1. What Are the CEFR English Levels?
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is the official international scale used around the world to describe language ability. It has six simple levels:
A1 (Beginner): Basic everyday objects, food, numbers, and survival words (e.g., 'bread', 'table', 'water').
A2 (Elementary): Simple daily activities, family, jobs, and standard clothing (e.g., 'jacket', 'dentist', 'airport').
B1 (Intermediate): Travel, hobbies, personal feelings, and common tools (e.g., 'luggage', 'guitar', 'hammer').
B2 (Upper Intermediate): More specific nouns, nature, workplace tools, and qualities (e.g., 'binoculars', 'harvest', 'sculpture').
C1 (Advanced): Nuanced, expressive, and detailed words (e.g., 'glacier', 'architecture', 'silhouette').
C2 (Mastery / Fluent): Rare, literary, and highly specialized terms comparable to educated native speakers.
2. How We Pick Words: The Cambridge Vocabulary Profile
Instead of guessing which words are easy or hard, PicRush uses the Cambridge English Vocabulary Profile (EVP). This research database tracks millions of actual language students to show which words learners genuinely know at each level.
This means you can trust our levels: A1 rounds will never surprise you with obscure college-level words, and advanced rounds will genuinely test your vocabulary range.
3. Hard Pictures vs. Hard Words: An Important Difference
A common mistake in guessing games is thinking that a tricky picture means an advanced English word. For example, showing a super zoomed-in, blurry picture of a 'cat' is visually tricky, but the word 'cat' is basic A1 English.
On the other hand, showing a crystal-clear photo of an 'anvil' is easy to see, but 'anvil' is a B2/C1 word that many English learners do not know yet.
PicRush keeps these two things separate: we match the right word level to your learning goals, rather than just playing visual tricks.