AntWordProfiler
AntWordProfiler is Laurence Anthony's free desktop vocabulary profiler, distributed at https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antwordprofiler/. It analyses any text or batch of texts against one or more frequency lists, reports coverage at each level, flags off-list items, and produces colour-coded display output. Within the AntSuite of corpus tools (AntConc, AntCorGen, AntFileConverter), it occupies the slot that RANGE held in the desktop era and is the standard alternative to web-based Lextutor for researchers who need local processing or custom lists.
What it does
The tool accepts plain-text input and a stack of user-loaded frequency lists. It tokenises, matches each token against the lists in order, and returns three views: per-list coverage statistics (tokens, types, families, percentage), a profiled version of the text with each token colour-coded by its source list, and a level breakdown that stacks list contributions cumulatively. Output exports as CSV or annotated text for downstream analysis.
The native list format is line-based, with one headword per line followed by family members, matching the convention used by the Nation BNC/COCA lists. Users can load any list set that follows the format: BNC/COCA 1K–25K, GSL+AWL, the New General Service List, custom in-house lists for specialised domains, or research-specific list combinations. List swapping is a few clicks rather than a recompile.
Cross-platform and current
The tool runs on Windows (installer and portable builds), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), and Linux (Flatpak). [unverified] Version 2.x is the current line as of 2026; the 1.x series remains available for legacy use. Anthony develops and maintains the suite from Waseda University in Tokyo and ships incremental updates regularly.
Where it sits against RANGE and Lextutor
Against RANGE, AntWordProfiler offers a modern GUI, native execution on current operating systems, larger input handling, and support for any list format the user supplies, against RANGE's ageing Windows-only build and fixed list slots. Against Lextutor, it offers local processing (no copyrighted text sent to a server), batch profiling for whole corpora rather than single pasted texts, and granular export, against Lextutor's larger built-in list catalogue and integrated concordancer. Researchers who profile dozens or hundreds of files routinely move from Lextutor to AntWordProfiler at that point.
References
- Anthony, L. (2024). AntWordProfiler (Version 2.x) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antwordprofiler/
- Anthony, L. (2022). What can corpus software do? In A. O'Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 103–125). Routledge.
- Heatley, A., Nation, I. S. P., & Coxhead, A. (2002). RANGE and Frequency programs. Victoria University of Wellington. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/paul-nations-resources/vocabulary-analysis-programs
- Nation, I. S. P., & Webb, S. (2011). Researching and Analyzing Vocabulary. Heinle Cengage Learning.