New Academic Word List

New Academic Word List 176-200

By Will Salisbury·Updated 25 October 2026

These are words 176 to 200 of the top 400 words of the New Academic Word List: words that appear again and again in university texts and in the Academic IELTS Reading and Writing tasks. For each word, read the example, try to guess the meaning, then reveal it and mark honestly how you did. Then say the word aloud, record yourself and compare it with the model voice. When you have finished, try the gap quiz and save your results.

The words

Gap quiz

Each sentence has one gap. Drag a word into the gap, or tap a word and then tap the gap. The words are the ones you have just practised, and some of them have changed shape (for example, is or made).

1. A new of the virus appeared that spread faster than the original one.
2. Darwin's theory explains change in living things over millions of years.
3. Teachers give students on their work to help them improve next time.
4. The decision was , made together by the whole group and not by one person.
5. The choice of colour was : there was no reason for it at all.
6. One half is a simple of the whole, written with a line between two numbers.
7. By my , the journey will take about two hours, though I may be wrong.
8. Growth that is slow at first and then speeds up in a curve is , not a straight line.
9. A from the usual route made us late for the meeting.
10. A car is small and neat, and it is easy to park in a busy street.
11. The teacher drew a on the board to show how the heart works.
12. Bananas grow best in countries, where the weather is hot and wet all year.
13. is the study of how words are built from parts, such as adding -ed to make the past tense.
14. She signed the contract, agreeing to all of its terms.
15. In English , the subject usually comes before the verb in a statement.
16. A tiny in the glass made the bottle break when it was filled.
17. The of rubbish into glass, metal and plastic helps the recycling plant.
18. The of two rivers, the point where they meet and become one, forms a wide lake.
19. The room was not warm for the children, so they put on their coats.
20. A passport must be for at least six months after the date you travel.
21. The app has a simple with large buttons that makes it easy to use.
22. Too much sun can harm the skin, so people wear sun cream outdoors.
23. The wall is , going straight up from the floor to the ceiling.
24. Writers short quotations inside their own sentences so the text flows well.
25. An illness appears suddenly and is serious, but it does not last very long.

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Word list: New Academic Word List 1.2 by Charles Browne, Brent Culligan and Joseph Phillips (2013), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The list gives the words and their order; the meanings, examples and exercises on this page are our own.

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