They say more than 500 thousand words. There are approximately 200000 words in the Oxford dictionary and I cannot imagine much more quanity of words than already exists in the biggest English dictionary.

Hello Mike, Some references state that there are about 500,000 words mounting to 1 million including scientific words. However an average educated person knows about 20,000 words. You can check this table for further references in detail: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JohnnyLing.shtml Some methods to increase your vocabulary and memorize them effectively: - Read texts and books at your level of comprehension and look up new words .List those words in categories such as office vocabulary , animal life vocabulary , emotions etc. - Listen to a lot of English through different medias: song lyrics , watch subtitled movies , online audio material etc. - Converse with native speakers ,don't hesitate to ask for new words you don't know before. - Read loud ,record your voice , listen to it and keep repeating the process using each time more intricate texts with more difficult vocabulary. - Do any activities that involve using the English language , such as games, quizzes . - Switch all your operating systems on devices and gadgets to English, so you would be always reading your instructions in English. - Make a trip to an English speaking country , visit their museums ,mingle with their people. Immersing yourself in the culture will be a good motive for you to learn more later. Good luck:)

lol..there are many many vocabs..it is also base on words of choice too ..how you speak it. To start out practicing small , you must choose from 5 to 10 vocabs per day. must find the definition & find if it is a noun or verb whatsoever. also make sentences out of the vocabs. say it over 10 times. read your sentences over and over. have someone test you. hopefully that will help :)

5000 ?10000 ? I don't know...