This chapter explores the vast size of the English vocabulary and compares the number of words known by native speakers versus English learners. It highlights the discrepancy between the total number of words and the number used in everyday life.
The Oxford English Dictionary contains about 170,000 current words.
Native English speakers know between 20,000 and 35,000 words.
Fluent English learners know between 3,000 and 10,000 words.
Different methods of measuring vocabulary size exist, affecting the resulting numbers.