-Step Approach
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Prioritise | start with sublist 1, the most frequent families |
| 2. Expand | learn the whole family, not just one form |
| 3. Contextualise | meet each word in real academic reading |
| 4. Review | use spaced repetition to fix words in memory |
If you study one sublist at a time and review earlier sublists regularly, you can cover the whole list over a few months while genuinely retaining the vocabulary. Pair this with wide reading of academic texts so that you keep meeting the words in authentic contexts. The combination of frequency-based prioritising, family learning and spaced review is what turns a long word list into a working academic vocabulary you can actually use.
One final tip is to pay attention to how AWL words behave grammatically, not just what they mean. Many take fixed prepositions or appear in standard phrases — you conduct research, draw a conclusion, play a role in something and have an impact on something. Recording these patterns alongside each word means that when you come to write, you can use the vocabulary accurately rather than guessing. Academic writing rewards precision, so knowing that consist is followed by of, or that derive is followed by from, is just as valuable as knowing the basic meaning of the word.
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