Vocabulary by JLPT level
Characters are the alphabet; words are the language. These are the vocabulary lists the JLPT is built on, easiest level first.
Common questions
How many words do you need for each JLPT level?
Roughly 700 for N5, 1,300 for N4, 3,300 for N3, 6,000 for N2 and 10,000 for N1. The official exam publishes no vocabulary list, so every published list — including this one — is reconstructed from past papers and textbooks.
Why is a word sometimes written in kana instead of kanji?
Because the kanji is rare, hard, or the writer chose not to use it. Common verbs and adjectives are frequently written in kana even when a kanji exists, so recognising a word by its reading matters as much as recognising its characters.
What does the "common word" tag mean?
It marks entries JMdict flags as frequent in everyday use, based on newspaper and corpus frequency data. If you are choosing what to study first, study these.
Should I learn vocabulary or kanji first?
Vocabulary, with the kanji attached. A kanji learned alone is an abstraction; the same character learned inside two or three words you can actually use will stick, and you get the readings in the context that decides which one applies.