6 Minute Vocabulary

By BBC Radio

Education

What's 6 Minute Vocabulary about?

Build your English vocabulary in six minutes.

Every Monday join two of our presenters and hear about different ways to develop your vocabulary knowledge and skills.

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6 Minute Vocabulary episodes:

04.15.2024
Suffixes
Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes. FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️...
04.01.2024
Academic vocabulary
Learn how to cope if you are studying at an English-speaking university.
03.25.2024
Phrases from Shakespeare
We learn phrases from Shakespeare that are still used today.
03.18.2024
Irregular verbs
Some irregular verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.
03.11.2024
Eponyms as nouns and verbs
What does the word Hoover have in common with the word Google?
03.04.2024
Adjectives from names
We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.
02.26.2024
Large numbers
How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.
02.19.2024
Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion
Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.
02.12.2024
Synonyms
Learn about words that have the same or similar meanings
02.05.2024
Discourse Markers: Interjections
Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.
01.29.2024
Commonly misspelled words
Weird or wierd? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!
01.09.2024
Linking words
Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.
01.01.2024
Words with more than one spelling
Are you unsure whether it’s disc or disk, sympathise or sympathize, learnt or learned?
12.25.2023
Acronyms
Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.
12.19.2023
Antonyms
Finn and Catherine discuss antonyms in 6 minute Vocabulary.
12.11.2023
Suffixes: -ness & -ity
Listen to Neil and Catherine talk about words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.
12.05.2023
Discourse markers: showing attitude
fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally.
11.27.2023
Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence
ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.
11.20.2023
Someone, somewhere, anywhere...
Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.
11.13.2023
Irregular verbs
Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.
11.07.2023
Reporting verbs
Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.
10.30.2023
False friends
Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.
10.23.2023
Words with 'ough'
Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.
10.16.2023
Easily confused words
Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.
10.09.2023
Suffixes: -less and -free
Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!
10.02.2023
Prefixes de, dis, dys
Do you suffer from dyspepsia? Could a detox diet help? Learn about prefixes.
09.25.2023
Ordinal numbers
What's the date today? And do you know how to say it?
09.18.2023
Short spoken forms
Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha… are these really English words? Who uses them and why?
09.11.2023
Uncountable nouns
What is more important in life: knowledge, money or happiness?
09.04.2023
Time expression with in, on and at
Learn how to use time expression with the preposition in, on and at
08.25.2023
Hyphenation
Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.
08.21.2023
Words with double letters
Catherine and Finn talk about spelling words with double letters in 6 Minute Vocabulary.
08.14.2023
Pronouncing verbs and nouns
Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.
08.08.2023
British and American English
Catherine and Doug discuss British and American English
07.31.2023
Business jargon
Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.
07.24.2023
How to pronounce words that start with 'c'.
'c' or 's'? Learn how to spell words that begin with a /s/ sound.
07.17.2023
Phrasal verbs and context
When talking about moving in, moving out and moving on, what do we mean? We explain.
07.10.2023
re, pre and pro
Do you recycle your rubbish? Do you buy prepacked food? Are you proactive?
07.03.2023
Silent letters
How do you pronounce the words night and knight?
06.26.2023
Onomatopoeia
Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.
06.19.2023
Multi-word verbs
Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.
06.12.2023
Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical
We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.
06.06.2023
Strong adjectives
Listen to our fantastic, wonderful programme about strong adjectives.
05.29.2023
Male and female job words
How words change depending on whether a man or a woman is doing the job.
05.22.2023
New words
Rob and Catherine are here to help you update your language!
05.15.2023
Weather words
British people love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.
05.09.2023
Homophones
Learn about words that sound the same but have different meanings
05.02.2023
Compound nouns
Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.
04.24.2023
Adjective order
We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!
04.17.2023
Contractions
Finn and Feifei help you learn this important part of speaking and writing, in English.

What's 6 Minute Vocabulary about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

6 Minute Vocabulary episodes:

Suffixes

Academic vocabulary

Phrases from Shakespeare

Irregular verbs

Eponyms as nouns and verbs

Adjectives from names

Large numbers

Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion

Synonyms

Discourse Markers: Interjections

Commonly misspelled words

Linking words

Words with more than one spelling

Acronyms

Antonyms

Suffixes: -ness & -ity

Discourse markers: showing attitude

Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence

Someone, somewhere, anywhere...

Irregular verbs

Reporting verbs

False friends

Words with 'ough'

Easily confused words

Suffixes: -less and -free

Prefixes de, dis, dys

Ordinal numbers

Short spoken forms

Uncountable nouns

Time expression with in, on and at

Hyphenation

Words with double letters

Pronouncing verbs and nouns

British and American English

Business jargon

How to pronounce words that start with 'c'.

Phrasal verbs and context

re, pre and pro

Silent letters

Onomatopoeia

Multi-word verbs

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

Strong adjectives

Male and female job words

New words

Weather words

Homophones

Compound nouns

Adjective order

Contractions