Business English vocabulary: 12 words for meetings and email
B1–B212 words
Most business English is a small set of words repeated constantly in meetings, status updates and email. Learning these twelve gives you the frame of a professional conversation; the specialist vocabulary of your own industry then slots into it.
Where you will use it: Meetings, email, project updates and negotiation.
Business English — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| deadline | The latest time by which something must be finished.“The deadline for the report is Friday.” |
| stakeholder | A person with an interest in a project's outcome.“We need approval from every stakeholder.” |
| follow up | To check on something after a first contact.“I will follow up with the client tomorrow.” |
| agenda | The list of items to discuss in a meeting.“Let's add pricing to the agenda.” |
| revenue | The money a business earns from sales.“Revenue grew twelve percent this quarter.” |
| invoice | A document requesting payment.“We sent the invoice at the end of the month.” |
| scope | The extent of what a project covers.“That request is outside the scope of the contract.” |
| on track | Progressing as planned.“The launch is still on track for June.” |
| bottleneck | The step that slows down the whole process.“Approval has become the bottleneck.” |
| get back to | To reply to someone later.“I will get back to you with the numbers.” |
| roll out | To introduce something gradually.“We roll out the new pricing next week.” |
| take on | To accept work or responsibility.“She took on the whole onboarding project.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying business english pairs well with our business email phrases in English, office English vocabulary and job interview vocabulary, or browse all free English word lists.
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