A lexical set is a group of words with the same topic, function or form.

A teacher showing a flashcard to young learners

Vocabulary is often studied in lexical sets.

Example
'Cat, dog, tortoise, goldfish, gerbil' is part of the topical lexical set pets, and 'quickly, happily, completely, dramatically, angrily' is part of the syntactic lexical set adverbs.

In the classroom
Lexical sets are a way of looking at new vocabulary that some learners find useful. Activities include asking learners to sort words into groups, word games such as the chaining game 'I went to the market and bought…', Odd One Out, and Stop, and class poster projects.

Further links:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/vocabulary-self-study-activities

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/vocabulary-activities

 

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