Learn how to use AI to generate effective vocabulary lists for your students. Prompt examples included.
You already know that AI can save you time when creating classroom materials, and vocabulary lists are no exception. The tricky part is, a quick, general prompt often gives you words that don’t quite fit your lesson or your students’ needs. That’s where many teachers like you get stuck.
This tutorial will help you move past that challenge. Instead of vague word lists, you’ll learn how to guide AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Copilot so it generates vocabulary that’s specific to your grade level, learning objectives, and subject area. You’ll see how to bring in your curriculum standards, reference materials, and differentiation needs, so the final output feels tailor-made for your classroom. You’ll also discover a more effective and intuitive method that can reduce the need for detailed prompting.
Objective: What do you want your students to be able to do with these words by the end of the lesson?
Before you generate a list, ask yourself what you want your students to achieve with these words. Are you building general reading fluency, preparing them for subject-specific texts, or supporting their writing? If the goal is comprehension, you might want student-friendly definitions and simple examples. If the goal is academic writing, you might ask for synonyms, collocations, and usage in formal sentences.
Curriculum standards: How can this vocabulary list help you meet the specific standard you’re working on?
You’ll want your word list to connect with the standards you’re teaching. This ensures the words aren’t just random but are anchored in what you’re expected to cover. If you’re following Common Core, for instance, you might focus on Tier 2 academic words. If you’re teaching science under NGSS, you’ll likely need Tier 3 technical terms.
Source materials: What text or resource are your students using that you can feed into AI to generate authentic word lists?
Vocabulary is most meaningful when it comes directly from what your students are reading, watching, or listening to. Instead of asking your AI tool for a random list of words, give it a short story, a passage, or even a link to a video. For example, if your class is studying ecosystems, you might paste in a paragraph from a science textbook and ask the AI to pull key terms from it. This way, students see the words in context.
Adaptability: How can you make sure the word list is accessible to struggling readers while still challenging advanced learners?
Not every student in your class learns vocabulary in the same way. Some may need simple definitions and visual support, while others can handle extended tasks like analyzing synonyms or using the word in a persuasive paragraph. You can ask your AI tool to generate differentiated word lists by Lexile levels, Bloom’s Taxonomy tasks, or tiered vocabulary (Tier 1, 2, 3).
Reusability of the word list: Will your list of words only work for one lesson, or can you use them again in other activities later?
You might want a word list that can be used more than once. For example, a list of academic vocabulary could serve in multiple lessons across reading, writing, and even speaking tasks. If you know you’ll revisit a topic, you can ask your AI tool to produce a bank of words that can be applied in different contexts.
Repeatability of the process: Can you design a repeatable prompt that saves you time whenever you plan new lessons?
One of the advantages of AI tools is that you can build prompts you can return to again and again. By keeping a consistent structure in your request - grade level, objective, source, and number of words - you can quickly create new lists whenever you need them. For example, every time you start a new unit, you could paste in a passage and use the same prompt template.
To keep the process simple, let’s define the requirements for our tutorial first.
We’re going to create a vocabulary list for 11th grade students - based on a few passages from Henry David Thoreau’s essay ‘On the Duty of Civil Disobedience’. Generating 10 words is enough for this exercise. Regardless of your word count or requirements, you’ll be able to apply the same strategy outlined here.
Let’s save some time by using the easiest approach first.
1. Head over to Monsha.
In case you’re not a user, you can sign up in just a few seconds, for free.
2. Select the Vocab Word List tool.
Once you're in, you'll find a list of tools to generate different types of teaching resources — worksheets, questions, and more. Expand the list by clicking on See all tools. Then choose Vocab Word List.
3. Configure your requirements and copy-paste your text.
The configuration screen is where you specify your classroom context and word list details. Here are the most basic options:
Set them right away. For this tutorial, we’ve kept the Include images field unchecked.
Now, with Monsha, you can use different source materials to generate your word list:
Once you click on Text, a window will appear. Copy-paste your source text. In case you want even a quicker way, go for the File option and upload your PDF or document.
This is pretty much all you need for a vocabulary list, but it’s possible to refine your requirement further. For instance, you can assign your vocabulary list to a course, unit or lesson. You’ll find it super useful if you plan your curriculum with Monsha. You can also align the output with preferred curriculum standards (e.g., Common Core State Standards or K–12 Standards) or educational frameworks (e.g., Lexile Reading Levels).
Here’s what we did to extend today’s tutorial. From More Options, we clicked on Adapt to framework > Lexile Reading Levels. Then we set our preferred level: 1425L.
What if you have a requirement that doesn’t fit into the current configuration? That’s what the “Describe your requirement …” text area for. Just type in what you need, and you’re good to go.
4. Click Generate, and Monsha will do the rest.
Your vocabulary list will be ready in seconds! This is the output we got:
While most vocabulary generators can give you a list of words, they may not factor in your classroom needs. With Monsha, you can go beyond creating a vocabulary list. Here’s how.
After generating your word list, you can ask for a revision or more relevant components, without starting over. For instance, the “Add another example to each definition” instruction will recreate the list and incorporate your requirement.
In our case, the prompt gave us this output:
Pretty handy!
If you’re not sure how to frame your prompt, use the Quick Actions option to generate customizable suggestions. To simplify the words or make them difficult, for instance.
Sometimes you may want to make your word list more dynamic or format it. In that case, add rich content like tables, images, and more. You won’t need third-party editing tools to make the output perfect.
In case you need to adjust the list for another group of students from the same class or a different one, you can do it with a click. For instance, you can change the Lexile level and get a new output. This is how Monsha makes AI-powered differentiated learning effortless for you.
Download your vocabulary list in your preferred format, such as MS Word and PDF. You can export it to Google Docs or Canva as well. Sharing it on Google Classroom is also possible.
If needed, you can create more vocabulary lists using the same prompt. Customize the prompt however you want. You don’t have to start from scratch at all!
Say you need to create reading passages or quiz questions relevant to your list. You can do it right away, without resetting the context.
One more thing.
All your word lists and other teaching resources remain accessible and organized via your Monsha account. So you can easily keep track of your resources.
When you ask general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT to create a vocabulary list for your students, the way you phrase your request makes a huge difference in the quality of the output. General prompts like “make me a vocabulary list” will give you something very broad, but not necessarily aligned with your teaching needs. So guide the AI with teaching-specific prompts to focus on your classroom context, which helps you get a word list that is useful, grade-appropriate, and aligned with your goals.
How do you do that?
Let’s get a clear picture by looking at a prompt template and a few examples. That way, you’ll know how to properly structure actual prompts. Feel free to customize them based on your requirements. You can browse more examples in our AI prompt library for teachers.
“Generate a vocabulary/word list for classroom use with the following details:
- Grade level: [insert grade or age group]
- Language: [English / Spanish / etc.]
- Curriculum standards: [insert e.g., CCSS, National Curriculum, etc.]
- Source material or reference: [paste passage/text, web link, YouTube video link, uploaded PDF/Word, etc.]
- Learning objective: [e.g., enhance reading comprehension, academic writing, subject-specific terminology, etc.]
- Number of words: [e.g., 10, 20, 30]
- Differentiation options: [e.g., Bloom’s Taxonomy levels, Lexile levels, tiered vocabulary (Tier 1, 2, 3), or scaffolding by proficiency level]
- Additional requirements: [e.g., provide student-friendly definitions, example sentences, synonyms/antonyms, images suggestions, usage in context, etc.]
Format the output as:
1. Word
- Definition
- Example sentence
- Differentiation notes [if applicable]”
“Generate a vocabulary list for Grade 3 students.
Language: English
Curriculum standards: Common Core ELA (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4 – determine the meaning of words in a text).
Source material: [paste this short story: "The Lion and the Mouse" Aesop’s Fable].
Learning objective: Improve comprehension of fables and narrative texts.
Number of words: 10
Differentiation: Provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 word categories, with Lexile levels.
Additional requirement: Give student-friendly definitions and short example sentences.”
“Generate a vocabulary list for Grade 7 Science class.
Language: English
Curriculum standards: NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) – MS-LS1 (From Molecules to Organisms).
Source material: [YouTube link: "How Cells Work - National Geographic"].
Learning objective: Build academic vocabulary related to cell biology.
Number of words: 15
Differentiation: Provide words categorized by Bloom’s Taxonomy (remember, understand, apply, analyze).
Additional requirement: Give definitions, an example sentence, and one synonym for each word.”
“Generate a vocabulary list for Grade 10 World History.
Language: English
Curriculum standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 (determine meaning of words/phrases in historical texts).
Source material: [excerpt from “The French Revolution and Human Rights” (provided passage)].
Learning objective: Support historical analysis and academic writing.
Number of words: 20
Differentiation: Provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 word distinctions, with guidance for advanced vs. struggling readers.
Additional requirement: Provide definitions, usage in historical context, and an application question for higher-level thinking.”
“Generate a vocabulary list for Grade 6 ESL students.
Language: Spanish → English
Curriculum standards: WIDA ELD Standards
Source material: [teacher-provided passage about ecosystems].
Learning objective: Help ELL students build content-based vocabulary in Science.
Number of words: 12
Differentiation: Provide side-by-side translation, student-friendly definition in English, and a visual image suggestion.
Additional requirement: Use simple example sentences for beginner-level students and extended sentences for advanced learners.”
“Generate an academic vocabulary list for high school students preparing for SAT.
Language: English
Curriculum standards: College and Career Readiness standards
Source material: [short article from The New York Times – link provided].
Learning objective: Strengthen academic vocabulary for reading comprehension and essay writing.
Number of words: 25
Differentiation: Provide Bloom’s Taxonomy tasks (e.g., Remember → define; Apply → use in a sentence; Analyze → compare with synonym).
Additional requirement: Provide synonyms, antonyms, and collocations.”
When you use traditional AI chatbots to make vocabulary lists, one limitation is that they don’t automatically understand all the layers of your teaching needs. Even if you develop a reliable prompt formula that works across lessons, you still need to adjust the context. It may still take a few attempts to refine your request until the output looks the way you want, which can eat into your prep time. That’s where a repeatable and reliable system can simplify your process. In case you look for such a teacher-focused solution, try Monsha for free.
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We’re the Monsha Team—a group of educators, engineers, and designers building tools to help teachers combat burnout and get back to life.. Our blogs reflect real classroom needs, drawn from conversations with educators around the world and our own journey building Monsha.
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