How many of the 170k English words do you know?

426 points · 511 comments on HN · read original →

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A 100-question challenge estimates your English vocabulary size from 171,476 words.

VocabOwl offers a vocabulary test using stratified sampling via Gemini 3 Flash AI. It asks 100 questions to estimate how many of 171,476 English words you know. Inspired by The Rest Is Science podcast with Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens.

What commenters are saying

Most commenters found the test fun but criticized its three-clicks-per-question interaction design, requesting fewer clicks and a skip option. Some noted that many advanced words are French loanwords, giving French speakers an advantage. A few reported scores like 71,000 and 75,000 but felt sampling and lucky guesses inflated results. Several pointed out a typo in 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' and debated the order of 'interrobang' glyphs. Others suggested vocabulary tests correlate strongly with IQ.