ACT and SAT Word Lists

Vocabulary building is an essential exercise for high school students taking the ACT and SAT exams. Building a rich vocabulary will help students with reading comprehension and writing higher-quality essays to improve scores on the critical reading and writing components of the ACT and SAT exams. VocabularySpellingCity offers ACT/SAT word lists for extra review.

To help study, students can take a Vocabulary Practice Test on the imported word list, testing prior knowledge. Then a Review List can be created from each student’s practice test results, to concentrate review on SAT or ACT vocabulary words that need more practice. Use VocabularySpellingCity to boost your SAT and ACT vocabulary knowledge!

Another effective strategy is to learn word parts to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words on your ACT or SAT vocabulary lists. Word parts consist of common Latin and Greek roots as well as prefixes and suffixes.

Use these word lists of Latin and Greek root word families for extra practice.

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ACT/SAT Words List 1: abase, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abhor, abject, abstain, abstract, accolade, accost, acquiesce, acuity, acumen

SAT/ACT Words List 2: adept, adulation, aesthetic, affable, alacrity, alleviate, allocate, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amicable, anachronistic, anecdote, antecedent

ACT/SAT Words List 3: apathy, apprehensive, arcane, arid, ascetic, assail, assent, assuage, astute, asylum, atrophy, augment, auspicious, austere, avarice

SAT/ACT Words List 4: banal, bastion, belligerent, benevolent, benign, blatant, boorish, bourgeois, brazen, brevity, bucolic, cacophonous, cajole, callous, candor

ACT/SAT Words List 5: capricious, cathartic, censure, chagrin, cite, clairvoyant, coalesce, cogent, commendable, complacent, compliance, comprehensive, compulsive, conciliatory, concur

SAT/ACT Words List 6: congeal, consensus, consummate, contemporary, contrite, conviction, copious, counterfeit, credence, credulous, cursory, curtail, daunting, debilitate, deference

ACT/SAT Words List 7: delusion, demise, denounce, depict, depravity, derelict, deride, derision, desecrate, desultory, deviate, didactic, diffident, digress, dilapidated, diligent, discern, disdain, disparage, disparity

SAT/ACT Words List 8: dissension, dissent, dissonance, distend, dogmatic, drone, dubious, ebullient, eccentric, eclectic, egregious, electorate, eloquent, elucidate, emancipate, embody, emissary, empathetic, emulate, enigma

ACT/SAT Words List 9: ephemeral, epitome, equivocal, erroneous, esoteric, eulogy, euphonious, evanescent, exacerbate, exculpate, exemplary, exonerate, expedient, expedite, exposition, expulsion, extol, extrasensory, fastidious, feign

SAT/ACT Words List 10: flagrant, florid, fortuitous, foster, fraudulent, frugal, furtive, futile, garrulous, genealogy, genesis, germane, gluttonous, gratification, gratis, gratuitous, gregarious, grotto, guile, gullible

ACT/SAT Words List 11: hackneyed, harbinger, haughty, heretic, hiatus, holistic, idiosyncrasy, immutable, impartial, impelled, impending, impetuous, impound, impudent, inception, incessant, inclement, incorrigible, incursion, indifferent

SAT/ACT Words List 12: indigenous, indignation, indolent, ineffable, inevitable, ingratiate, inherent, innocuous, innovate, insipid, insurrection, intemperate, interjection, intermittent, inundate, inveterate, irreverent, jettison, judicious, juxtapose

ACT/SAT Words List 13: kindle, kinetic, lackadaisical, laconic, lament, languid, laudatory, lavish, lax, levity, listless, loquacious, lucid, lugubrious, magnanimous, malaise, malleable, maverick, mercurial, meticulous

SAT/ACT Words List 14: misanthrope, miscreant, mollify, mundane, munificent, myopic, myriad, naive, nebulous, nefarious, negligible, nonchalant, nostalgia, notoriety, novel, novice, noxious, nuance, obdurate, obscure

ACT/SAT Words List 15: obstinate, obtuse, odious, onerous, opaque, opulent, ornate, oscillate, ostensible, ostentatious, ostracize, overt, pacify, palpable, panacea, paradigm, paramount, parsimony, partisan, patent

SAT/ACT Words List 16: paucity, pedestrian, pejorative, penchant, pendulous, penitent, perceptive, perfidious, perfunctory, pertinent, pervasive, petulant, philistine, pilfer, pious, placate, placid, plausible, plethora, ponderous

ACT/SAT Words List 17: portend, pragmatic, precedent, precocious, precursor, predilection, proclivity, prodigious, profuse, progeny, projectile, propensity, proponent, prosaic, protracted, provincial, provocative, prudent, puerile, pugnacious

SAT/ACT Words List 18: quagmire, quandary, queasy, quell, querulous, quip, quixotic, rancor, recalcitrant, recant, reciprocal, reclusive, rectify, refute, regalia, remission, repellent, repose, reprehensible, respite

ACT/SAT Words List 19: reticent, revere, rhetorical, rustic, saccharine, sacrilege, salient, sanguine, sardonic, scrupulous, secede, seditious, solicitous, soporific, sordid, sparse, speculate, sprightly, spurious, squander

SAT/ACT Words List 20: static, stoic, strut, stymie, succinct, sumptuous, superfluous, supplant, surreptitious, susceptible, sycophant, taciturn, tantamount, tenacious, tentative, tenuous, terse, timorous, trajectory, tranquil

ACT/SAT Words List 21: transitory, transpired, trepidation, truculent, truncate, ubiquitous, undulate, urbane, usurp, vacuous, venerate, veracious, verbose, vex, vicarious, compassion, complexity, condemnation, contempt, convention

SAT/ACT Words List 22: vignette, vindicated, vindictive, virtuoso, virulent, volition, wane, wanton, wary, whet, winsome, zealous, zenith, antagonize, apology, archipelago, aural, boundary, cantankerous, circumlocution

ACT/SAT Words List 23: corrective, criticism, deceit, desiccate, discredit, disregard, distortion, egalitarian, endure, ignominy, evaporate, hedonism, hypocrisy, integrity, lubricate, mendacity, modest, veracity, negligence, oppose

SAT/ACT Words List 24: perplex, persistent, prohibitive, scrutinize, chicanery, suppress, anomalous, caustic, tirade, stalwart, connoisseur, neophyte, charlatan, pundit, deleterious, innuendo, clandestine, garish, lucrative

VocabularySpellingCity.com provides word lists, printables, and interactive games and activities that give students the opportunity to practice vocabulary for the ACT and SAT tests.

Try WhichWord? Sentences with the SAT/ACT Words List 2 list.