PSLE Chinese vocabulary, ranked by how often it is tested

Name: PSLE Chinese high-frequency vocabulary tiers (Singapore top-school P6 prelim papers, 2021–2025)
Creator: AceLah
License: https://acelah.com/cite

Across 289 Singapore top-school P6 preliminary papers from the last five years, 4,079 vocabulary items were tested 13,115 times. Learning all of them is unrealistic, so we grouped them into eight tiers by how many papers each appeared in.

Work through the first 259 words and you cover 35% of everything these papers tested.

The eight tiers

Tier	Threshold	New words	Cumulative	Coverage
T1	≥ 20 papers	+64	64	14.1%
T2	≥ 15 papers	+67	131	23%
T3	≥ 10 papers	+128	259	35%
T4	≥ 7 papers	+186	445	46.5%
T5	≥ 5 papers	+226	671	56.4%
T6	≥ 3 papers	+463	1134	69.1%
T7	≥ 2 papers	+857	1991	83.2%
T8	≥ 1 papers	+2088	4079	100%

Coverage = the share of all tested-vocabulary occurrences accounted for by that tier and the ones above it. Counted per question across six question types. The synonym question type appeared only 201 times in the corpus, too thin to tier, and is excluded.

T1 · at least 20 papers64 words · 14.1% cumulative

Word	Pinyin	English	Papers
功课	gōng kè	homework	41
成绩	chéng jì	achievement, grade	41
拖延	tuō yán	delay	41
困难	kùn nán	—	40
慈祥	cí xiáng	kindly	40
模仿	mó fǎng	to imitate	37
努力	nǔ lì	work hard	36
帮助	bāng zhù	help	36
锻炼	duàn liàn	exercise	36
迅速	xùn sù	rapid; swift	34
抱怨	bào yuàn	—	34
比赛	bǐ sài	competition	33
严格	yán gé	strict	32
促进	cù jìn	promote	32
回忆	huí yì	recall; memory	32
克服	kè fú	overcome	31
吩咐	fēn fù	tell	31
吸引	xī yǐn	—	31
坚强	jiān qiáng	—	31
打扰	dǎ rǎo	disturb	31
工作	gōng zuò	—	30
照顾	zhào gù	take care	29
使劲	shǐ jìn	to exert strength; to use force	29
担心	dān xīn	worry	28
学习	xué xí	to learn; to study	28
普通	pǔ tōng	ordinary	28
坚持	jiān chí	persist	27
妒忌	dù jì	jealous	27
熟悉	shú xī	familiar	27
计划	jì huà	plan	27
争夺	zhēng duó	—	26
贡献	gòng xiàn	contribute	26
尽管	jǐn guǎn	—	26
恍然大悟	huǎng rán dà wù	—	26
榜样	bǎng yàng	role model	26
鼓励	gǔ lì	encourage	26
批评	pī píng	criticize	25
增添	zēng tiān	—	25
搜索	sōu suǒ	search	25
生病	shēng bìng	—	24
活动	huó dòng	—	24
勤奋	qín fèn	hardworking	24
恶劣	è liè	very bad	24
休息	xiū xi	rest	23
习惯	xí guàn	habit; get used to	23
便宜	pián yi	cheap; inexpensive	23
感谢	gǎn xiè	—	23
考虑	kǎo lǜ	consider	23
讲述	jiǎng shù	tell	23
佩服	pèi fú	to admire; to respect	22
道歉	dào qiàn	apologize	22
任务	rèn wù	task	22
决定	jué dìng	decide	21
建议	jiàn yì	suggestion, advise	21
冠军	guàn jūn	champion	21
放弃	fàng qì	give up	21
修理	xiū lǐ	repair	20
认真	rèn zhēn	—	20
半途而废	bàn tú ér fèi	—	20
完成	wán chéng	complete	20
珍惜	zhēn xī	to cherish; to treasure	20
积极	jī jí	active; positive	20
糟糕	zāo gāo	terrible	20
质量	zhì liàng	quality	20

T2 · at least 15 papers67 words · 23% cumulative

Word	Pinyin	English	Papers
慷慨	kāng kǎi	generous	19
辛苦	xīn kǔ	hard work	19
介绍	jiè shào	introduce	19
充足	chōng zú	—	19
呈现	chéng xiàn	show	19
弟弟	dì di	younger brother	19
销售	xiāo shòu	to sell; sales	19
怀疑	huái yí	doubt	18
运动	yùn dòng	sports	18
临时	lín shí	—	18
创意	chuàng yì	creative idea	18
津津有味	jīn jīn yǒu wèi	with great interest	18
环境	huán jìng	environment	18
伟大	wěi dà	great; mighty	18
杰出	jié chū	杰出的人才，品德和智慧得到人们的赞赏	18
耐心	nài xīn	patiently	18
迟到	chí dào	be late	18
齐心协力	qí xīn xié lì	—	18
参加	cān jiā	participate	17
闷闷不乐	mèn mèn bù lè	—	17
成功	chéng gōng	—	17
老师	lǎo shī	teacher	17
表扬	biǎo yáng	—	17
诚恳	chéng kěn	sincere	17
阻拦	zǔ lán	to obstruct; to block	17
和谐	hé xié	harmonious	17
复习	fù xí	review	17
幻想	huàn xiǎng	imagine	17
损坏	sǔn huài	—	17
控制	kòng zhì	to control	17
暂时	zàn shí	temporary	17
礼物	lǐ wù	gift; present	16
安排	ān pái	—	16
动作	dòng zuò	action	16
嘴唇	zuǐ chún	lips	16
学校	xué xiào	school	16
感情	gǎn qíng	relation / affinity	16
支持	zhī chí	—	16
不约而同	bù yuē ér tóng	—	16
充实	chōng shí	fulfill	16
巧妙	qiǎo miào	ingenious; clever	16
欺负	qī fu	bully	16
竟然	jìng rán	unexpectedly	16
精彩	jīng cǎi	wonderful, exciting	16
胸有成竹	xiōng yǒu chéng zhú	—	16
虽然	suī rán	although	16
要求	yāo qiú	—	16
解决	jiě jué	solve	16
跑步	pǎo bù	to run	16
选择	xuǎn zé	to choose; to select	16
压力	yā lì	pressure	15
明白	míng bái	—	15
专心	zhuān xīn	concentrate	15
课室	kè shì	—	15
身体	shēn tǐ	body	15
想法	xiǎng fǎ	idea	15
智慧	zhì huì	wisdom; intelligence	15
作业	zuò yè	homework	15
分享	fēn xiǎng	—	15
反正	fǎn zhèng	—	15
同学	tóng xué	classmate	15
嘲笑	cháo xiào	to mock	15
无精打采	wú jīng dǎ cǎi	—	15
激动	jī dòng	excited	15
甘愿	gān yuàn	—	15
结果	jié guǒ	result	15
鲜艳	xiān yàn	bright	15

T3 · at least 10 papers128 words · 35% cumulative

Word	Pinyin	English	Papers
报名	bào míng	—	14
顽强	wán qiáng	—	14
陪伴	péi bàn	accompany	14
乐于助人	lè yú zhù rén	—	14
准备	zhǔn bèi	prepare	14
愁眉苦脸	chóu méi kǔ liǎn	worried face	14
感动	gǎn dòng	—	14
打扫	dǎ sǎo	—	14
机会	jī huì	—	14
热心	rè xīn	—	14
表达	biǎo dá	—	14
设计	shè jì	design	14
时间	shí jiān	time	13
态度	tài dù	—	13
拒绝	jù jué	refuse	13
生气	shēng qì	angry	13
表现	biǎo xiàn	—	13
充满	chōng mǎn	—	13
喜欢	xǐ huan	like	13
安慰	ān wèi	comfort	13
故事	gù shì	story	13
笑容	xiào róng	—	13
能力	néng lì	ability	13
错误	cuò wù	mistake	13
顾客	gù kè	—	13
骄傲	jiāo ào	proud, arrogant	13
争先恐后	zhēng xiān kǒng hòu	—	13
优秀	yōu xiù	excellent, outstanding	13
失望	shī wàng	—	13
对抗	duì kàng	fight against	13
提醒	tí xǐng	remind; warn	13
检查	jiǎn chá	check, inspect	13
渐渐	jiàn jiàn	gradually	13
烦恼	fán nǎo	worry	13
纷纷	fēn fēn	—	13
解释	jiě shì	explain	13
赶紧	gǎn jǐn	—	13
惭愧	cán kuì	ashamed	12
邀请	yāo qǐng	invite	12
了解	liǎo jiě	—	12
生活	shēng huó	life; to live	12
练习	liàn xí	practice	12
钱包	qián bāo	—	12
健康	jiàn kāng	healthy	12
尝试	cháng shì	—	12
方式	fāng shì	way	12
浮现	fú xiàn	—	12
认错	rèn cuò	—	12
请求	qǐng qiú	request	12
不仅	bù jǐn	—	12
不管	bù guǎn	no matter	12
不费吹灰之力	bù fèi chuī huī zhī lì	—	12
仍然	réng rán	still	12
但是	dàn shì	but	12
保护	bǎo hù	protect	12
原谅	yuán liàng	to forgive; to excuse	12
反而	fǎn ér	—	12
图书馆	tú shū guǎn	library	12
妈妈	mā ma	mum	12
彼此	bǐ cǐ	each other; one another	12
破坏	pò huài	—	12
简直	jiǎn zhí	—	12
精神	jīng shén	—	12
糊涂	hú tu	confused	12
责任	zé rèn	responsibility	12
贴心	tiē xīn	—	12
遭受	zāo shòu	—	12
遵守	zūn shǒu	obey	12
除了	chú le	except	12
顺利	shùn lì	smoothly	12
麻烦	máfan	troublesome; to trouble	12
立刻	lì kè	—	11
开心	kāi xīn	happy	11
拼命	pīn mìng	desperately	11
柔弱	róu ruò	—	11
父母	fù mǔ	—	11
表演	biǎo yǎn	perform	11
出门	chū mén	—	11
加倍	jiā bèi	to double; to redouble	11
善良	shàn liáng	kind; good-hearted	11
学业	xué yè	—	11
帮忙	bāng máng	help	11
打算	dǎ suàn	—	11
担忧	dān yōu	worry	11
有趣	yǒuqù	interesting	11
目光	mù guāng	gaze; sight	11
盼望	pàn wàng	hope, look forward	11
紧张	jǐn zhāng	—	11
赠送	zèng sòng	to give as a gift	11
邻居	lín jū	neighbor	11
随手	suí shǒu	casually	11
希望	xīwàng	hope	10
浪费	làng fèi	waste	10
突然	tū rán	suddenly	10
上学	shàng xué	—	10
争吵	zhēng chǎo	quarrel	10
懂事	dǒng shì	sensible	10
改变	gǎi biàn	—	10
方法	fāng fǎ	—	10
班长	bān zhǎng	—	10
道理	dào lǐ	reason; principle; truth	10
避免	bì miǎn	—	10
难过	nán guò	sad	10
食物	shí wù	food	10
不但	bù dàn	—	10
仔细	zǐ xì	carefully	10
依依不舍	yī yī bù shě	—	10
倾斜	qīng xié	tilt; slant	10
偏偏	piān piān	unfortunately; deliberately	10
关系	guān xì	—	10
关键	guān jiàn	key	10
厉害	lì hài	impressive	10
好奇	hào qí	—	10
妹妹	mèi mei	younger sister	10
孤单	gū dān	—	10
忙	máng	—	10
忠诚	zhōng chéng	loyal	10
恢复	huī fù	to recover; to restore	10
懒惰	lǎn duò	lazy	10
收拾	shōu shi	tidy up	10
欣赏	xīn shǎng	enjoy	10
气氛	qì fēn	atmosphere; mood	10
消失	xiāo shī	—	10
灵机一动	líng jī yí dòng	sudden idea	10
考试	kǎo shì	exam	10
进步	jìn bù	—	10
退缩	tuì suō	—	10
遮风挡雨	zhē fēng dǎng yǔ	—	10

The deeper tiers

Tiers 4 to 8 hold another 3,820 words, and the tail thins out fast: the last tier is 2,088 words that each appeared in exactly one paper in five years. Get the first three tiers solid first.

A word list will not learn itself

Every one of these points has questions in AceLah: marked instantly, mistakes filed automatically and retested on day 3, 7 and 21. Of the top 445 points, 440 are covered by our bank.

Practise the high-frequency points See the PSLE sprint pack

Data: 289 份去重后的 P6 名校 Prelim 试卷(2021–2025);不是 SEAB 的 PSLE 真题分层基于过去五年的名校预考卷统计,只描述过去,不预测将来。 The list is a statistical result and may be quoted with attribution (see /cite). AceLah is not affiliated with or endorsed by MOE or SEAB.