What HSK level does Duolingo Chinese reach? We measured it
Duolingo's Chinese course vocabulary covers about 96% of the HSK 1–4 words (HSK 2.0; 87.5% of levels 1–4 in the New HSK (2025) syllabus) and falls to about 30% of HSK 6. So on vocabulary it reaches HSK 4 and part of HSK 5, where it holds 79% of the words. We matched all 6,113 entries of Duolingo's Chinese word list against both official HSK lists to get these numbers.
That is a real strength, and Duolingo gets there without organising the course around the exam at all. What the number does not tell you is whether you would pass, because the HSK tests more than which words you have seen.
What Duolingo says about its level
Duolingo describes its courses in CEFR levels, not HSK levels. Duolingo says almost all learners of nine courses, Chinese included, can now learn through CEFR B2 (Duolingo Score 129); previously most could only complete content up to A2 (score 59). Announced April 22, 2026 (source, checked Oct 2026).
Duolingo's Chinese course is not organised by HSK level; Duolingo's own B2 announcement does not mention HSK (source, checked Oct 2026). Unofficial tracker: Chinese 4th section (60 units, A2) launched A/B Oct 6 2025 and to everyone Oct 30 2025; Chinese B1 to all (not A/B) Feb 10 2026; Chinese B2 (1030 units) to all from English Mar 30 2026 (per duolingodata.com, checked Oct 2026).
Mapping CEFR to HSK is its own argument, covered in HSK against CEFR. Measuring the vocabulary directly avoids it.
Duolingo's vocabulary against each HSK level
HSK 2.0 is the six-level list most learners and textbooks still use. "In Duolingo" counts the words of that level found on Duolingo's list; "up to here" is the share of every word from level 1 to that level.
| HSK 2.0 level | Words | In Duolingo | Share | Up to here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 150 | 149 | 99.3% | 99.3% |
| HSK 2 | 147 | 146 | 99.3% | 99.3% |
| HSK 3 | 298 | 290 | 97.3% | 98.3% |
| HSK 4 | 598 | 563 | 94.1% | 96.2% |
| HSK 5 | 1,298 | 1,023 | 78.8% | 87.2% |
| HSK 6 | 2,500 | 758 | 30.3% | 58.7% |
HSK 3.0 is the nine-level standard. These counts use the New HSK (2025) syllabus, the 2025 revision of the standard (GF0025-2021), whose lists are shorter than the 2021 lists most sites quote but still longer than HSK 2.0's at levels 1 to 5. Levels 7 to 9 share one list.
| HSK 3.0 level | Words | In Duolingo | Share | Up to here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 302 | 284 | 94% | 94% |
| HSK 2 | 198 | 186 | 93.9% | 94% |
| HSK 3 | 491 | 445 | 90.6% | 92.3% |
| HSK 4 | 991 | 820 | 82.7% | 87.5% |
| HSK 5 | 1,580 | 1,199 | 75.9% | 82.4% |
| HSK 6 | 1,778 | 870 | 48.9% | 71.2% |
| HSK 7-9 | 5,562 | 713 | 12.8% | 41.4% |
The drop is sharp and in the same place on both lists: near-complete through level 4, about three quarters at level 5, then a fall. Duolingo also teaches 1,543 words that are on neither HSK list. Most are phrases, compounds, place names and topic words rather than harder vocabulary.
What word coverage does not measure
- Grammar. Knowing 把, 被 and 了 as words is not the same as handling the sentence patterns built on them, and HSK reading questions are built on those patterns. The grammar reference lists them by level.
- Reading speed. The HSK reading section is timed. A word you recognise after a few seconds in an app costs you questions on a paper where every passage is on the clock.
- Listening at exam pace. From HSK 3 each recording plays once, with no slow button, and by HSK 5 it is close to natural speed. The HSK exam format sets out each section.
- Writing characters by hand. The HSK 3.0 standard's handwriting list starts at level 2, with 100 characters, and reaches 400 by level 4 (the level 2 list). On the paper exam you write by hand; on the computer exam you type pinyin. Duolingo's 2020 post on improving its Chinese course covers showing pinyin in hints, phonetic speech grading and opt-in keyboard typing; we found no Duolingo source describing handwriting practice (source, checked Oct 2026).
How we measured it
- Source. The course-wide vocabulary list for Chinese from English at duome.eu, an unofficial site that publishes each Duolingo course's word list. Retrieved 15 October 2026: 6,118 entries.
- Matching. Exact match on the simplified characters, against the HSK 2.0 list (levels 1 to 6) and the New HSK (2025) syllabus list. No pinyin, no word splitting. 5 entries mixing Latin letters with characters were dropped, leaving 6,113.
- A lower bound. Duolingo lists some words only inside a longer phrase: 时候 appears only in 什么时候. Of the 247 HSK 3.0 level 1–4 words not matched, 87 appear inside a longer Duolingo entry. The real coverage is somewhat higher than the tables.
- Flagged entries. duome marks 158 entries as not assigned to a lesson. They include everyday words, so they are counted. Leaving them out moves HSK 3.0 levels 1–4 from 87.5% to 85.3%.
- The list is undated. It holds 713 words from HSK 3.0 levels 7 to 9, which suggests the advanced content is included, but nothing on the list proves it was refreshed after the B2 release.
- Who measured it. GraphChinese, which sells an HSK course. The list is public and the method is above, so anyone can repeat it.
If you finished Duolingo Chinese
Your vocabulary is probably not your gap up to HSK 4, so do not start again from a word list. Start from a test. The free HSK placement test tells you which level you are actually at in about ten minutes, and a level test shows how you do on exam-style questions.
For the exam, add exam practice: past-paper sections under time, a check of the grammar patterns for your level, and, for the paper exam, writing the characters on your level's handwriting list. For HSK 5 and 6 the words are a gap too: about 21% of the HSK 5 words and 70% of the HSK 6 words are not on Duolingo's list.
The full side-by-side is in GraphChinese vs Duolingo, and every comparison is on one page.
Frequently asked questions
What HSK level is Duolingo Chinese?
On vocabulary, HSK 4 and part of HSK 5. Duolingo's Chinese word list contains 96% of the HSK 1–4 words, 79% of the HSK 5 words and 30% of the HSK 6 words (HSK 2.0 lists). Vocabulary is one part of the exam: grammar, timed reading, listening and writing are not measured by this number.
Is Duolingo Chinese enough to pass HSK 4?
It covers nearly all of the HSK 4 vocabulary, so words are unlikely to be what stops you. Whether you pass depends on the rest of the paper: reading and listening at exam speed, the grammar the questions are built on, and the writing section. A practice test answers it faster than any word count. The free HSK placement test takes about ten minutes.
Does Duolingo cover the new HSK 3.0 word lists?
Mostly at the lower levels. Against the New HSK (2025) syllabus, the 2025 revision of the HSK 3.0 standard, it contains 87.5% of the words for levels 1 to 4 combined, 76% of level 5, 49% of level 6 and 13% of levels 7 to 9. The HSK 3.0 lists put more words at each of levels 1 to 5 than HSK 2.0 did, which is why those figures are lower.
Is the Duolingo Chinese course organised by HSK level?
No. Duolingo organises its courses by CEFR level and says its Chinese course now runs to B2. Its B2 announcement does not mention HSK, so the overlap on this page is measured rather than published by Duolingo.
How was the overlap measured?
Every entry on the public course-wide vocabulary list at duome.eu (6,118 entries, retrieved 15 October 2026) was matched exactly, as simplified characters, against the official HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0 word lists. Words Duolingo teaches only inside a longer phrase are not counted, so the figures are a lower bound.
Keep the words, find the gaps. GraphChinese places you on a map of every HSK topic and teaches the grammar, reading and listening a word list leaves out. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
Start at your true level