Free French level test
Find your French reading level from the words you know and a few short passages, in standard French. Your result shows on screen as soon as you finish.
What it measures, and what it doesn't
- It measures your reading vocabulary: how many common written words you recognize.
- It checks reading comprehension with two or three short passages near your level.
- It does not test speaking, listening, writing or grammar. Many learners read well above the level they speak at.
How it works
- 1
Say which words you know
See French words one at a time and answer "I know it" or "I don't know it". Some are made up, so be honest.
- 2
Read two or three short passages
Each passage is near your level and has one question that needs you to understand it.
- 3
Get your level right away
See your approximate CEFR level, your vocabulary size, how much of a news article you'd understand, and what to read next.
Take the French test
You will see 30 to 80 French words, one at a time. Say whether you know each one. Some are made up, so only say yes when you are sure. Then you read two or three short passages and answer one question on each. Most people finish in about five minutes.
Free. Your result shows right away, with no email or account.
How the test works out your level
The word part is a yes/no vocabulary test. This format, with made-up words mixed in to catch guessing, was introduced by Meara and Buxton (1987). It is the same idea behind LexTALE (Lemhöfer and Broersma, 2012) and its French version, LexTALE_FR (Brysbaert, 2013). Those studies found that a few minutes of yes/no answers track vocabulary size and overall proficiency well.
The words come from six frequency bands, from the 1,000 most common French words up to word 12,000. The test starts in the second band and moves up while you know at least 4 in 10 words in a band. Your score in each band is the share of real words you knew, minus the share of made-up words you said you knew.
Your vocabulary size is turned into a CEFR level using published figures that link the two (Milton and Alexiou, 2009; Milton, 2009), widened above B1 using Paul Nation's suggested sizes. The news coverage figure comes from how often words appear in film and TV subtitles, adjusted down for news, which uses rarer words (Nation, 2006). Both are approximate.
The passages check that you can use those words to understand real sentences. If you get the passage at your own level wrong, your result drops one step.
Questions people ask
How accurate is a French level test online?
A short online test gives an estimate, not a certificate. Treat this one as a reading level that could be one CEFR level higher or lower. Yes/no vocabulary tests like this one track overall proficiency well in research (LexTALE, LexTALE_FR), but they only see reading vocabulary, and one question per passage is a small sample. For an official level, take the DELF, DALF or TCF.
Does this French level test use the CEFR?
Yes. Your result is given as a CEFR level from A1 to C1, with "C1 or above" at the top. The test does not award C2, because a vocabulary test cannot show the precision C2 describes. The levels are approximate and cover reading only.
What is B1 French?
B1 is the third of the six CEFR levels, often called intermediate. A B1 reader understands the main points of clear texts on familiar topics like work, school, travel and everyday news. In vocabulary terms that is roughly 2,500 to 3,500 common words. At B1, real articles are readable with help on some words.
What level of French am I?
Take the test above to find out. It takes about five minutes, and you get an approximate CEFR reading level, your vocabulary size, and how much of a typical French news article you'd understand.
Is there a free French level test without sign-up?
Yes, this one. You do not need an account or an email address, and your result appears on screen when you finish. If you want, you can ask for your results and a two-week reading plan by email afterwards.
Does this test speaking or listening?
No. It tests reading vocabulary and reading comprehension only. Speaking and listening often lag behind reading, so treat your result as your reading level.
Sources and credits
The French words come from these frequency lists. The 240 words this test uses are a sample of them, shared under the same licence. The reading passages were written for Spark.
Research the method draws on:
- Brysbaert, M. (2013). LexTALE_FR: A fast, free, and efficient test to measure language proficiency in French. Psychologica Belgica, 53(1), 23–37.
- Izura, C., Cuetos, F., & Brysbaert, M. (2014). Lextale-Esp: A test to rapidly and efficiently assess the Spanish vocabulary size. Psicológica, 35, 49–66.
- Lemhöfer, K., & Broersma, M. (2012). Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English. Behavior Research Methods, 44(2), 325–343.
- Meara, P., & Buxton, B. (1987). An alternative to multiple choice vocabulary tests. Language Testing, 4(2), 142–154.
- Milton, J. (2009). Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. Multilingual Matters.
- Milton, J., & Alexiou, T. (2009). Vocabulary size and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In B. Richards et al. (Eds.), Vocabulary Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 194–211). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82.