HSK Vocabulary List: Every Level from HSK 1 to HSK 6

The six-level HSK has 5,000 words. HSK 1 is 150 of them, and each level after that roughly doubles the total, up to 5,000 at HSK 6. That's the HSK 2.0 exam, the version of China's official Chinese test that people have sat since 2010. This page gives the word and character counts for every level, a few sample words from each, and links to our full lists, where every word has its pinyin, meaning and an example sentence.

The HSK is changing: a nine-level exam with longer lists has its first official sitting on 13 December 2026. Its numbers are further down, in which HSK list to learn.

HSK Word Lists by Level

Word totals include all the levels below. The new-word and total columns are the official HSK 2.0 counts, as listed in Wikipedia's HSK article. The characters column is our own count of the different characters used in the words, from the same lists that Mandarin Mosaic's HSK lessons use. On a phone, swipe the table sideways.

Wikipedia gives slightly different character totals (174, 348, 618, 1,064, 1,685 and 2,663), because a few words have variant forms in different printings of the lists. The two counts never differ by more than 3 characters.

Our lists for HSK 5 and 6 aren't written yet. The Mandarin Mosaic app has lesson packs for all six levels, so you can learn those words in sentences there in the meantime.

What Each Level Covers, with Sample Words

Five words from each level's list, to give you a feel for how the vocabulary changes as you go up. The pinyin has dictionary tones.

HSK 1: 150 words

The everyday basics: I and you, numbers, days and times, family, food, and verbs like to eat, to go and to like. With these you can introduce yourself and ask simple questions.

All 150, each with an example sentence: HSK 1 vocabulary list.

HSK 2: 150 more words, 300 in all

Travel, weather, the body and the small grammar words that join simple sentences: because, already, than. HSK 2 also brings in 着, 过 and 得.

All 150: HSK 2 vocabulary list.

HSK 3: 300 more words, 600 in all

Where Chinese stops being phrasebook Chinese. HSK 3 brings in 把 and 被 sentences, pairs like 如果…就 (if… then), and the nouns for home, school, work and travel.

All 300: HSK 3 vocabulary list.

HSK 4: 600 more words, 1,200 in all

Opinions, plans, work, feelings and the linking words that hold longer sentences together. HSK 4 is also the usual minimum for a bachelor's degree taught in Chinese: Shanghai's education authorities say Chinese-taught undergraduate programmes require HSK 4 or above, though it varies by university.

All 600: HSK 4 vocabulary list.

HSK 5: 1,300 more words, 2,500 in all

The biggest jump in new words so far. HSK 5 vocabulary is the language of news, work and society: abstract nouns, formal verbs and words for character and relationships. At this level, simplified news articles become readable with a dictionary to hand.

HSK 6: 2,500 more words, 5,000 in all

Written and formal Chinese. The HSK 6 list has 116 four-character words, most of them 成语 (chéngyǔ, set idioms), against 2 in the whole HSK 5 list.

Characters: Why the Higher Levels Get Easier Than They Look

The word lists grow fast, but the number of characters doesn't keep pace. HSK 6 has 5,000 words but only about 2,660 different characters, and each level adds fewer new characters than new words:

These are our own counts from the HSK 2.0 lists. "Already know" means every character in the word appears somewhere in the lower levels' lists.

So more than half of the new HSK 6 words, and over 40% of the HSK 5 words, are built from characters you met earlier. You may not be able to guess the HSK 5 word 保持 (bǎochí, to maintain) from 保 and 持, but once you know the characters, the word is far easier to remember. It's why vocabulary seems to speed up after HSK 4, and why learning what each character means pays off. Our post on how many characters to learn per day covers the pace.

Which HSK List to Learn: HSK 2.0, the 2021 Standard or the 2025 Syllabus

There are now three sets of HSK word lists, and their level numbers don't line up. These are the cumulative totals, from Wikipedia's HSK article:

• HSK 2.0 is the six-level exam people have sat until now, and the lists on this site follow it.
• The 2021 standard is a framework for teaching and textbooks. Only its HSK 7–9 exam launched, in 2022.
• The 2025 exam syllabus was published in November 2025. Its first official exam worldwide is on 13 December 2026 (Shanghai Municipal Education Commission).

If you're booking a test, ask your test centre which version your sitting uses, and learn that list. If you're not taking a test, it matters much less. The newer lists keep the same core words, they just cut the levels differently, so the HSK 2.0 words are never wasted. Mandarin Mosaic has lesson packs for both the HSK 2.0 levels and the new HSK 3.0 levels.

For what each exam level tests and whether it's worth sitting, see should you take the HSK? For how the levels compare with European ones like A2 and B1, see HSK vs CEFR.

How Long Each Level Takes

A simple way to plan is by new words a day. At 10 new words a day, with a few minutes of reviews:

That's vocabulary only, and only if you keep it up every day. Passing the exam also takes listening, reading speed and writing characters (from HSK 3 on the HSK 2.0 exam, and from level 2 on the new one), so allow more time for those. Our Chinese study plan sets weekly and monthly targets, and the Chinese level test estimates which HSK level you're at now.

How to Learn an HSK Word List

A word list tells you what to learn, not how. These three things make the difference:

• Learn each word in a sentence. A sentence shows you what a word goes with and where it sits, which a list can't. That's why every word on our HSK 1–4 lists has an example sentence, and it's the idea behind sentence mining.
• Review with spaced repetition. See each word again just before you'd forget it. If you use Anki, our list of Chinese Anki decks includes HSK sentence decks.
• Learn the characters as you go. As the table above shows, from HSK 5 onwards 40 to 55% of the new words are made from characters you already know, so time spent on characters early on pays off later.

Mandarin Mosaic's HSK lessons are built this way. Each lesson is a set of sentences with one new word where possible, and you fill in the missing word, so you recall it rather than just recognise it. Spaced repetition brings each word back when it's due, and there are packs for HSK 1–6 and the new HSK 3.0 levels. The app is on iPhone and Android, and at the time of writing Premium's first month is free, with a limited free plan. Get it on iOS or Android.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Words Are in Each HSK Level?

On the HSK 2.0 exam: 150 at HSK 1, 300 at HSK 2, 600 at HSK 3, 1,200 at HSK 4, 2,500 at HSK 5 and 5,000 at HSK 6. Each total includes the levels below it. The new 2025 syllabus has 300, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,600 and 5,400 for levels 1 to 6, and about 11,000 for levels 7–9.

How Many Characters Do You Need for HSK 6?

About 2,660. That's how many different characters appear in the 5,000 words of the HSK 6 list, by our count. HSK 4 needs about 1,060 and HSK 5 about 1,680.

Is HSK 6 Fluent?

Not quite, on most estimates. With 5,000 words you can read a lot of everyday material and follow most conversations, but the German and French associations of Chinese teachers put HSK 6 at B2, or B2 to C1, upper intermediate. HSK vs CEFR compares the estimates, and our post on how many words you need to become fluent explains what each stage feels like.

Should I Learn the Old or the New HSK List?

For a test, learn the list your sitting uses. For general learning, either works: the core words are the same, and the lists differ mostly in where they draw the lines between levels.

Want to learn the HSK words in sentences, with audio and reviews built in? Mandarin Mosaic has HSK lessons for every level, made of short sentences with one new word at a time. It's on iPhone and Android, and at the time of writing Premium's first month is free, with a limited free plan. Get it on iOS or Android.

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