Duolingo English Test Read and Select — Practice and Examples
You see a set of words one after another. Some are real English words and some are invented words that only look English. For each one you decide, quickly, whether it is real.
What it tests
Vocabulary size and spelling recognition. The fake words are built to be plausible — misspellings of real words ("goverment", "begining") sit next to made-up words with English-looking endings — so recognising the real spelling instantly is the whole skill.
Worked example
Which of these are real English words?
Show the real words
Real: schedule, measure, obvious, sincere. The others are invented or misspelled.
How to do well
- Do not sound words out. If you have to think about it, your first instinct is usually right.
- Watch for near-misses of words you know: a doubled or missing letter is the most common trap.
- Only select words you are confident about. Leaving a fake word unselected costs nothing; selecting it does.
Practice at three levels
Our practice for this task comes in three levels you choose yourself: Foundation teaches the format, Standard is 12 sessions plus 12 full tests at the level most candidates aim for, and Hard is another 12 + 12 with academic topics and tighter wording. Progress is kept per level, so you can move up when the current one feels easy.
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