There is no official ISEE word list. Vocabulary is tested in the Verbal Reasoning section: 34 questions in 20 minutes at the Lower Level and 40 in 20 minutes at the Middle and Upper Levels, each a synonym or a sentence completion with four choices. The fastest way to prepare is 10 to 15 minutes a day on 200 to 300 grade-level words plus common roots. Start with the 8-question drill below to see where you stand, then use the word lists and the 8-week plan.
Pick your level and answer 4 synonym and 4 sentence completion questions written in the official ISEE formats. Each answer is checked as soon as you tap it, with an explanation, and the results tell you which question type to work on.
Middle Level (applying to grades 7–8): the real section is 40 questions in 20 minutes, about 30 seconds each. Sentence completions have one missing word.
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The ISEE tests vocabulary directly in Verbal Reasoning, the first section of the test. It is 20 minutes long at every level: 34 questions at the Lower Level and 40 at the Middle and Upper Levels, which works out to about 35 or 30 seconds per question. Every question is either a synonym or a sentence completion with four answer choices. At the Middle and Upper Levels, the official guide lists 17 to 23 of each type, and 5 of the 40 questions are unscored tryout items (4 of 34 at the Lower Level) that you can't tell apart from the rest. Scores count only correct answers, so never leave a question blank.
| Level | Grades Applying To | Questions | Question Formats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Level | Grades 5-6 | 34 in 20 min (30 scored) | Synonyms + sentence completions with one missing word or phrase |
| Middle Level | Grades 7-8 | 40 in 20 min (35 scored) | 17-23 synonyms + 17-23 sentence completions with one missing word |
| Upper Level | Grades 9-12 | 40 in 20 min (35 scored) | Synonyms + sentence completions with one missing word or a pair of words |
Synonyms are unforgiving. The test gives you a single word in capital letters and four answer choices, and you pick the closest match in meaning. There is no sentence, no surrounding context, no "process of elimination based on tone." If you do not know the word, you are guessing. This is exactly why ISEE synonym words are the area where vocabulary lists pay off most directly - every word you have memorized is a question you cannot fail.
Sentence completions hand you a sentence with a blank and four answer choices. At the Lower Level the missing piece can be a single word or a whole phrase. Middle Level items have one missing word. Upper Level items can have one missing word or a pair of words, which means you have to evaluate two vocabulary words against each other and find the pair that fits. Context clues - direction words like "however," "although," "despite" - become your secret weapon, but they only help if you know what each candidate word actually means.
Verbal Reasoning is one of two sections that test verbal skill on the ISEE; Reading Comprehension is the other. They are two of the four scored sections schools see on the score report. Reading Comprehension is heavily vocabulary-driven too, because dense passages routinely include words from the same lists tested as synonyms. Learning ISEE verbal reasoning vocabulary lifts both sections at once.
Lower Level students - 4th and 5th graders applying for grades 5 and 6 - face grade-appropriate vocabulary. Published Lower Level prep lists often run to several hundred words, and many are words a strong reader already knows. Trying to memorize a whole list leads to burnout; learning 150 to 200 grade-level words well, plus common roots, is a more realistic target.
Lower Level words tend to be concrete actions and common adjectives rather than abstract ideas. Synonyms like "speak," "happy," and "fast" are paired with slightly harder versions like "narrate," "jubilant," and "swift" so students can build toward the test's real difficulty.
These six high-yield ISEE Lower Level vocabulary words show the difficulty Lower Level students should be comfortable with. Pair each word with a familiar synonym and a quick example sentence to lock in the meaning.
At this level, depth beats breadth. A student who knows 150 words cold will outscore one who half-knows 500. Build a self-made flashcard deck of grade-level words, drill it for 10 minutes a day, and pair it with grade-appropriate reading.
Middle Level (grades 7-8 applying) is where ISEE vocabulary starts to get abstract. ERB describes each synonym item as an abstract, grade-level appropriate word, so expect words for ideas and attitudes (fallacy, insinuate) rather than objects.
Prep lists for this level often run past 1,000 words. Sort yours by how well you know each word: words you know cold, words you recognize but can't define, and words you have never seen. Spend most of your time on the middle group; those are the words a week of flashcards turns into points.
These eight words show the kind of vocabulary Middle Level students should be comfortable with. Each word is paired with a one-word synonym you can use to tag your flashcards.
Middle Level students reading at grade level can skip the easiest words on any list; they overlap with everyday school vocabulary. Front-load the harder, more abstract words in the first month of prep, then circle back to check the easier ones.
ISEE Upper Level vocabulary is a different beast. Students applying for high school grades face the hardest words, and the Upper Level is the only level where two-blank sentence completion items appear, doubling the vocabulary load on those questions. Schools see a separate Verbal Reasoning score, so vocabulary at this level shows up directly on the report they read.
Upper Level prep lists are usually alphabetical and long, often over 1,000 words. Because any letter can hold a hard word, don't study the list in order from A; mix words from across the alphabet into each week's flashcards so a list that starts with "abase" and "abate" doesn't leave the end of the alphabet untouched.
The table below pulls together fifteen of the most-tested high-yield words across all three ISEE levels, with a definition and one-word synonym for each. Use it as a daily warmup or a cool-down review at the end of a study session.
| Word | Level | Definition | Synonym |
|---|---|---|---|
| abolish | Lower | to formally end or do away with | eliminate |
| illegible | Lower | not clear enough to be read | unreadable |
| document | Lower | to record or support with evidence | record |
| bungle | Lower | to handle clumsily or carelessly | botch |
| soar | Lower | to fly or rise high in the air | ascend |
| anticipate | Middle | to expect or predict in advance | expect |
| fallacy | Middle | a mistaken belief or false idea | misconception |
| inevitable | Middle | certain to happen; unavoidable | unavoidable |
| perturb | Middle | to disturb or unsettle someone | unsettle |
| rebuff | Middle | to reject sharply or bluntly | reject |
| abate | Upper | to lessen in intensity or amount | diminish |
| accolade | Upper | an award or expression of praise | honor |
| acumen | Upper | keen insight or sharp judgment | shrewdness |
| adulation | Upper | excessive admiration or praise | flattery |
| affectation | Upper | behavior adopted to impress others | pretense |
Two-blank items only show up at the Upper Level, and they are the question type that most often turns a strong vocabulary into a mediocre score. Solving them requires evaluating two words against each other and against the sentence's logic. The trick is to lock in one blank confidently first - usually whichever blank has the strongest context clue - and then narrow the second based on the answer pairings.
The other Upper Level trap is secondary definitions. The ISEE often tests less-common meanings of common words - "address" used as a verb meaning "to deal with," for example, or "company" meaning "guests" rather than "business." When you study a word, write down all its definitions, not just the first one your dictionary returns.
Pick your ISEE level to see the typical vocabulary scope and study target.
Most students fail at ISEE vocabulary not because they cannot learn the words but because they try to learn too many at once. Short, consistent 10 to 15 minute sessions outperform last-minute cramming every time. The methods below are built on spaced repetition and active recall, two of the best-supported study techniques in learning research.
Pick a fixed time of day - right after dinner, on the bus, before bed - and run flashcards for 10 to 15 minutes. Daily consistency cements words into long-term memory in ways that one-hour weekend sessions never will. Most students underestimate how powerful a small daily habit is over an 8-week ramp.
Writing your own flashcards adds a round of practice with every word. On each card put the word on one side and three things on the back: a short definition you actually understand, one synonym, and one original sentence. Review on a 1-day, 3-day, 7-day spaced schedule - that is the backbone of every effective vocabulary system.
Enter how many words you want to learn and how many minutes a day you can study. We will estimate how many weeks you need at a sustainable pace.
Flashcards alone are not enough. Pair them with three reinforcers. First, mnemonics - silly mental images that link a word to its meaning ("ADULATION sounds like adoration, which is excessive praise"). Second, write one original sentence per word in your own life context. Third, read for 20 to 30 minutes a day. The words you struggle to memorize on flashcards often click the moment you see them in a real sentence.
| Week | New Words | Focus | Daily Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 words | High-frequency core list - level appropriate | 10-15 min flashcards + 20 min reading |
| 2 | 25 words | Add roots: chron, cred, ject, ped, mit | 15 min flashcards + 20 min reading |
| 3 | 25 words | Add prefixes: un-, re-, dis-, inter- | 15 min flashcards + 25 min reading |
| 4 | 25 words | Mid-list practice + first synonym drill | 15 min flashcards + 20 min practice |
| 5 | 25 words | Add suffixes: -ist, -ness, -acy, -ism | 15 min flashcards + 25 min reading |
| 6 | 25 words | Sentence completion practice + connotation drills | 15 min flashcards + 25 min practice |
| 7 | 25 words | Two-blank items (Upper Level) + secondary definitions | 20 min flashcards + 25 min practice |
| 8 | Review only | Full timed Verbal Reasoning section + weak-spot review | 30 min review + full section sim |
You cannot memorize every word on the list - and you do not have to. Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes are your test-day backup plan. Learning 20 to 30 word parts can decode the meaning of hundreds of unfamiliar words you have never studied directly. For many students, that is the best return on study time in ISEE vocabulary prep.
When a synonym question hits you with a word you have never seen, do not panic - break it into parts. Most ISEE words are built from a small set of recurring building blocks. Knowing that "cred" means "believe" lets you decode credible, incredulous, credit, discredit, accreditation, and dozens more. You do not need to have memorized any of them.
The table below covers twelve word parts that decode hundreds of ISEE vocabulary items when memorized cold. Add five new parts to your flashcard deck each week and review them like vocabulary words.
| Word Part | Type | Meaning | Example Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| chron | Root | time | chronological |
| cred | Root | believe | incredible |
| ject | Root | throw | rejection |
| ped | Root | foot | pedestrian |
| mit / mis | Root | send | transmit |
| un- | Prefix | not | unfair |
| re- | Prefix | again | rewrite |
| dis- | Prefix | away / not | disagree |
| inter- | Prefix | between | international |
| -ist | Suffix | one who | scientist |
| -ness | Suffix | state of being | kindness |
| -acy | Suffix | quality of | literacy |
Prefixes and suffixes do most of the heavy lifting on subtle meaning shifts. The prefix "un-" turns positive words negative. The suffix "-ist" identifies a person who does something. The suffix "-ism" labels a belief or doctrine. Memorizing eight to ten common prefixes and eight to ten common suffixes lets you triangulate the meaning of nearly any ISEE word.
Even strong vocabularies miss points on test day - usually because of process errors, not knowledge gaps. The strategies below apply to every level. Practice each one during your final two weeks of prep, not on test day itself.
On every synonym question, cover the answer choices with your finger before reading them. Predict your own meaning for the capitalized word, then drop your finger and scan for the closest match. This single move kills most distractor traps - the test designers build their wrong answers to look right at first glance, and predicting first inoculates you against them.
Every word has a positive, negative, or neutral connotation. ADULATION is positive. PERTURB is mildly negative. EXTOL is positive. INSIDIOUS is negative. When you can tag the target word's connotation, you can usually eliminate two of the four answer choices instantly. On sentence completions, also underline direction words like "however," "although," and "despite" - they tell you whether the blank goes the same direction as the sentence or reverses it.
The most expensive mistakes on ISEE vocabulary come from four habits. First, students keep memorizing the entire 1,000-word list and burn out before week three. Second, they study only primary definitions and miss the secondary meanings the ISEE loves to test. Third, they treat synonyms like sentence completion - looking for context that is not there. Fourth, they spend too long on one stuck question; the smart move is to flag it, guess strategically, and keep moving so you can finish the section.
Quick answers to the most common questions parents and students ask about the ISEE vocabulary list.
Verbal Reasoning has 34 questions at the Lower Level and 40 at the Middle and Upper Levels, all in 20 minutes. Each question is a synonym or a sentence completion with four answer choices, and 4 or 5 of the questions are unscored tryout items. With the choices included, a student meets roughly 150 to 200 words in the section. There is no official word list; prep lists from different publishers run from a few hundred to over a thousand words.
Start with high-frequency core words for your level. Lower Level students should learn words like abolish, illegible, and document; Middle Level students should prioritize anticipate, fallacy, and inevitable; Upper Level students should focus on advanced words like abate, accolade, and adulation. Aim for at least 200 high-frequency words at your level before expanding.
Last verified against the official sources: October 22, 2026. All practice questions on this page are original.