Vocabulary
Playing, watching and the business of sport, for speaking and for Task 2. With a practice exercise.
IELTS vocabulary for sport is tested in speaking more than anywhere else. Part 1 asks whether you play or watch sport, the Part 2 cue card often asks you to describe a sporting event, and Part 3 moves on to professional salaries, school sport and whether governments should fund facilities.
The most common errors on this topic are not rare words. They are the everyday verbs, play, do and go, used with the wrong sport.
The words
Six groups. Learn one group at a time and write a sentence of your own for each word.
To take up: to start doing a sport or hobby
Amateur: doing a sport for pleasure, not for money
A team sport: a sport played in teams, such as football
An individual sport: a sport done alone, such as swimming
Competitive: wanting to win, or describing an event where people compete
A tournament: a competition with a series of matches
A fixture: a match arranged for a particular date
To beat: to defeat another player or team
To win: to be first in a game or competition, never to win a person
A draw: a result where both sides score the same
Stamina: the ability to keep going for a long time
To work out: to exercise, usually in a gym
To keep fit: to stay physically healthy through exercise
Physical activity: any movement that uses energy, the formal term
Sedentary: involving a lot of sitting
A professional athlete: someone paid to compete
Sponsorship: a company paying to be linked with a team or event
Performance-enhancing drugs: banned substances that improve results
Spectators: people watching an event live
Broadcasting rights: the right to show an event on television or online
A pitch: the field for football, rugby or cricket
A court: the area for tennis, basketball or squash
A track: the area for running
A stadium: a large venue with seating for spectators
Grassroots sport: sport at a local and amateur level
Use play for ball games (play football), go for activities ending in -ing (go swimming) and do for martial arts and most individual activities (do yoga, do judo).
You win a match, a game or a prize. You beat a person or a team. We won them is an error.
Method
Six ways these words earn marks rather than just filling space.
Play, do and go with sports, and win and beat with results, are small words that examiners notice immediately. They matter more on this topic than any advanced vocabulary.
You take up a sport, break a record, score a goal, keep fit and host a major event.
Describe a sporting event you watched or took part in is a common Part 2 task. Having the vocabulary for the setting, the atmosphere and the result ready removes hesitation.
Are professional athletes paid too much? Should sport be compulsory at school? Is hosting a major event worth the cost? These recur regularly.
Physical activity and sedentary lifestyles suit Task 2 better than doing sport and sitting a lot.
If you do not play sport, say so and explain why. An honest answer with good vocabulary scores the same as an enthusiastic one.
Practice
Choose the answer that fits each sentence.
Read the whole sentence before you choose. Several options will be real words, and often more than one will nearly fit.
The test is precision: which word, or which pairing, means exactly what the sentence needs?
1Which is correct?
Go swimming. Go is used with activities ending in -ing.
2Which is correct?
Beat. You beat a person or team, and you win a match or a prize.
3To start doing a new sport is to ______ it.
Take up. The other phrasal verbs have completely different meanings.
4Someone who plays a sport for pleasure rather than money is ______.
An amateur. A spectator watches rather than plays.
5The ability to keep going for a long time is ______.
Stamina. Strength is about power, which is a different quality.
6Tennis is played on a ______.
Court. Football and rugby are played on a pitch, and running happens on a track.
7Which is the natural pairing?
Break a record. You can also set a record. Win a record is not used.
8Which sentence is more precise?
B. Formal, precise terms that suit Task 2.
That is the commonest vocabulary problem at Band 6, and it is very hard to see in your own writing because each word looks correct on its own.
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Recognising a word in a multiple choice is not the same as producing it accurately under time.
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Yes, especially in speaking. It appears in Part 1, as a Part 2 cue card and in Part 3 discussions about professional sport and fitness.
Play with ball games, go with activities ending in -ing, and do with martial arts and most individual activities such as yoga.
You win a match, a game or a prize. You beat a person or a team.
Say so. The examiner assesses your English, not your interests, and an honest answer is easier to develop.
Both. Sport is more common in British English and sports in American English. Use one consistently.
Full membership
Technique takes most candidates to about Band 6.5. Past that, the limit is usually the range of language you can use accurately, and knowing where you stand is the first step.
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