English Business & Work Vocabulary

Level: B2. Work vocabulary turns up in emails, interviews, meetings and the news. This page gives you the English words for business, jobs, money and dealings, grouped by meaning so related words stick together, each with a plain definition and a short example you can copy.

By the end of this page you can…

…talk about your job and company (work, job, staff, manager), describe money and trade (salary, profit, customer, market), and handle meetings and deals (contract, deadline, negotiate) with the right collocations.

How this list was chosen

Every word here comes from the English frequency list (hermitdave/FrequencyWords), which ranks words by how often they appear in a large collection of everyday subtitles. From that list we kept the words you really need for work and business, and grouped them by meaning rather than by rank. The Rank column is the word’s real position in the frequency list — a lower number means more common.

Jobs and the company

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
151	work	activity you do to earn money	I go to work by train.
269	job	a particular paid role	She found a new job.
353	business	buying and selling; a firm	He runs a small business.
590	company	an organisation that sells goods or services	The company has fifty staff.
494	office	a place where people do desk work	Our office is in the city centre.
1482	career	your working life over time	She built a career in law.
1738	staff	all the people who work somewhere	The whole staff attended.
4200	employee	a person who works for a company	Each employee has a contract.
3871	colleague	a person you work with	My colleagues are very helpful.
1209	department	a section of a company	He works in the sales department.

People who manage

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
1477	manager	a person who runs a team or shop	The manager signed the form.
566	boss	the person in charge of you	My boss approved the plan.
1191	director	a senior leader of a company	The director opened the meeting.
1086	partner	a person who shares a business	She is a partner in the firm.
2553	hire	give someone a job	We hired two new engineers.
8520	promote	move someone to a higher job	They promoted her to manager.
1727	interview	a meeting to assess a candidate	I have a job interview tomorrow.

Money and finance

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
186	money	coins and notes; funds	The project needs more money.
388	pay	give money for work or goods	They pay me every month.
3852	salary	fixed yearly pay for a job	The salary is paid monthly.
5251	income	money you receive regularly	Rent is her main income.
3870	profit	money left after costs	The shop made a small profit.
1895	loss	money lost in business	The firm reported a loss.
4095	budget	a plan for spending money	We stayed within budget.
1298	cost	the amount you must pay	The cost of materials rose.
3016	tax	money paid to the government	Businesses pay tax on profit.

Buying, selling and the market

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
761	sell	give goods for money	They sell furniture online.
511	buy	get goods for money	Customers buy in bulk.
2911	customer	a person who buys goods	A customer asked for a refund.
1324	client	a customer who uses a service	The client signed the deal.
3172	product	a thing made to be sold	We launched a new product.
929	service	work done for customers	Their service is excellent.
1502	market	the buyers and sellers of a product	We entered the European market.
3529	sales	the number of goods sold	Sales rose last quarter.
2857	demand	how much people want to buy	Demand for the app is high.

Deals, meetings and deadlines

Rank	Word	Meaning	Example
413	deal	a business agreement	They closed the deal on Friday.
1827	contract	a written legal agreement	Please sign the contract.
2689	agreement	a shared decision	We reached an agreement.
633	meeting	a planned talk about work	The meeting starts at nine.
5374	negotiate	discuss to reach a deal	We negotiated a lower price.
2431	schedule	a plan of times and tasks	Check my schedule for Tuesday.
7055	deadline	the latest time to finish	The deadline is Friday noon.
727	report	a written account of facts	She wrote the annual report.

Example sentences

Play each line, then say it aloud. These use the most common business and work words in natural, everyday patterns.

I go to work by train every morning.

'go to work' uses uncountable 'work'.
She found a new job at a tech company.

a job is countable; work is not.
He runs a small business in the old town.

'run a business' = manage it.
Our company has about fifty staff.

staff is the whole group of workers.
My colleagues are friendly and helpful.

a colleague is a person you work with.
The manager approved my holiday request.

a manager runs a team or shop.
I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon.

an interview assesses a candidate.
They pay me at the end of each month.

pay = give money for work.
My salary is paid into the bank monthly.

a salary is fixed yearly pay, often paid monthly.
The shop made a small profit last year.

a company makes a profit.
We stayed within budget on the project.

'within budget' = not spending too much.
They sell furniture to customers online.

sell to customers; a customer buys goods.
The client signed the contract this morning.

a client uses a service; a contract is legal.
We launched a new product in the spring.

'launch a product' = release it for sale.
Demand for the app is high this quarter.

demand = how much people want to buy.
They closed the deal after a long negotiation.

close a deal; negotiate to reach it.
The deadline is Friday at noon, so we must hurry.

meet the deadline = finish on time.
She wrote the annual report for the directors.

a report is a written account of facts.

Recap cheat-sheet

A few patterns to remember before the quiz.

Cheat sheet: work vs a job, earn a salary, attend a meeting, meet a deadline

Quick recap before the quiz.

Point	Example
work (uncountable), a job	some work; a good job
earn a salary, make a profit	I earn; the firm makes
attend a meeting (no ‘to’)	I attended the meeting
meet / miss a deadline	we met the deadline

Practice

Business vocabulary practice

Try each one, then press Check. No sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.

1 Match each word to its meaning.

salary Match for salary
client Match for client
deadline Match for deadline
budget Match for budget

Show answer

salary → fixed yearly pay for a job
client → a customer who uses a service
deadline → the latest time to finish
budget → a plan for spending money

Linking a word to its meaning helps you recall it faster.

2 Which is correct? I have a work in a bank. I have a job in a bank. I have a jobs in a bank. I have work it in a bank.

Show answer

I have a job in a bank. — 'a job' is countable; 'work' as an activity is uncountable (some work, not a work).

3 Choose the natural sentence. I assisted to the meeting. I assisted the meeting. I attended to the meeting. I attended the meeting.

Show answer

I attended the meeting. — You attend a meeting, with no preposition.

4 Complete: I ____ a salary of about 3,000 a month.

Hint: not win

Show answer

earn — You earn a salary; 'win' is only for prizes and games.

5 Complete: We must finish by Friday to ____ the deadline.

Hint: the opposite of miss

Show answer

meet — You meet a deadline when you finish on time; you miss it when you are late.

6 Put the words in order.

Show answer

the company made a small profit — a company makes a profit: the company made a small profit.

Quiz

Next set: English Family & Relationships Vocabulary
Previous set: English Education & School Vocabulary
Related: English Money & Shopping Vocabulary, English Jobs & Professions Vocabulary
New here? Start with Start Learning English Here

English Business & Work Vocabulary

By the end of this page you can…

How this list was chosen

Jobs and the company

People who manage

Money and finance

Buying, selling and the market

Deals, meetings and deadlines

Example sentences

Recap cheat-sheet

Practice

Business vocabulary practice

Quiz

Business vocabulary quiz

Next

All English vocabulary topics

Vocabulary