🎁 Top 25 Native-Sounding Replacements for Common Fillers in IELTS Speaking
🚫 Expressions That Kill Your Score & ✅ What to Say Instead
These common fillers sound casual, vague or repetitive — they hurt your fluency and coherence score. Instead, use natural-sounding and meaningful expressions like a Band 9 candidate!
1. ❌ and stuff
✅ Say: “...and a few other things”
🔹 Example: “I packed some clothes and a few other things for the trip.”
🎯 Tone: Informal but precise
2. ❌ like you know
✅ Say: “As you might be aware”
🔹 Example: “As you might be aware, climate change has become a serious global issue.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
3. ❌ I mean
✅ Say: “What I’m trying to say is…”
🔹 Example: “What I’m trying to say is, we need stricter traffic regulations.”
🎯 Tone: Neutral
4. ❌ or something
✅ Say: “...or maybe something similar”
🔹 Example: “I’d love to work in advertising or maybe something similar in the creative field.”
🎯 Tone: Informal
5. ❌ you see
✅ Say: “Let me explain”
🔹 Example: “Let me explain why I prefer staying home over travelling.”
🎯 Tone: Neutral
6. ❌ basically
✅ Say: “Essentially” / “To summarise”
🔹 Example: “Essentially, I believe online education has its own merits.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
7. ❌ honestly
✅ Say: “To be frank” / “To be fair”
🔹 Example: “To be frank, I found the film quite disappointing.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
8. ❌ sort of / kind of
✅ Say: “Somewhat” / “To some extent”
🔹 Example: “To some extent, I agree with the idea of banning cars in city centres.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
9. ❌ to be fair
✅ Say: “Admittedly”
🔹 Example: “Admittedly, the task was harder than I expected.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
10. ❌ well…
✅ Say: “Let me think for a second” / “That’s an interesting question”
🔹 Example: “That’s an interesting question. I’d say reading helps me relax the most.”
🎯 Tone: Natural
11. ❌ actually
✅ Say: “In fact” / “As a matter of fact”
🔹 Example: “As a matter of fact, I’ve already completed the assignment.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
12. ❌ literally
✅ Say: “Exactly” / “Precisely”
🔹 Example: “I was precisely at the same spot when the accident happened.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
13. ❌ at the end of the day
✅ Say: “Ultimately” / “Eventually”
🔹 Example: “Ultimately, we all want to feel secure and valued.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
14. ❌ okay so…
✅ Say: “Alright, let’s begin” / “Let’s start with…”
🔹 Example: “Let’s start with my favourite childhood memory.”
🎯 Tone: Natural
15. ❌ you know what I mean
✅ Say: “Do you follow?” / “Does that make sense?”
🔹 Example: “It makes me anxious, you know? — I mean, does that make sense?”
🎯 Tone: Conversational
16. ❌ it’s like…
✅ Say: “It feels as though…” / “It resembles…”
🔹 Example: “It feels as though I’m in another world when I listen to music.”
🎯 Tone: Expressive
17. ❌ whatever
✅ Say: “Regardless” / “Either way”
🔹 Example: “Either way, I’ll try my best to support them.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
18. ❌ I guess
✅ Say: “I suppose” / “I assume”
🔹 Example: “I suppose that’s why people enjoy solitude sometimes.”
🎯 Tone: Natural
19. ❌ to be honest
✅ Say: “Frankly speaking” / “Candidly”
🔹 Example: “Frankly speaking, I wasn’t very confident during the test.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
20. ❌ things like that
✅ Say: “Such things” / “That sort of thing”
🔹 Example: “I enjoy painting, sketching, and that sort of thing.”
🎯 Tone: Natural
21. ❌ yeah…
✅ Say: “Absolutely” / “Indeed” / “Certainly”
🔹 Example: “Absolutely, I think teamwork is crucial in most careers.”
🎯 Tone: Positive and confident
22. ❌ so yeah…
✅ Say: “So that’s my point” / “So, in short…”
🔹 Example: “So, in short, I believe health should be our top priority.”
🎯 Tone: Summary
23. ❌ you know
✅ Say: *“As you may know” / no filler at all!
🔹 Example: “As you may know, many countries celebrate New Year differently.”
🎯 Tone: Formal
24. ❌ just saying
✅ Say: “It’s just my opinion” / “That’s merely my perspective”
🔹 Example: “That’s merely my perspective — others might disagree.”
🎯 Tone: Respectful
25. ❌ I feel like
✅ Say: “I believe” / “It seems to me that…”
🔹 Example: “It seems to me that schools should focus more on life skills.”
🎯 Tone: Band 9 confident
🔥 BONUS: 5 Advanced Connectors for Part 3 or Formal Responses
1. What’s more – “What’s more, it encourages social bonding.”
2. In light of this – “In light of this, stricter policies are needed.”
3. By the same token – “By the same token, teachers should be rewarded fairly.”
4. All things considered – “All things considered, a balanced lifestyle is essential.”
5. In retrospect – “In retrospect, I should have spent more time preparing.”
📝 Practice Task:
Pick any 3 fillers YOU often use and replace them using this guide.
Record yourself saying the Band 9 version in a full Speaking Part 2 or Part 3 answer.
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