Collocation Game Academic
Practice collocations of AWL words with this game
Information about this game
This game uses words more commonly found in academic writing, chosen mainly from the Academic Word List (AWL). All the headwords in the game (apart from the first example set) are taken from this list. Most of the other words (the collocate sets and the distractors) are also from this list. Click on the information button to see how this game is scored. For more information about vocabulary and collocation see the vocabulary page. For more information about the words used in this game and how the game can help your vocabulary learning see the collocation game details page. For more information about features of the game see the the collocation games page.
This game uses cookies and local storage to keep track of your score. This means that you can close your browser and continue the game later, picking up from the level you left the game. If your browser cancels cookies when you close it, you'll have to start from zero. You can avoid this by adding this site to your exceptions list in the preferences folder of your browser. Cookies are automatically deleted if you don't play the game for more than 30 days.
The Collocation Game
This game is based on collocation. In this case the collocates are based on the words found in the Academic Word List (AWL). Collocation is the tendency of one word to be preceded or followed by another particular word or set of words. Native speakers of a language have a well developed sense of collocation. In fact, in a conversation or when reading a text they can often predict what word or phrase the speaker or writer will use next. For learners of English this is more problematic. Part of knowing a word is knowing its collocates when it is used in context. Beginning and intermediate speakers and writers often use words and phrases which a native speaker might not find truly idiomatic. For example, "little" and "small" are listed as synonyms but they are not completely interchangeable in all contexts; you might talk about a "small amount" but you are much less likely to use the phrase "a little amount". This game, along with the other two collocation games on this site, aims to raise awareness of the importance of collocation. It is a simple game to play. Five common collocates of a particular word are presented and the use has to choose the word (from a list of eight) which collocates well which the five words presented. Five of these are presented each day.
