The 11 Plus reading list to build vocabulary

Why reading matters so much

One of the clearest differences between children who cope with the English paper and those who excel is the depth of their vocabulary. The exam asks children to understand words in context, spot shades of meaning and read between the lines, and these are skills that reading builds naturally over time in a way that worksheets cannot.

What to read

Variety matters more than any single title. Mix classic and modern fiction, non-fiction, poetry and newspapers written for children, and include authors with distinctive styles so your child meets a wide range of language and sentence structures.

Well loved choices that suit this age group include books by Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Morpurgo, Philip Pullman and Emma Carroll, alongside short classics and good quality non-fiction on subjects your child enjoys.

How to read for the 11 Plus

Aim for a steady habit of around twenty to thirty minutes a day rather than occasional long stretches. Talk about what you read together, because discussing why a character acts as they do, or why an author chose a particular word, builds the inference and vocabulary skills the paper rewards.

Keep a running list of new words and revisit them, so reading feeds directly into vocabulary practice.

Turn reading into vocabulary practice

Reading and vocabulary work best together. Our free word bank at /resources/word-bank helps your child learn and revise the kind of words the 11 Plus expects, and pairs naturally with a daily reading habit.