This list was written by BandLadder's authors, Fizza Butool Zaidi and Ali Zaidi. The meanings and example sentences are our own, not taken from model answers or dictionaries.

12 words

Writing Task 2 vocabulary

Formal and neutral items that suit an essay. They work in Speaking too.

climate change
Long-term change in global or regional climate patterns.
Climate change is making some extreme weather events more frequent.
global warming
The rise in the average temperature of the Earth.
Global warming is driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels.
extreme weather events
Unusually severe weather such as floods, storms and heatwaves.
Extreme weather events damage crops, homes and transport networks.
greenhouse gas emissions
Gases such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere that trap heat.
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions requires changes in energy, transport and farming.
rising sea levels
The gradual increase in the height of the sea.
Rising sea levels threaten low-lying coastal cities.
a carbon footprint
The amount of carbon dioxide a person or activity produces.
Flying frequently greatly increases a person's carbon footprint.
drought
A long period with little or no rain.
Prolonged drought has forced some farmers to abandon their land.
adapt to
To change in order to deal with new conditions.
Cities must adapt to hotter summers by planting trees and improving shade.
mitigate
To make something harmful less severe.
Restoring forests can help mitigate the effects of rising temperatures.
a temperate climate
A climate without extremes of heat or cold.
Britain has a temperate climate with mild winters and cool summers.
seasonal variation
Changes that follow the seasons.
Countries near the equator see little seasonal variation in temperature.
meteorologists
Scientists who study and forecast the weather.
Meteorologists now use satellite data to forecast storms days in advance.

Use weather and climate vocabulary in a Task 2 essay

Write a Task 2 answer using words that fit your argument. Get your first guest Writing evaluation before signup, with feedback on vocabulary, grammar, coherence and task response. BandLadder AI feedback is an estimate, not an official IELTS score.

Get free essay feedback →

10 phrases

Speaking vocabulary

Natural spoken English for Parts 1 to 3. Items noted as informal or as an idiom belong in Speaking only, never in Task 2.

boiling
Extremely hot.
It's absolutely boiling in my city in July.
Informal; use 'extremely hot' in Writing.
freezing
Extremely cold.
Our flat is freezing in winter because the heating is old.
pouring with rain
Raining very heavily.
It was pouring with rain on my graduation day.
a heatwave
A period of unusually hot weather.
We had a heatwave last summer and nobody could sleep.
drizzle
Light, fine rain.
In the mornings there's often just a light drizzle.
chilly
Unpleasantly cool.
The evenings can get quite chilly, so I always take a jacket.
sunny spells
Short periods of sunshine between clouds.
The forecast says cloudy with sunny spells.
Typical British weather-forecast language.
get soaked
To become completely wet.
If you forget your umbrella here, you'll get soaked.
under the weather
Slightly ill.
I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I stayed at home.
Idiom about health, not weather. Speaking only.
humid
Hot and damp.
Summers are hot and humid, which makes it hard to concentrate.

Speaking Part 3

Use it in an answer

How do you think climate change will affect people's daily lives?

I think we're already seeing it. In my region summers have become boiling, with a heatwave almost every year, and when it does rain it's often pouring with rain for days, so there's flooding. Over time I expect people will have to adapt to it in practical ways: buildings designed to stay cool, different crops, maybe working hours shifted to avoid the midday heat. People in coastal areas will probably feel it most because of rising sea levels.

Written by our authors to show the vocabulary in use; not an official IELTS sample.

Lexical Resource

How examiners judge this vocabulary

Vocabulary is scored as Lexical Resource, one quarter of your Writing and Speaking marks. At the higher bands the public IELTS band descriptors for Speaking mention “less common and idiomatic vocabulary”, together with awareness of style and collocation. In practice that means the right item in the right register: ‘climate change’ in an essay, ‘boiling’ when you speak. Accuracy comes first; a misused advanced word costs more than a plain one used well.

Practise in context

Weather and climate questions to practise

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between weather and climate?+

Weather is the conditions on a particular day ('the weather was terrible yesterday'). Climate is the typical pattern over many years ('my country has a dry climate'). Use 'weather' in most Part 1 answers.

How do I answer 'What's the weather like in your country?'+

Avoid a one-word answer. Mention the seasons and one contrast: 'It depends on the season: summers are hot and humid, but in the north winters can be freezing, so it's a big country to generalise about.'

Can I use the Speaking phrases in Writing Task 2?+

Not the informal ones. Phrasal verbs and idioms such as 'boiling' sound natural in Speaking but are too casual for an essay, and Task 2 should have no contractions. Everything in the Writing list works in both papers.

Will learning these words raise my IELTS band?+

Not on their own, and no word list guarantees a band. Lexical Resource rewards vocabulary used precisely and naturally, so five items you can use correctly are worth more than twenty forced into an answer. Learn each one with its example, then write or say a sentence of your own.

© 2026 BandLadder. Written and checked by the BandLadder team. You may quote or cite this page with credit to BandLadder and a link to it; republishing it in full needs our written permission. Content use policy

IELTS vocabulary for weather and climate