English reading practice

English texts for reading by level

Each text is written specifically for its CEFR level rather than shortened from a harder one. The catalogue can be filtered to a single level, and each card shows the word count, the number of questions and an estimated reading time in advance.

• A1 — simple texts in English for beginners: short sentences, present tense, everyday words.
• A2 — short stories and everyday situations for the basic level.
• B1 — texts of medium difficulty with several tenses and a coherent story.
• B2 — longer texts on various topics where shades of meaning matter.
• C1 — texts for the advanced level: complex syntax, idioms, implied meaning.

How the exercise works

1. Choose a text at your level — not one a step above.
2. Read it all the way through without stopping at every unfamiliar word.
3. Answer all the questions without looking back at the text.
4. Press “Check answers” — checking is done once for the whole text.
5. Look at the correct options: each is shown beside yours.
6. Retry the same text or move on to the next one.

Reading in English online

You can practise with no preparation and no partner: open the page, choose a text, read it and answer. The catalogue remembers how many texts you have finished, so you can see where you left off last time.

Every text has a read-aloud button that speaks the passage with the browser voice — useful when you want to compare your reading with the pronunciation. You can also download a printable PDF worksheet for each text: the questions come after the passage and the answer key is set apart so it can be removed before you start.

Texts in English for beginners

If you have only just started learning English, take the A1 and A2 levels. They use familiar vocabulary and simple structures, so you can read them even with a small word list.

The topics come from daily life: family, school, work, travel, shopping, the doctor, the library, the weather. A familiar setting makes it easier to guess the meaning of a new word — so your vocabulary grows from context rather than from lists.

How to improve your reading in English

The first reading is for overall meaning, without a dictionary. The second is for details, and that is when you should look up the words without which the meaning does not come together; the rest can be left for later.

It is more useful to understand a mistake than simply to correct it: go back to the sentence that led to the right answer and see exactly what you understood differently. Move up a level when the questions stop causing doubt, not when the texts start to feel familiar.

Reading not only in English

The same exercise, with the same levels, is available in 29 other languages — Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Polish among them. The language of the texts is switched directly above the catalogue.