hyenas
7×wild dogs that laugh; the villains’ helpers
Animated musical · American and British English
The Lion King: English level and how hard it is to understand
The smallest vocabulary of any film we measured: fewer than 1,000 different words, spoken slowly, and a story you can follow from the pictures alone.
Updated
Short answer
The Lion King is best for A2 to B1 learners. Across the whole film, a B1 learner knows about 96.0% of the words, and the characters speak at about 133 words per minute (slow).
The Lion King in numbers
- Recommended level
- A2 to B1
- Speaking speed
- 133 words / min
- Spoken words
- 5,347 in 89 min
- Known at B1
- 96%
- Known at B2
- 97.02%
- Different words
- 976
Difficulty rank: 1 of 16 in our movies by English level list (easiest in this list).
Beyond the numbers
What makes The Lion King hard (or easy)?
- The songs are fast and full of rhymes. Treat them as a bonus, not a test.
- Animal and nature words (hyenas, antelope, stampede) are not everyday English.
- Timon and Pumbaa’s jokes use word play and silly voices.
The Lion King is mostly American and British English. Accent and speed matter as much as vocabulary: if you know the words but can’t catch them, turn on English subtitles and slow down.
Learn these first
Useful words from The Lion King
B2–C2 words that came up more than once in the film. Counts are for the whole movie.
antelope
4×a fast animal like a deer, food for lions
stampede
2×a large group of animals running in panic
betrothed
2×promised in marriage (old-fashioned)
grub
2×an insect larva; also informal for food
graveyard
2×a place where the dead are buried
poachers
2×people who hunt animals illegally
fireflies
2×small insects that glow at night
Spoken forms you will hear constantly
yeah ×35hey ×33okay ×12gonna ×9ya ×5ain ×2
gonna = going to · wanna = want to · gotta = got to / have to. Textbooks rarely teach them, but films use them all the time.
Vocabulary profile
How common are the words in The Lion King?
Share of all spoken words in each frequency band (A1 = the 5,000 most common words).
A188.84%
A24.68%
B12.48%
B21.02%
C10.5%
C20.73%
Unlisted1.74%
Watching plan
How to learn English with The Lion King
- Watch once with English subtitles just for the story, then again without them.
- Learn the animal words below first. They carry the key scenes.
- Repeat short lines out loud after the characters. The speech is slow enough to copy.
In TeakReader you can import the subtitles of any movie, see the words you don’t know yet, and study them as flashcards before you press play. How it works
How we measured it
We took the full English subtitle file for The Lion King (1994, 89 minutes), removed sound descriptions, speaker labels, and character names, and matched each of the 5,347 spoken words to the same frequency list we use for classic book levels. Speaking speed is spoken words divided by the time the subtitles are on screen. Only statistics and single words are shown here.
The recommended level is our estimate from vocabulary, speed, and style, not an official CEFR rating. Subtitle files differ slightly between releases, so treat the numbers as close estimates.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is The Lion King good for learning English?
The Lion King is the easiest film we measured: about 5,300 spoken words, under 1,000 different words, and a slow 133 words per minute. A B1 learner knows about 96% of what is said, and the pictures carry the rest. A good first film from A2. We recommend it from A2 to B1.
How fast do they speak in The Lion King?
About 133 words per minute of dialogue, which is slow for a film. Everyday conversation is often around 150 words per minute.
How many words do I need to understand The Lion King?
A learner who knows the most common 20,000 English word forms (our B1 band) knows about 96.0% of the words spoken. Research on listening suggests that knowing about 95% of the words is enough to follow most of what is said, so subtitles help until you reach that point.
How did you measure this?
We analysed the film’s full English subtitle file (5,347 spoken words), removed sound notes, speaker labels, and character names, and matched every word to the same frequency list we use for book levels and TV shows. The level is our estimate, not an official CEFR rating.
Can I study the vocabulary of The Lion King before watching?
Yes. In TeakReader, search for the movie and import its subtitles. You get a list of the words you don’t know yet, with meanings and flashcards.
Ready to read
Learn the words from The Lion King before you watch.
Import any movie’s subtitles in TeakReader and get its unknown words with meanings and flashcards. Free on iPhone, iPad, and Android.