Read one sentence aloud.
USCIS will show you up to 3 sentences. You need to read 1 of them aloud correctly. The vocabulary comes from a published list of ~96 words. We've organized them below by category — practice them out loud and you'll be ready.
Per USCIS scoring guidelines, you can pause, hesitate, or have an accent — what matters is that the officer can understand what you read.
The official reading list (M-715) has ~96 words.
They're grouped by category — people, civics, places, holidays, question words, verbs, and a small set of function/content words like “the,” “blue,” and “dollar bill.” If you know these ~96 words and can pronounce them clearly, you can read any test sentence USCIS shows you.
See the full list →Top hardest pronunciations for non-native speakers.
These are the words most commonly missed in pronunciation practice. The phonetic guide is approximate — when in doubt, listen to the audio in the study app.
- people[PEE-pul]
Two syllables, soft "l" at the end — not "pee-pole."
- Congress[KAHN-gress]
Stress the first syllable. The "o" sounds like "ah," not "oh."
- first[FURST]
Single syllable, hard "r" — common to drop the "r" sound.
- second[SEK-und]
Two clear syllables. The final "d" is soft but voiced.
- Senators[SEN-uh-turz]
Three syllables. Light second "uh," not "ay."
- largest[LAR-jist]
The "g" is soft (like "j"). Two syllables.
- Independence[in-duh-PEN-dunss]
Four syllables, stress on the third. Common in "Independence Day."
How to practice out loud.
Read the words aloud in front of a mirror or a partner. Record yourself if it helps — most phones have a built-in voice memo app. The mock interview in CivicsPath includes audio playback so you hear how each word is supposed to sound, then you can repeat after the recording.
Practice reading with audio + spaced repetition.
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