This analysis evaluates the receptive tests of targeted lexical knowledge in the written medium, which are typically used in empirical research into lexical acquisition from reading foreign/second language texts. Apart from the types of second language cues or prompts, and the language of the responses, the main issues revolve around: (a) the recognition of partial knowledge, (b) the categorization of different subject responses, in closed and open formats, and (c) their quantification. Variations in response categorizations are questioned in particular on partial lexical knowledge, the capacity for multiple choice formats to cope with partial and correct knowledge, and the conversions of nominal scales to equal interval numerical scales.