This study investigated the agreement between previously published vocabulary lists recommended for use with children and lists derived from the speech of contemporary children in grades one, two, and three in Toronto. In the first part of the study, existing vocabulary lists were compared. In the second part, language samples were collected from four diverse groups of Toronto children and new vocabulary lists were constructed; these were then compared with previous lists and with the words used in several beginning reading series. In the third part of the study, the language samples were analyzed for linguistic complexity, in order to examine developmental differences between the four groups. Among the findings were that the oral vocabulary of children is quite different from vocabulary in material written for children and that the oral vocabulary of children is quite sensitive to the manner in which it is collected. With the methods used in this study, however, economically advantaged and disadvantaged children, as well as those from non-English backgrounds, were equally talkative and had equally rich vocabularies. A new vocabulary list based on the Toronto study is included in the report, and it is suggested that this list is suitable for use with a wide variety of children beginning to read. (AA)