Explore Movie Vocabulary

Learn English with movies. Discover how much of a movie’s vocabulary you already know and review unfamiliar words before watching.

The Dawn Wall

Name: The Dawn Wall
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Documentary
Rating: 8.1

2017 · Adventure, Biography, Documentary

★ 8.1IMDb rating 1,506Vocabulary size

Unique vocabulary and phrases by level

A1 50.35%A2 10.24%B1 12.67%B2 5.36%C1 4.53%Rare 7.24%Unclassified 9.61%

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How difficult is The Dawn Wall in English?

The Dawn Wall: 60.6% A1–A2 vocabulary; 17.1% B2, C1, and rare vocabulary. Vocabulary size: 1,443.

Unique vocabulary

For A2 learners: 29.8% of unique vocabulary is above A2 or marked rare. Expect substantial preparation; start with short scenes and English subtitles.
For B1 learners: 17.1% of unique vocabulary is above B1 or marked rare. Preview recurring words and use English subtitles.
For B2 learners: 11.8% of unique vocabulary is above B2 or marked rare. Preview recurring words and use English subtitles.

9.6% Unclassified. Unclassified vocabulary has no reliable level assignment.

Vocabulary weighted by word occurrences

91.5% A1–A2 vocabulary; 3.3% B2, C1, and rare vocabulary; 2.4% Unclassified.

This counts repeated eligible words. Phrases are excluded from this calculation to avoid counting their component words twice.

Recurring words and phrases to preview

route (B1): 20 occurrences in available subtitles.
Subtitle example: Trying to climb harder and harder routes.
dawn (B2): 19 occurrences in available subtitles.
Subtitle example: No one has ever free-climbed the Dawn Wall.
climber (B2): 17 occurrences in available subtitles.
Subtitle example: Expert climbers will test their skills
cliff (B1): 9 occurrences in available subtitles.
Subtitle example: climbing up this cliff side.
traverse (rare): 9 occurrences in available subtitles.
Subtitle example: we were gonna have to traverse it sideways.

Compare with titles in similar genres

1492 Conquest of Paradise: 17.1% B2, C1, and rare vocabulary (0.0 percentage points less than The Dawn Wall).
Hidalgo: 16.9% B2, C1, and rare vocabulary (0.3 percentage points less than The Dawn Wall).
Cobain Montage of Heck: 16.8% B2, C1, and rare vocabulary (0.3 percentage points less than The Dawn Wall).

These percentages describe vocabulary, not the proportion of dialogue you will understand. CEFR labels are estimates, not official film ratings. Accent, speed, songs, context, and your own vocabulary also affect comprehension. Repeated occurrences may include repeated dialogue or lyrics.

How we estimate vocabulary difficulty · Evidence generated: 2026-10-13