Why email words deserve their own list
Email English is compact. People write fast, skip small talk and lean on the same few words for the same few jobs. That is good news if you are learning. Once you know the words that set up a meeting or report a delay, most of your inbox becomes easy to read.
Some of these words are tricky because they have a different everyday meaning. Outstanding usually means excellent, but in an email about invoices it means not yet paid. The tables give the meaning in the example sentence, not every meaning in the dictionary. For broader workplace terms such as leverage and stakeholder, see our guide to business English vocabulary.
Scheduling
| Word | In an email | Meaning in this sentence |
|---|---|---|
| availability | "Could you send me your availability for Thursday?" | The times when you are free |
| slot | "I have a free slot at 10:30 if that works." | A short, fixed period in a schedule |
| tentative | "I've sent a tentative invite for 3 p.m." | Not confirmed yet; it may change |
| conflict | "I have a conflict at two. Could we do four instead?" | Another commitment at the same time |
| postpone | "We need to postpone the review to next week." | Move to a later date |
| recurring | "I've set up a recurring call every Monday at nine." | Repeating on a regular schedule |
| agenda | "The agenda for tomorrow is below." | The list of topics for a meeting |
| overlap | "Our working hours only overlap between nine and eleven." | Share the same period of time |
Requests
| Word | In an email | Meaning in this sentence |
|---|---|---|
| clarify | "Could you clarify which version you need?" | Explain more clearly |
| receipt | "Please confirm receipt of the signed contract." | The fact that you have received something |
| input | "I'd appreciate your input on the draft." | Your comments and ideas |
| attached | "Please find the updated quote attached." | Sent with this email as a file |
| forward | "Could you forward me the thread from last week?" | Send an email you received on to someone else |
| loop in | "I'm looping in Sara from finance." | Add someone to the conversation |
| expedite | "Is there any way to expedite the delivery?" | Make something happen faster |
| kindly | "Kindly return the form by Friday." | Please (polite, quite formal) |
Updates
| Word | In an email | Meaning in this sentence |
|---|---|---|
| FYI | "FYI, the client has moved the launch to May." | For your information; no action needed |
| recap | "Quick recap of today's call below." | A short summary of what was said |
| minutes | "Thanks to Priya for taking the minutes." | The written record of a meeting |
| circulate | "I'll circulate the slides this afternoon." | Send to everyone in a group |
| on track | "The migration is on track for June." | Progressing as planned |
| milestone | "We reached the first milestone yesterday." | An important stage in a project |
| interim | "Here is an interim report. The full one follows next week." | Temporary, until the final version |
| pending | "Two items are still pending legal review." | Waiting for (something must happen first) |
| outstanding | "There are three outstanding invoices from March." | Not yet paid or done |
Problems
| Word | In an email | Meaning in this sentence |
|---|---|---|
| setback | "We've had a setback with the supplier." | A problem that slows progress |
| bottleneck | "Approvals have become a bottleneck." | The one point that slows everything else |
| backlog | "The support backlog is down to forty tickets." | Work waiting to be done |
| glitch | "A glitch sent the newsletter twice." | A small, short technical fault |
| discrepancy | "There's a discrepancy between the invoice and the order." | A difference where two things should match |
| oversight | "Sorry, that was an oversight on my part." | A mistake made by not noticing something |
| workaround | "Until the fix is live, here's a workaround." | A temporary way to avoid a problem |
| escalate | "If there's no reply by Friday, I'll escalate it." | Pass it to someone more senior |
| root cause | "We're still looking for the root cause." | The underlying reason for a problem |
Decisions
| Word | In an email | Meaning in this sentence |
|---|---|---|
| feasible | "Is a June launch feasible?" | Possible and practical |
| trade-off | "The trade-off is a slower rollout but fewer errors." | What you give up to get something else |
| rationale | "Could you share the rationale for the new pricing?" | The reasons behind a decision |
| consensus | "We didn't reach consensus, so Maria will decide." | Agreement from most or all of the group |
| sign-off | "We need your sign-off before it goes to the client." | Formal approval |
| go-ahead | "We've got the go-ahead from legal." | Permission to start |
| on hold | "The redesign is on hold until next quarter." | Paused, not cancelled |
| defer | "Let's defer this to the planning meeting." | Put off until a later time |
| way forward | "I think the way forward is to test both options." | The best next step |
Learn them from your own inbox
A list is a starting point. The words you remember are the ones you meet in your own work, attached to a real person and a real deadline. A simple routine helps:
- Catch the word in its sentence. When a word slows you down, copy the whole sentence, not just the word. The sentence carries the meaning.
- Write the meaning that fits. One short line, in your own words, for this sentence only. Ignore the other dictionary senses for now.
- Keep where it came from. A note such as "invoice thread with the supplier" makes the word easier to recall later.
- Review a few at a time. Five minutes, spaced over days, works better than an hour once. Our guide on remembering words you meet online explains why.
- Use it once. Put the word in your next reply. Using it yourself is the step that turns a word you can read into a word you own.
Keep it small. Three or four new words a week from real emails will build a vocabulary that matches your job.
How Stemmy helps
Stemmy is a Chrome extension, free to install, that helps with the first four steps while you read. Webmail in Chrome is a web page like any other: select a word in a message, click the Stemmy button beside it or press Alt+Shift+D, and the Ghost Card shows the meaning that fits that sentence, the word's roots and its pronunciation. AI features need a free account (Google Sign-In or email). Each account gets 150 free AI uses in total, once; Ghost Card lookups and cloud voice draw on them.
Save the word and the Vocabulary Wallet keeps it with its meaning, the source sentence and the page link. Stemmy sorts them into categories, such as Finance or Business English, and you can search them in the side panel or the dashboard. Reviews then bring back only the words that are due, in short sessions you can pause and resume, rated Again, Hard, Good or Easy.
Because emails are private, it is worth knowing what leaves your browser. Your wallet, reviews and settings are stored in the browser. For a lookup you request, only the word and its sentence go to the AI provider. The sentence and link are stored only for words you choose to save. Cloud pronunciation runs only when you press play. Stemmy does not collect your general browsing history or sell personal data. If you turn on sync, your saved words, their sentences and links are kept under your account so they reach your other signed-in Chrome browsers. The privacy page has the details.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common business English words in emails?
Words for scheduling, requests, updates, problems and decisions come up again and again, such as availability, clarify, pending, discrepancy and sign-off. The tables above list 43 of them with example sentences.
Is "kindly" polite or rude in an email?
It is meant to be polite. In some regions it is a normal way to say please, but to many readers it sounds formal or a little stiff, so "please" or "could you" is the safer choice.
What does "outstanding" mean in a work email?
In emails about payments or tasks, outstanding usually means not yet paid or not yet done. "Three outstanding invoices" means three invoices still waiting for payment.
How can I learn business English words faster?
Learn them from emails you actually receive. Save the full sentence, write the meaning that fits it, review a few words over several days and use each one in a reply.
Does Stemmy work on emails?
Stemmy works on web pages in Chrome, which includes web-based email open in a Chrome tab. AI meanings need a free account, and each account gets 150 free AI uses in total.