Learning English Vocabulary

Explore the mysterious letters that appear in English words but stay silent. Learn about silent W in “wrist” and “write,” silent K in “know” and “knee,” and silent B in “thumb” and “climb.” A quiz puts your pronunciation knowledge to the test, with tips for marking silent letters in your vocabulary notebook.

Explore onomatopoeia through the noisy sounds of city life, from horns and traffic to buzzing, beeping and blaring. Then head into the quieter night with humming fridges, rumbling sounds and rustling trees. Test your listening skills in a fun vocabulary quiz and discover a musical way to remember new English words.

Explore multi-word verbs through a weekend story, including “meet up with,” “find out,” “look into,” and “make up.” The discussion contrasts natural conversational phrasal verbs with more formal alternatives, then tests listeners with a lively vocabulary quiz and practical examples.

Confused by “classic” and “classical”? Explore the differences between pairs like historic and historical, plus economic and economical. Catherine and Rob also tackle word stress, test each other with a lively vocabulary quiz, and share a practical tip for learning new words with a partner.

Explore powerful adjectives like “terrified,” “hilarious,” “fantastic,” and “starving” through a romantic evening that goes hilariously wrong. Discover how intensifiers such as “absolutely” pair with strong adjectives, test your vocabulary with a quiz, and learn a memorable technique for building your word bank.

Explore English job titles linked to gender, from actor and actress to policeman and policewoman. The discussion also covers modern gender-neutral alternatives such as firefighter, presenter, flight attendant and chairperson. Test your vocabulary with a quiz, then learn a simple way to practise naming people’s jobs in everyday situations.

The British love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.TRY THE LISTENING ROOM: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the_listening_room (Hard: Upper intermediate level and above, B2 and above)Visit our website ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followusThe Pronunciation Lounge: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the_pronunciation_loungeNEWSLETTER: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newslettersLIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning Easy English ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ Learning English StoriesThey're all available by searching in your podcast app.

Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE:Visit our website ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglishFollow us ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followusLIKE PODCASTS?Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning Easy English ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ Learning English StoriesThey're all available by searching in your podcast app.

We talk about words like 'big' and 'large' and explore the similarities between them.