| Feature | LDOCE 6th | Oxford Advanced Learner's (OALD 10) | Cambridge Advanced (CALD 4) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 2000 words | 3000 words | 2000 words | | Frequency System | 9000 levels (3 tiers) | 3 circles (A1-C2) | A1-C2 labels | | Register Notes | Extensive, explicit | Moderate | Moderate | | Corpus Size | 390 million words | 2 billion words | 2 billion words | | Best For | Acquisition speed | Breadth of examples | British authenticity |
If you have plateaued at "intermediate" and can’t seem to reach "fluent," the 9,000 frequency list is your roadmap. Stop learning rare words like "ubiquitous" and master the remaining 2,000 words on the ★ list you actually need. longman dictionary of contemporary english 6th edition top