Free JLPT Vocabulary PDFs

The Japan Foundation officially stopped publishing JLPT vocabulary lists in 2010. Since then, the community has consolidated around a modern consensus list compiled from past exam analysis, standard textbooks (Minna no Nihongo, Genki, Tango), and community-vetted sources. Our PDFs reflect that comprehensive list, organized thematically rather than alphabetically.

Why thematic? Research on vocabulary acquisition consistently shows that words learned in semantic groups (food, family, business) are retained longer and recalled faster than words memorized alphabetically. Our PDFs are grouped accordingly.

Why free? JLPT vocabulary data shouldn't sit behind paywalls or email gates. If our free PDFs help you pass the exam, consider using our adaptive practice tool at jlptmastery.com/try — it targets the words you specifically confuse, which a static PDF cannot do.

A word list is a checklist, not a study method. Reading down a column and recognising each word feels like progress, but recognition and recall are different skills and the exam tests the harder one. The useful way to work through these files is to cover the meaning column, go down the readings, and mark only the ones you could not produce. That marked subset is your actual study list; the rest is noise you already know.

Work a theme at a time. Each file is grouped by theme, so take one group per session rather than a fixed number of words. Finishing a coherent set gives you something to test yourself against later, and words learned alongside their neighbours are easier to retrieve than words learned in isolation.

Expect the plateau. Most people get through the first two thirds of a level list quickly and then stall, because what remains is the set of words that look or sound like words they already know. A PDF cannot tell you which pairs you personally mix up. That is the point where a list stops being the right tool.

On level counts. The word counts here follow the community consensus list rather than an official source, because no official list has existed since 2010. Treat them as a well-supported estimate of scope, not as a guarantee that every word in the file will appear on your paper.