USCIS Reading Vocabulary
The 64 words behind the reading test, grouped as USCIS publishes them, with a speaker on every word.
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How to use the reading list
- Read the word groups: people, civics, places, holidays, question words, verbs and the two groups of other words.
- Press the speaker button next to a word to hear it read aloud with your browser’s voice.
- Say the word out loud, then look at the spelling again. Words with a slash, such as state/states, list both forms.
- Go group by group. Spend extra time on the civics and content words, because those are the ones you must read.
- Come back to the groups you stumbled on.
The list shows each word as USCIS publishes it. USCIS does not publish test sentences, so this page does not show any; it gives you the words the sentences are built from.
Short daily sessions work best for word lists. Go through one or two groups, then revisit them the next day. The rules of the test, and what counts as correct, are explained further down this page with their USCIS source. Say each answer aloud once. Check the source link when a number matters to your case. Come back to anything you were unsure about the next day. Nothing you do here is sent to a server. Keep a note of any question you have to look up twice. Short sessions repeated over several days work better than one long one.
What words are on the USCIS reading test?
The reading test uses a fixed list of 64 words, published by USCIS in eight groups. The official list is the same for the 2008 and 2025 tests, so the words you study here are the ones you will meet either way. The table below shows each group, its word count, and its words exactly as published.
| Group | Count | Words |
|---|---|---|
| PEOPLE | 2 | Abraham Lincoln, George Washington |
| CIVICS | 14 | American flag, Bill of Rights, capital, citizen, city, Congress, country, Father of Our Country, government, President, right, Senators, state/states, White House |
| PLACES | 3 | America, United States, U.S. |
| HOLIDAYS | 7 | Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving |
| QUESTION WORDS | 6 | How, What, When, Where, Who, Why |
| VERBS | 12 | can, come, do/does, elects, have/has, is/are/was/be, lives/lived, meet, name, pay, vote, want |
| OTHER (FUNCTION) | 9 | a, for, here, in, of, on, the, to, we |
| OTHER (CONTENT) | 11 | colors, dollar bill, first, largest, many, most, north, one, people, second, south |
How many sentences do I have to read?
You must read one out of three sentences correctly to show you can read English. The test contains no more than three sentences, and the reading stops as soon as you read one correctly. Your goal is one clean sentence, not perfection on all three.
Which words can I skip on the reading test?
You must read all the content words in a sentence. Short words such as a, of, to, and in may be omitted, and minor pronunciation or intonation errors are allowed as long as the meaning is clear and you do not pause for long. Content words such as colors, largest, and government are the ones to practice most carefully.
What is not on the reading list?
The list is words, not sentences. USCIS publishes the 64 reading words and does not publish sample test sentences, so any sentence you see on another site was written by that site. The list also gives some words in two forms joined by a slash, such as state/states, do/does and lives/lived, to show that either form can appear. The reading list has no numerals such as 50 or 100 and no months (the months appear only on the writing list); number words such as one, first and second are on it.
Is the reading list the same for the 2008 and 2025 civics tests?
Yes. The 2025 notice in the Federal Register says it “does not change the English language parts of the naturalization test (reading, writing, speaking, and understanding)”, and USCIS publishes one reading list. The text file we used is marked rev. 07/14 and the PDF rev. 08/08; every word in the text file was checked against the PDF on 2026-10-26.
How should I practise the words?
Go group by group and say each word out loud, using the speaker button to check your pronunciation. USCIS says that an applicant must read all content words but may omit short words or make pronunciation or intonation errors, so spend your time on the content words in the CIVICS, HOLIDAYS and OTHER (CONTENT) groups first.
How this tool works and where the numbers come from
Word lists are taken from the USCIS vocabulary files (text file rev. 07/14, PDF rev. 08/08) retrieved 2026-10-26 and every word was checked against the PDF; the pass rules are quoted from the Policy Manual.
Sources
Check yourself: common questions
Is the USCIS reading list the same as the writing list?
No. The reading list has 64 words in eight groups, while the writing list has 75 words in eight groups. Its group counts differ too, so study each list separately.
Did the 2025 test change the reading vocabulary?
No. The same lists apply to the 2008 and 2025 tests. The 2025 notice also did not change the English language parts of the naturalization test, which include reading.
Does this page show the test sentences?
No. USCIS publishes only the vocabulary list, not sample sentences, so this page shows the words the sentences are built from.
Can I practice the words without reading full sentences?
Yes. This page works word by word: use the speaker button on each word. It does not show sentences, because USCIS publishes the words but not the sentences.
Do I need to learn all 64 words?
USCIS does not publish which words appear in a test, and the sentences are built from the whole list, so learning all 64 is the safest preparation. You need to read only one sentence out of up to three correctly, and short words may be left out, so the content words matter most.
Related tools
- Naturalization reading test: Read this first to learn how the reading portion of the interview is scored.
- Naturalization writing test: Use this when you are ready to practice the separate writing word list.
- Citizenship test audio: Turn to this when you want to listen to test questions instead of reading them.
- Naturalization interview questions: Use this to prepare for the rest of the interview beyond the reading test.
- Citizenship test study guide: Pick this for a full plan that covers every part of the citizenship test.
- Civics test practice: Use this to drill the civics questions that match the CIVICS words on this list.