Words to Avoid in IELTS Writing: What to Write Instead

WritingIn an essay, write “children” instead of kids.

SpeakingIn Speaking, kids is fine, as in “I love playing with my cousin’s kids”.

Common mistake: Writing “kids” in Task 2. It is too informal and can lower your vocabulary score.

WritingWrite “belongings” or “items” instead of stuff in an essay.

SpeakingStuff is fine when you talk: “I keep all my stuff in one bag”.

Common mistake: Writing “stuffs”. It is uncountable, and it is too vague for an essay.

WritingIn essays, write “many” or “a large number of” instead of a lot of.

SpeakingA lot of is perfect in Speaking: it sounds natural and relaxed.

Common mistake: Using “a lot of” in every paragraph. It is not wrong, but it repeats; vary it.

WritingNever write guys in an essay; write “people” or “men”.

SpeakingWith friends, guys is fine, but say “people” when you answer the examiner.

Common mistake: Using “guys” for people in general in Writing. It is slang.

WritingIn an essay, write “acceptable” instead of okay.

SpeakingOkay is natural in Speaking: “The food was okay, but not great”.

Common mistake: Writing “OK” or “okay” in Task 2. Choose “acceptable” or “reasonable”.

WritingIn an essay, write “employer” or “manager” instead of boss.

SpeakingBoss is fine in Speaking: “My boss lets me work from home”.

Common mistake: Writing “boss” in a formal essay. It sounds too casual.

WritingWrite “extremely” or “particularly” instead of really in an essay.

SpeakingReally is fine when you talk, but don’t use it in every sentence.

Common mistake: Writing “really really important”. Use one strong word: “crucial”.

WritingIn an essay, write “completely” instead of totally.

SpeakingTotally is fine in Speaking: “I totally agree”.

Common mistake: Writing “I totally disagree” in Task 2. Write “I completely disagree”.

WritingIn an essay, write “perhaps” or “possibly” instead of maybe.

SpeakingMaybe is perfectly natural when you speak.

Common mistake: Starting essay sentences with “Maybe”. Use “Perhaps” or “It is possible that”.

WritingIn an essay, write “fairly” or “quite” instead of pretty.

SpeakingPretty is natural in Speaking: “It’s pretty cheap”.

Common mistake: Writing “pretty good results” in Task 1 or 2. Use “fairly good”, or give a number.

WritingWrite “affordable” instead of cheap when you mean good value.

SpeakingCheap is fine in Speaking: “The buses here are really cheap”.

Common mistake: Writing “cheap” when you mean good value. It can also mean poor quality, so use “affordable” or “low-cost”.

WritingIn an essay, write “slightly” instead of a bit.

SpeakingA bit is natural when you speak: “I’m a bit tired today”.

Common mistake: Writing “a bit expensive” in Task 2. Write “slightly expensive” or “rather expensive”.

WritingIn an essay, find out is acceptable, but “discover” sounds more academic.

SpeakingFind out is perfect in Speaking: “I found out about it online”.

Common mistake: Using phrasal verbs in every sentence of an essay. Mix them with one-word verbs like “discover”.

WritingWrite “investigate” instead of look into in a formal essay.

SpeakingLook into is natural when you talk: “I’ll look into it”.

Common mistake: Writing “the government should look into this”. “Investigate” is clearer and more formal.

WritingIn an essay, write “tolerate” instead of put up with.

SpeakingPut up with is great in Speaking: “I can’t put up with noise”.

Common mistake: Writing “residents put up with pollution”. “Tolerate” sounds more academic.

WritingWrite “abandon” or “stop” instead of give up in a formal essay.

SpeakingGive up is natural in Speaking: “I gave up sugar last year”.

Common mistake: Writing “people should give up their cars”. “Stop using” or “abandon” sounds more formal.

WritingIn an essay, write “establish” instead of set up.

SpeakingSet up is fine when you speak: “My friend set up a café”.

Common mistake: Writing “set up” for every new thing. “Establish” suits organisations and rules.

WritingIn Task 1, write “rise” or “increase” instead of go up.

SpeakingGo up is fine in Speaking: “Prices keep going up”.

Common mistake: Writing “went up” in every Task 1 sentence. Use “rose”, “increased” and “climbed”.

WritingWrite “eliminate” or “remove” instead of get rid of in an essay.

SpeakingGet rid of is natural when you talk: “I got rid of my old car”.

Common mistake: Writing “we must get rid of poverty”. “Eliminate poverty” is the academic choice.

WritingIn an essay, write “devise” or “propose” instead of come up with.

SpeakingCome up with is great in Speaking: “I came up with a plan”.

Common mistake: Writing “governments should come up with solutions”. “Devise solutions” sounds more formal.

WritingReplace thing with an exact word, such as “factor” or “issue”.

SpeakingIn Speaking, thing is natural: “The best thing about my town is the beach”.

Common mistake: Writing “another thing is…” in an essay. Say “another factor is…” or “another reason is…”.

WritingIn an essay, replace nice with an exact word, like “pleasant” or “attractive”.

SpeakingNice is fine in Speaking, but try a more exact word sometimes.

Common mistake: Using “nice” for everything. Say what kind of nice: “a welcoming town”, “an attractive park”.

WritingInstead of very important, write a strong word such as “crucial”.

SpeakingVery is fine when you speak, but don’t use it in every sentence.

Common mistake: Writing “very” in every sentence. Use stronger single words: “crucial”, “enormous”.

WritingDo not end a list with and so on; give two clear examples with “such as”.

SpeakingAnd so on is fine when you talk, after one or two examples.

Common mistake: Ending lists with “and so on” or “etc.” in Task 2. Examiners want complete ideas, not unfinished lists.

WritingInstead of repeating people, use exact words like “residents” or “the public”.

SpeakingPeople is fine in Speaking, of course.

Common mistake: Writing “people” ten times in one essay. Name the group: “employees”, “young adults”, “drivers”.

WritingDo not end an essay with in a nutshell; write “In conclusion”.

SpeakingIn a nutshell is fine in Speaking to sum up a long answer.

Common mistake: Starting the conclusion with “In a nutshell”. It is an idiom, too informal for Writing.

WritingInstead of every coin has two sides, write “There are strong arguments on both sides”.

SpeakingIn Speaking, every coin has two sides sounds memorised; say “it has pros and cons”.

Common mistake: Using memorised sayings in an introduction. Examiners see them in thousands of essays.

WritingInstead of as we all know, write “It is widely accepted that”.

SpeakingIn Speaking, as we all know sounds odd; just say what you think.

Common mistake: Using it before an opinion. Not everyone knows or agrees, so the phrase weakens your argument.

WritingStart your essay with the topic, not with nowadays.

SpeakingNowadays is fine in Speaking: “Nowadays I cycle to work”.

Common mistake: Starting every essay with “Nowadays,”. It is a cliché; begin with the topic itself.

WritingIn an essay, write “Finally” instead of last but not least.

SpeakingLast but not least suits a speech, but it is rare in IELTS Speaking.

Common mistake: Using it in a short essay with only two points. It sounds memorised; “Finally” is enough.

WritingWrite “today” or “in the modern world” instead of in this day and age.

SpeakingIn this day and age can sound natural in Speaking if you use it once.

Common mistake: Using long, memorised phrases to fill space. Examiners reward clear, exact language.

WritingInstead of always, write “usually” or “tend to” unless something is really always true.

SpeakingIn Speaking, always is fine for your own habits: “I always walk to work”.

Common mistake: Writing “children always copy their parents”. Few things are always true; “often” is safer.

WritingInstead of never, write “rarely” unless something is really never true.

SpeakingNever is fine for your own life: “I never drink coffee at night”.

Common mistake: Writing “older people never use technology”. It is untrue; write “rarely” or “are less likely to”.

WritingInstead of everyone, write “most people” or “the majority of people”.

SpeakingIn Speaking, everyone is fine for small groups: “Everyone in my family loves football”.

Common mistake: Writing “everyone agrees that…”. Very few things are true of everyone.

WritingInstead of definitely, write “probably” or “it is likely that” about the future.

SpeakingDefinitely is natural in Speaking: “I’d definitely go back”.

Common mistake: Writing “this will definitely solve the problem”. Careful words like “could help to” sound more academic.

WritingAvoid obviously in essays; if a point is obvious, you do not need to say so.

SpeakingObviously is fine in Speaking, but don’t use it before every answer.

Common mistake: Writing “obviously” before an opinion. It can sound rude to readers who disagree.

WritingNever write gonna; always write “going to”.

SpeakingGonna is common in fast speech, but a clear “going to” is better in the test.

Common mistake: Writing “gonna” or “wanna”. They are spoken forms, never used in an essay.

WritingIn a formal essay, write “do not” instead of don’t.

SpeakingDon’t is normal in Speaking; full forms would sound strange.

Common mistake: Using short forms like “don’t” and “it’s” in Task 2. Formal essays use full forms.

WritingInstead of “you can see”, write “it can be seen” in an essay.

SpeakingIn Speaking, you is natural: “You can get anywhere by metro”.

Common mistake: Writing “you” to mean people in general. In an academic essay, use “people” or the passive.

WritingNever use like as a filler in an essay; write “for example” to give an example.

SpeakingUsing like as a filler too often in Speaking makes you sound less fluent.

Common mistake: Writing “like” to give examples: “sports like football”. In formal writing, “such as” is safer.