Vocabulary

Knowing who a familiar name refers to, using one word to request something, and choosing a more precise word for a difference are all parts of vocabulary. Vocabulary includes both understanding and use. Words are not isolated flashcards; they gain meaning within the people, objects, actions, and conversations that interest a child.

0–9 months: Familiar sounds begin to connect with referents. Looking toward a named person or object and trying sounds or gestures build experience for later word use.
9–18 months: Everyday words enter real needs. Naming and requesting may use the same word for different purposes, while understanding and active use remain separate observations.
18 months–3 years: Words describe more relationships. Position, action, and daily experience give meaning a richer context.
3–5 years: Words connect with one another. Categories, shared features, and distinctions among similar words make expression not only larger but more accurate and flexible.

Below are selected skills to notice at specific ages. Age is a developmental reference point; understand each skill alongside what you see in everyday life.

4 months

Looks at familiar people when they are named such as mama.

What to notice: When your baby hears a familiar form of address, do they look toward the corresponding person? Notice the link between name and person rather than any turn toward a sound.

How to support it: Names connect with familiar people through repeated interaction. Use them naturally during meetings, care, and play, leave time for your baby to search, and respond to their gaze.

Keep in mind: Avoid repeated calling as a test, and remember that tone and gesture may also help.

6 months

Looks at familiar animals or objects when they are named such as puppy or ball.

What to notice: After hearing the name of a familiar object or animal, does your baby look toward it? Notice the name-to-object correspondence without requiring spoken use or recognition of a picture version.

How to support it: Object names gain meaning through repeated seeing, touching, and hearing. Name what your baby is already attending to, keep word and real object together, and respond when they search or look.

Keep in mind: Use the same word across contexts rather than relying only on fixed flashcard tests.

9 months

May use signs or verbalizations for familiar people or objects.

What to notice: Does your baby use a relatively consistent gesture or sound to refer to a familiar person or object? Look for clear reference rather than treating every accidental sound as a word.

How to support it: Meaning can be carried by gestures and approximate sounds before conventional speech. Interpret the referent, answer with a clear word, and check your interpretation through the baby's response.

Keep in mind: Do not require exact imitation before responding or assign fixed meanings without repeated contextual evidence.

Imitates new words or signs.

What to notice: Notice imitation of a new sound or gesture that relates to communication and meaning. Not every motor imitation is vocabulary; ask what it represents in the interaction.

How to support it: Imitation opens a route into new forms of expression, while meaning develops through later use. Model clearly around a person or object that interests your child, respond to an approximation, and repeat the conventional form naturally.

Keep in mind: Do not equate copying one action with knowing a new word.

15 months

Uses some words or signs for naming, such as saying "milk".

What to notice: Does your child use one word or gesture to point out or name something? Unlike the next Skill about requesting, they may talk about it without wanting it.

How to support it: Naming lets children bring something they notice into communication. Name it clearly during shared attention, receive an incomplete form, and respond with the conventional word.

Keep in mind: Repeated use across contexts matters more than required repetition or one use that occurred only during a request.

Uses some words or signs for making simple one-word requests, such as saying or signing "milk" when asking for a drink.

What to notice: Does your child actively use one word to communicate what they want and make the request understandable? Notice vocabulary serving a real need without requiring a phrase or perfect clarity.

How to support it: Frequent needs give words immediate purpose, and a response confirms that expression works. Translate your child's gesture or sound into a brief word, pause, then receive the attempt and meet a reasonable need.

Keep in mind: Model the accurate form without making correct pronunciation a condition of food, care, or repeated recitation.

2 years (24 months)

Understands most positional words, such as on, under, up, or down.

What to notice: When hearing a positional word, can your child find or act based on its meaning? Understanding matters even without active spoken use, and pointing cues should not be the only reason for success.

How to support it: Position words express relationships and need a concrete reference. Use them naturally during real actions, make the reference object clear, let your child respond, and check together.

Keep in mind: Demonstrate when confused rather than relying on memorization or assuming mastery in every viewpoint after one context.

4 years (48 months)

With support, shows an emerging understanding of how words are related to broader categories, such as dogs are animals.

What to notice: Does your child understand that some words belong to a larger category? Notice the semantic relationship, not only whether objects of one color can be placed together.

How to support it: Categories connect vocabulary into networks and help new words enter existing understanding. After naming, describe a shared feature or use, model one category-member relationship, and invite another example.

Keep in mind: Do not assume saying a category name means understanding every boundary.

4½ years (54 months)

With multiple exposures, uses new domain-specific vocabulary during activities, such as using the word "cocoon" when learning about the life-cycle of caterpillars, or "cylinder" when learning about 3-D shapes.

What to notice: After repeated experience with a topic, does your child use a new word in an appropriate context? Notice a clear referent rather than repetition of an unfamiliar technical term.

How to support it: More specific vocabulary needs repeated, connected experience. Use the same precise word during observation, reading, and action, explain what it refers to, and respond to your child's own use.

Keep in mind: Avoid introducing many specialist labels at once or ranking knowledge by how early a word appears.

Discusses new words in relation to known words and word categories, such as "It fell to the bottom when it sank," or "When you hop it's like jumping on one leg," or "The bear and fox are both wild animals."

What to notice: Can your child use a known word or category to explain a new word and show how they are related? Notice a meaning connection, not simply two words in one sentence.

How to support it: Connecting a new word with prior experience reduces reliance on memorization. Explain it with familiar language, compare similarities and differences, and invite the child to state the relationship.

Keep in mind: A near-synonym is not automatically interchangeable in every context.

Identifies shared characteristics among people, places, things, or actions, such as identifying that both cats and dogs are furry and have four legs.

What to notice: Can your child identify a feature shared by different things and use it to explain a relationship among words or categories? Notice common meaning rather than visual resemblance alone.

How to support it: A shared feature helps explain why names can belong together. Present concrete examples with descriptions, model comparison, and ask what else the child notices.

Keep in mind: One shared feature is not always a full definition, so attend to the reasoning behind a category choice.

5 years (60 months)

Categorizes words or objects, such as sorting a hard hat, machines, and tools into the construction group, or giving many examples of farm animals.

What to notice: Can your child organize words or objects by meaning or give several examples of a category? Notice relationships among words rather than recitation of a fixed list.

How to support it: Classification organizes vocabulary and helps children search for further members. Explain a shared use or feature within a meaningful topic, invite additions, and discuss uncertain boundaries.

Keep in mind: Accept different groupings when the child can explain them instead of judging only against a preset list.

Shows an ability to distinguish similar words, such as "I don't like it, I love it!" or "It's more than tall, it's gigantic," or "It's so cold, it's frosty."

What to notice: Does your child notice that similar words can differ in degree or use and choose a more fitting expression? Notice precision, not merely selection of a more dramatic word.

How to support it: Comparing near-meaning words lets children distinguish experiences and feelings more finely. Demonstrate the difference in a real situation, ask why the child chose a word, and add a more precise option when helpful.

Keep in mind: Keep meaning connected with what they actually intend rather than drilling synonym lists.

Sources and notes

Better Parenting’s child-development framework draws in part on the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five. For this pathway, you can also review Head Start’s Vocabulary Effective Practice Guide. Official framework sources inform domain, sub-domain, goal, and developmental-progression terminology where applicable. Better Parenting independently organizes the parent-facing What to notice and How to support it explanations and connects them with its own activity library.

The ELOF itself is not a curriculum, assessment, or checklist. Better Parenting’s Skill Assessment and Growth Path are Better Parenting product features, not Head Start assessment tools.

Skill wording and age references on this page come from the Better Parenting child-development framework. A child may show different behaviors in different situations, so understand these examples alongside everyday experience rather than treating one activity as a judgment of an entire sub-domain.

This page helps you understand what you can observe and how you can offer support. To explore your child's current position in this sub-domain, open the corresponding Growth Path in the Better Parenting app and use the Skill Assessment.

Better Parenting Content Team | Updated September 2, 2026