Francesca La Russa Researcher at INVALSI

Free research tool · English vocabulary

Free CEFR Vocabulary Checker & Text Analyzer (A1–C2)

Use this free CEFR vocabulary level checker and text analyzer to compare an English passage with a target from A1 to C2. Find advanced words, review each word in context, and test lower-level synonym candidates and, when needed, more general terms directly in the text.

Free to use · Your text stays in your browser

Help me improve the checker

Hello, and thank you for trying this tool. I developed it as part of my research, and I would genuinely value your perspective.

If you use it in research, teaching, assessment or materials development, please tell me what worked, what did not, and what you would improve. Examples of misclassified words, unsuitable synonyms or difficult cases are especially helpful.

Even a short message with the word, sentence or feature you were testing can help me make the checker more useful and reliable.

Thank you for contributing,
Francesca

Share feedback with me

fran.larussa3@gmail.com

Language Lab · Research tool

CEFR Vocabulary Checker

Find English words above your target level and test more accessible alternatives without losing punctuation or capitalisation.

9,776 CEFR entries · WordNet 2025
Research sources: operational levels from CEFR-J 1.5 (A1–B2) and Octanove C1/C2 1.0; synonyms and hypernym relations from Open English WordNet 2025. EFLLex is retained as separate corpus evidence and does not assign hard levels. This is not a certified assessment.

0Words
0Recognised
0Above target
0Unlisted forms

Interactive text

Highlighted words

above target

Lexical detail

Words to review

Levels: CEFR-J and Octanove provide lemma/POS classifications. “N/A” marks an uncovered entry: the tool reports it instead of inferring a level from EFLLex evidence alone.

Context: synonyms are candidates, not semantically guaranteed replacements. Hypernyms are broader terms and may remove detail. Always reread the sentence after making a change.

Levels from CEFR-J / Octanove, with EFLLex retained as separate research evidence. Synonyms and hypernym relations from Open English WordNet 2025. Full licences and citations are documented in the technical notes.

How it works

How to check the CEFR vocabulary level of a text

The checker focuses on lexical accessibility. It does not assign a single certified CEFR level to the whole text; instead, it shows which classified words exceed the level you have chosen.

Choose your readers’ level

Select A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2 as the vocabulary threshold for your text.

Find advanced words

See highlighted forms, their lemmas, parts of speech, CEFR classifications and sentence context.

Review alternatives in context

Start from the suggested WordNet sense, change the sense or part of speech when needed, and test a replacement without losing case or punctuation.

CEFR Vocabulary Checker interface for analysing an English text against a target level
The checker compares individual lexical items with the selected CEFR threshold and keeps unclassified forms visible.

Methodology

Lexical sources, coverage and limitations

How levels are assigned

Operational CEFR levels come from CEFR-J 1.5 for A1–B2 and the Octanove C1/C2 1.0 extension. Entries are matched by lemma and part of speech. The active index contains 9,776 source entries, and productive English inflections are resolved without inventing a new level.

How alternatives are selected

Synonym candidates come from Open English WordNet 2025 and remain grouped by sense. Contextual part-of-speech and construction checks remove incompatible candidates. When no synonym is available at the target level, the tool may show a direct hypernym at that level, or at the closest available lower level. Hypernyms are labelled as more general terms because they can remove important detail. This fallback applies to noun and verb senses; adjectives and adverbs may require rewording. Users can correct the detected part of speech and change the suggested sense, but no automatic substitution can guarantee an identical meaning in every sentence.

What unclassified forms mean

EFLLex is retained as separate corpus evidence, not as a source of hard CEFR labels. Proper names, specialist terms, uncommon forms or uncovered words remain explicitly unclassified so that incomplete coverage is never presented as certainty.

Privacy and responsible use

Analysis happens locally in the browser. The pasted text is not uploaded to an external service. Results are intended for editorial and research support, not as a certified assessment of a learner or a complete measure of textual difficulty.

Practical uses

Who can use this CEFR vocabulary profiler?

Language teachers

Check whether reading materials and classroom instructions contain vocabulary above a group’s target level.

Materials writers

Review lexical choices while adapting lessons, graded readers, exercises and assessment prompts.

Researchers

Inspect CEFR-linked lexical evidence while keeping source coverage and uncertainty visible.

Students and editors

Identify potentially difficult vocabulary and explore simpler candidates without treating them as automatic corrections.

Questions

About this CEFR text and vocabulary analysis

How do I check the vocabulary level of an English text?

Paste your text into the checker, select a target CEFR level from A1 to C2, and choose “Check vocabulary level.” The analysis highlights classified words above your target and keeps unclassified forms visible. It checks lexical accessibility rather than assigning a certified level to the whole text or to its writer.

Can I use this as a CEFR word level checker?

Yes. The CEFR word checker compares individual words with your selected A1–C2 target, shows their available classifications, and identifies vocabulary that may need review.

Can I use it as a CEFR writing checker or CEFR text checker?

It can support writing and text revision by checking vocabulary against a chosen threshold. However, it is not a general CEFR text level checker or overall CEFR level checker: it does not assess grammar, coherence, discourse or the writer’s proficiency.

Does the checker calculate the CEFR level of the whole text?

No. It compares classified words with the CEFR target you select. Grammar, discourse, sentence structure, background knowledge and conceptual difficulty also affect how challenging a text is.

Is every suggested synonym safe to substitute?

No. Suggestions are grouped by WordNet sense and filtered for grammatical compatibility, but meaning, register, collocation and tone must still be checked in the complete sentence. More general terms are shown separately and intentionally reduce specificity.

Why does the tool leave some words unclassified?

A visible “unclassified” result is more accurate than an invented level. Coverage varies across lexical sources, particularly for names, specialist vocabulary, compounds and uncommon forms.

About the researcher

A research tool by Francesca La Russa

Francesca La Russa is a researcher at INVALSI working in applied linguistics, English-language assessment and second language acquisition. This tool brings transparent lexical sources and explicit limitations into an everyday workflow for analysing English learning materials.