These free ISEE vocabulary flashcards cover 181 words, sorted into Lower, Middle and Upper Level decks. Flip a card, mark it known or still learning, then test yourself with synonym and sentence completion questions in the ISEE's four-choice format. Verbal Reasoning gives you 20 minutes for 34 questions (Lower) or 40 (Middle and Upper).
Pick your level with the buttons on the deck: Lower is for students applying to grades 5 and 6, Middle for grades 7 and 8, Upper for grades 9 to 12. Every definition and example sentence was written by Test Ninjas for this deck. The test format facts come from E3n, which runs the ISEE, in its 2026-27 ISEE Quick Facts guide and ISEE overview on admission.org, checked November 12, 2026.
Choose a level, tap a card to see the definition and an example sentence, then mark it. Cards you mark Still learning come back in a review round at the end of the deck. Tick Hide words I know to study only the words you haven't learned yet. Lower has 62 words, Middle 63 and Upper 56.
to leave someone or something behind for good
“The sailors had to abandon the leaking boat and row to shore.”
Once you've been through the cards, test them the way the ISEE does: a word in capital letters with four choices, then sentences with a blank. Each set has 10 synonym questions drawn from your level's deck and 3 sentence completions. Pick an answer to check it, open "Show answer" for the explanation, and press "See results" for your score by question type and a list of words to review. "Try a new set" draws different words.
Middle Level (applying to grades 7–8): 13 questions. Real-test pace is 30 seconds a question, so aim to finish in 6:30. The timer starts with your first answer.
Part 1: synonyms
Choose the word whose meaning is closest to the word in capital letters.
Part 2: sentence completion
Choose the word or words that best complete the sentence.
Last verified against E3n's ISEE Quick Facts guide 2026-27, the ISEE overview on admission.org and the What to Expect on the ISEE guides: November 12, 2026. All questions are original and written by Test Ninjas.
E3n doesn't publish an ISEE word list, so there's no official number. A realistic goal is your level's deck here (about 60 words) plus 8 to 10 new words a day for the weeks you have left. The aim isn't to memorize every word that could appear. It's to recognize enough words, and enough word parts, that you can eliminate wrong choices on the ones you don't know.
Use the arithmetic below to set a target that fits your calendar. It assumes 5 study days a week; the numbers are our suggestion, not an E3n figure.
| Weeks until the test | New words a day | Words added | Plus this deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks | 10 | 200 | about 260 |
| 8 weeks | 8 | 320 | about 380 |
| 12 weeks | 8 | 480 | about 540 |
| 16 weeks or more | 6 | 480+ | 540+, with time for reading |
Two cautions. First, more words a day isn't better if you can't remember them a week later: if more than a third of yesterday's cards are still learning, cut the number of new words. Second, learn words from your own level first. A sixth grader who learns Upper Level words like obsequious before Lower Level words like reluctant is studying in the wrong order.
For a longer printed list by level with synonyms, see our ISEE essential vocabulary words list. The flashcards here use a different set of words, so the two work together.
Verbal Reasoning is the ISEE's vocabulary section: 34 questions in 20 minutes at the Lower Level and 40 questions in 20 minutes at the Middle and Upper Levels. The questions come in two kinds, synonyms and sentence completions, and each has four answer choices.
| Level | Applying to | Questions | Time | Average pace | Sentence completions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Level | grades 5–6 | 34 | 20 min | 35 sec | Missing a missing word or phrase |
| Middle Level | grades 7–8 | 40 | 20 min | 30 sec | Missing one missing word |
| Upper Level | grades 9–12 | 40 | 20 min | 30 sec | Missing one missing word or a pair of words |
A synonym question shows one word in capital letters and asks which choice is closest in meaning. There's no sentence around it, so either you know the word, you know a part of it, or you eliminate. ERB's What to Expect guide for the Lower Level describes these as grade-appropriate words followed by four choices, and notes that the answer choices are listed in alphabetical order, as they are in our drill. Synonym items are where flashcards pay off most directly.
A sentence completion gives you a sentence with a blank and four choices. The sentence always holds a clue. Contrast words (although, despite, but) tell you the blank goes against something; cause words (because, so) tell you it follows from something; a semicolon or colon often introduces a definition of the blank. Cover the choices, fill in your own word, then find the closest match. Upper Level students also see two-blank items: solve the blank with the stronger clue first, then check that the other word fits.
Vocabulary matters outside Verbal Reasoning too. Reading Comprehension passages use the same kind of words, so every card you learn makes the passages faster to read. If Verbal Reasoning is your weakest score, our guide to raising your ISEE verbal score covers the strategy side.
Study for 15 to 20 minutes a day, every day you can, and spend more of that time reviewing old cards than adding new ones. Short daily sessions work because you meet each word again after a gap, just as you start to forget it. That's what moves a word from "I've seen it" to "I know it under time pressure."
A few habits make the cards work harder:
Knowing a handful of Latin and Greek roots lets you make an educated guess on words you've never seen, which matters on a test with no penalty for guessing. Learn the root, then look for it in the deck. Watch for false friends: words that look like they contain a root but don't.
| Root | Meaning | In this deck | Other words |
|---|---|---|---|
| bene | good, well | benevolent (well meaning) | benefit, benefactor |
| ambi | both, around | ambiguous (open to two readings) | ambidextrous, ambivalent |
| voc / vok | voice, call | vociferous (loud and forceful) | advocate, revoke |
| magn | great | magnanimous (great-souled, generous) | magnify, magnitude |
| luc / lum | light | lucid (clear, easy to understand) | illuminate, translucent |
| ten / tain | hold | tenacious (holds on); tenuous is a false friend, from a word for thin | retain, tenant |
| pre | before | precocious (ripened early) | predict, preview |
| in / im / il | not (in other words: in, into) | impartial, inevitable, innocuous | illegible, immobile |
Our ISEE vocabulary list has more words grouped by level if you want to extend the deck with root families.
Your level depends on the grade you're applying to, not your current grade, and each level's words are harder than the last. Middle and Upper share the same Verbal Reasoning format (40 questions in 20 minutes), but Upper Level words are more abstract and its sentence completions can have two blanks.
| Lower Level | Middle Level | Upper Level | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applying to | Grades 5-6 | Grades 7-8 | Grades 9-12 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 34 questions, 20 min | 40 questions, 20 min | 40 questions, 20 min |
| Sentence completion blank | A word or a phrase | One word | One word or a pair of words |
| Typical words | reluctant, fragile, conceal | ambiguous, frugal, meticulous | ephemeral, laconic, magnanimous |
| What makes it hard | Everyday words used precisely | Words from books and news, not conversation | Abstract words about attitudes and ideas |
If you're between levels in skill, start with your own level's deck and move up once you know most of it. An eighth grader applying to ninth grade takes the Upper Level, so a Middle Level deck is a warm-up, not the goal. Not sure which level you take? Our ISEE test length guide lists every level by grade.
You have about 30 seconds per question at the Middle and Upper Levels and about 35 seconds at the Lower Level, and there's no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question blank. E3n says students are scored only on correct answers.
The drill timer shows how your speed compares with the real pace. For the full guessing approach, see ISEE guessing strategy.
Last verified against E3n's ISEE Quick Facts guide 2026-27 and ISEE overview on admission.org: November 12, 2026. Word definitions, example sentences and practice questions are original to Test Ninjas.