This week on The Missing Workbook
1 new learner
12 reviews
Word
English Vocabulary
Pick a CEFR level (A1–C2, plus C2+ for rare words beyond the CEFR scale) — A1 is the friendliest place to start — and browse its words grouped by topic: travel, food, the body, emotions, and more. Each word shows its meaning, example sentences, and US/UK pronunciation.
Choose your level
All 27,899 wordsC2+ is beyond the official CEFR scale: rare, specialist, and literary words kept for reference.
48 words
theme
B1
/θiːm/
The main subject or idea of a book, film, talk, or piece of art.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
writer
A1
/ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/
A person who writes books, stories, or articles, especially as a job.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
setting
B1
/ˈsɛtɪŋ/
The time and place in which something happens, especially in a story.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
fantasy
B1
/ˈfæntəsi/
Something you imagine that is pleasant but unlikely to happen.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
tragedy
B1
/ˈtɹæd͡ʒɛdi/
A very sad event, especially one involving death or great loss.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
poetry
B1
/ˈpoʊ.ə.tɹi/
Writing arranged in lines, often with rhythm or rhyme, that expresses feelings and ideas.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
poem
B1
/ˈpoʊ.əm/
A piece of writing arranged in lines, often with rhythm or rhyme, that expresses feelings or ideas.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
chapter
A2
/ˈt͡ʃæptɚ/
One of the main sections a book is divided into.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
plot
B1
/plɑt/
The main events and story of a book, film, or play.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
myth
B1
/mɪθ/
A widely held but false belief or idea.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
author
A2
/ˈɔθɚ/
A person who writes a book, article, or other work.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
dialogue
C2+
/ˈdaɪəˌlɔɡ/
A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
literature
B1
/ˈlɪt.ɚ.ə.t͡ʃɚ/
Written works such as novels, poems, and plays valued as art.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
verse
B2
/ˈvɝs/
A group of lines that form one unit of a song or poem.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
manuscript
C1
/ˈmæn.jəˌskɹɪpt/
A written or typed version of a book or article before it is published.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
refrain
B2
/ɹɪˈfɹeɪn/
To stop yourself from doing something.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
suspense
C2
/səˈspɛns/
an uncertain cognitive state
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
narrative
B1
/ˈnæɹətɪv/
A story or an account of connected events.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
genre
B2
/ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/
A particular type or style of art, literature, music, or film.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
sequel
C1
/ˈsiːkwəl/
A book, film, or play that continues the story of an earlier one.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
ballad
B2
/ˈbæləd/
A slow, romantic song.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
flashback
C1
/ˈflæʃ.bæk/
A part of a film, book, or play that shows an earlier event, interrupting the main story.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
realism
C1
/ˈɹi.əlɪzəm/
A practical attitude that accepts the facts of a situation as they really are.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
protagonist
C1
/pɹoʊˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst/
The main character in a story, film, or play.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
symbolism
B2
/ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm/
Representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
bestseller
B2
/ˈbɛstˈsɛlɝ/
A book or product that sells in very large numbers.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
prologue
C2+
/ˈpɹoʊlɔɡ/
an opening speech or section that introduces a play, novel, or other work
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
sonnet
B2
/ˈsɒnɪt/
A poem of fourteen lines with a fixed rhyme scheme.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
paperback
C2
/ˈpeɪ.pɚˌbæk/
a book bound with a flexible paper or card cover
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
allegory
C2
/ˈæləˌɡɔɹi/
A story whose characters and events stand for a deeper meaning, often a moral or political one.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
couplet
C1
/ˈkʌplət/
two successive lines of verse that form a unit, often sharing a meter and rhyme
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
epilogue
C2
/ˈɛp.ɪˌlɔɡ/
a concluding section added to a literary work that comments on or reveals what happens after the main narrative
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
surrealism
C2
/sɝˈiːlɪzəm/
An early 20th-century art and literary movement that used dreamlike, fantastic images to express the unconscious mind.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
stanza
B2
/ˈstænzə/
A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in writing.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
characterization
C1
/ˌkæɹəktəɹəˈzeɪʃən/
The way a writer describes and develops the characters in a story.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
anthology
C2
/ænˈθɑləd͡ʒi/
A collection of poems, stories, or other writings, often by different authors.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
allusion
C2
/əˈlu.ʒən/
An indirect mention of something the speaker expects you to recognize.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
elegy
C2
/ˈɛləˌdʒiː/
A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
dénouement
C2
/deɪˈnuː.mɑ̃ː/
the final part of a story or drama in which complications are resolved
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
subplot
B2
/ˈsʌb.plɑt/
A second, less important story within the main story of a book, film, or play.
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
fable
C2+
/ˈfeɪbəl/
a short tale conveying a moral, often with animal characters
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
narration
C2+
/næˈreɪʃən/
the act or process of telling a story or describing events
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
preface
C2+
/ˈprɛfəs/
an introduction to a book; to introduce or precede with remarks
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
satire
C2+
/ˈsætaɪɚ/
the use of irony or ridicule to expose folly or vice
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
utopia
C2+
/juˈtoʊpiə/
an imagined place of ideal perfection in laws, government, and society
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
novella
C1
/nəˈvɛlə/
a fictional prose narrative longer than a short story but shorter than a full-length novel
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
dystopia
C1
/dɪsˈtoʊ.pi.ə/
an imagined society in which oppressive rule or miserable living conditions make life deeply undesirable
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off
toss off
B1
to write something quickly and with apparent ease
Phrasal verb
Meaning
Off
Sound
Off