diff --git a/spacy/language.py b/spacy/language.py
index 14b423be6..a8cad1259 100644
--- a/spacy/language.py
+++ b/spacy/language.py
@@ -1909,7 +1909,7 @@ class Language:
             if not hasattr(proc, "to_disk"):
                 continue
             serializers[name] = lambda p, proc=proc: proc.to_disk(p, exclude=["vocab"])
-        serializers["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p)
+        serializers["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         util.to_disk(path, serializers, exclude)
 
     def from_disk(
@@ -1940,7 +1940,7 @@ class Language:
 
         def deserialize_vocab(path: Path) -> None:
             if path.exists():
-                self.vocab.from_disk(path)
+                self.vocab.from_disk(path, exclude=exclude)
 
         path = util.ensure_path(path)
         deserializers = {}
@@ -1978,7 +1978,7 @@ class Language:
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/language#to_bytes
         """
         serializers = {}
-        serializers["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes()
+        serializers["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude)
         serializers["tokenizer"] = lambda: self.tokenizer.to_bytes(exclude=["vocab"])
         serializers["meta.json"] = lambda: srsly.json_dumps(self.meta)
         serializers["config.cfg"] = lambda: self.config.to_bytes()
@@ -2014,7 +2014,7 @@ class Language:
             b, interpolate=False
         )
         deserializers["meta.json"] = deserialize_meta
-        deserializers["vocab"] = self.vocab.from_bytes
+        deserializers["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude)
         deserializers["tokenizer"] = lambda b: self.tokenizer.from_bytes(
             b, exclude=["vocab"]
         )
diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/attributeruler.py b/spacy/pipeline/attributeruler.py
index a6efd5906..f95a5a48c 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/attributeruler.py
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/attributeruler.py
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ class AttributeRuler(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/attributeruler#to_bytes
         """
         serialize = {}
-        serialize["vocab"] = self.vocab.to_bytes
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude)
         serialize["patterns"] = lambda: srsly.msgpack_dumps(self.patterns)
         return util.to_bytes(serialize, exclude)
 
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ class AttributeRuler(Pipe):
             self.add_patterns(srsly.msgpack_loads(b))
 
         deserialize = {
-            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b),
+            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude),
             "patterns": load_patterns,
         }
         util.from_bytes(bytes_data, deserialize, exclude)
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ class AttributeRuler(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/attributeruler#to_disk
         """
         serialize = {
-            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p),
+            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude),
             "patterns": lambda p: srsly.write_msgpack(p, self.patterns),
         }
         util.to_disk(path, serialize, exclude)
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ class AttributeRuler(Pipe):
             self.add_patterns(srsly.read_msgpack(p))
 
         deserialize = {
-            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p),
+            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p, exclude=exclude),
             "patterns": load_patterns,
         }
         util.from_disk(path, deserialize, exclude)
diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/entity_linker.py b/spacy/pipeline/entity_linker.py
index ba7e71f15..7b52025bc 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/entity_linker.py
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/entity_linker.py
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         serialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             serialize["cfg"] = lambda: srsly.json_dumps(self.cfg)
-        serialize["vocab"] = self.vocab.to_bytes
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude)
         serialize["kb"] = self.kb.to_bytes
         serialize["model"] = self.model.to_bytes
         return util.to_bytes(serialize, exclude)
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         deserialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             deserialize["cfg"] = lambda b: self.cfg.update(srsly.json_loads(b))
-        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b)
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["kb"] = lambda b: self.kb.from_bytes(b)
         deserialize["model"] = load_model
         util.from_bytes(bytes_data, deserialize, exclude)
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/entitylinker#to_disk
         """
         serialize = {}
-        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p)
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         serialize["cfg"] = lambda p: srsly.write_json(p, self.cfg)
         serialize["kb"] = lambda p: self.kb.to_disk(p)
         serialize["model"] = lambda p: self.model.to_disk(p)
@@ -480,6 +480,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
 
         deserialize = {}
         deserialize["cfg"] = lambda p: self.cfg.update(deserialize_config(p))
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["kb"] = lambda p: self.kb.from_disk(p)
         deserialize["model"] = load_model
         util.from_disk(path, deserialize, exclude)
diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/lemmatizer.py b/spacy/pipeline/lemmatizer.py
index 87504fade..2f436c57a 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/lemmatizer.py
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/lemmatizer.py
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ class Lemmatizer(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/lemmatizer#to_disk
         """
         serialize = {}
-        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p)
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         serialize["lookups"] = lambda p: self.lookups.to_disk(p)
         util.to_disk(path, serialize, exclude)
 
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class Lemmatizer(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/lemmatizer#from_disk
         """
         deserialize = {}
-        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p)
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["lookups"] = lambda p: self.lookups.from_disk(p)
         util.from_disk(path, deserialize, exclude)
         self._validate_tables()
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ class Lemmatizer(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/lemmatizer#to_bytes
         """
         serialize = {}
-        serialize["vocab"] = self.vocab.to_bytes
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude)
         serialize["lookups"] = self.lookups.to_bytes
         return util.to_bytes(serialize, exclude)
 
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ class Lemmatizer(Pipe):
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/lemmatizer#from_bytes
         """
         deserialize = {}
-        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b)
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["lookups"] = lambda b: self.lookups.from_bytes(b)
         util.from_bytes(bytes_data, deserialize, exclude)
         self._validate_tables()
diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/trainable_pipe.pyx b/spacy/pipeline/trainable_pipe.pyx
index ce1e133a2..76b0733cf 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/trainable_pipe.pyx
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/trainable_pipe.pyx
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ cdef class TrainablePipe(Pipe):
         serialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             serialize["cfg"] = lambda: srsly.json_dumps(self.cfg)
-        serialize["vocab"] = self.vocab.to_bytes
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude)
         serialize["model"] = self.model.to_bytes
         return util.to_bytes(serialize, exclude)
 
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ cdef class TrainablePipe(Pipe):
         deserialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             deserialize["cfg"] = lambda b: self.cfg.update(srsly.json_loads(b))
-        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b)
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["model"] = load_model
         util.from_bytes(bytes_data, deserialize, exclude)
         return self
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ cdef class TrainablePipe(Pipe):
         serialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             serialize["cfg"] = lambda p: srsly.write_json(p, self.cfg)
-        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p)
+        serialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         serialize["model"] = lambda p: self.model.to_disk(p)
         util.to_disk(path, serialize, exclude)
 
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ cdef class TrainablePipe(Pipe):
         deserialize = {}
         if hasattr(self, "cfg") and self.cfg is not None:
             deserialize["cfg"] = lambda p: self.cfg.update(deserialize_config(p))
-        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p)
+        deserialize["vocab"] = lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p, exclude=exclude)
         deserialize["model"] = load_model
         util.from_disk(path, deserialize, exclude)
         return self
diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/transition_parser.pyx b/spacy/pipeline/transition_parser.pyx
index a495b1bc7..5e11f5972 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/transition_parser.pyx
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/transition_parser.pyx
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ cdef class Parser(TrainablePipe):
     def to_disk(self, path, exclude=tuple()):
         serializers = {
             "model": lambda p: (self.model.to_disk(p) if self.model is not True else True),
-            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p),
+            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.to_disk(p, exclude=exclude),
             "moves": lambda p: self.moves.to_disk(p, exclude=["strings"]),
             "cfg": lambda p: srsly.write_json(p, self.cfg)
         }
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ cdef class Parser(TrainablePipe):
 
     def from_disk(self, path, exclude=tuple()):
         deserializers = {
-            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p),
+            "vocab": lambda p: self.vocab.from_disk(p, exclude=exclude),
             "moves": lambda p: self.moves.from_disk(p, exclude=["strings"]),
             "cfg": lambda p: self.cfg.update(srsly.read_json(p)),
             "model": lambda p: None,
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ cdef class Parser(TrainablePipe):
     def to_bytes(self, exclude=tuple()):
         serializers = {
             "model": lambda: (self.model.to_bytes()),
-            "vocab": lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(),
+            "vocab": lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude),
             "moves": lambda: self.moves.to_bytes(exclude=["strings"]),
             "cfg": lambda: srsly.json_dumps(self.cfg, indent=2, sort_keys=True)
         }
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ cdef class Parser(TrainablePipe):
 
     def from_bytes(self, bytes_data, exclude=tuple()):
         deserializers = {
-            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b),
+            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude),
             "moves": lambda b: self.moves.from_bytes(b, exclude=["strings"]),
             "cfg": lambda b: self.cfg.update(srsly.json_loads(b)),
             "model": lambda b: None,
diff --git a/spacy/tests/serialize/test_serialize_pipeline.py b/spacy/tests/serialize/test_serialize_pipeline.py
index c8162a690..05871a524 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/serialize/test_serialize_pipeline.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/serialize/test_serialize_pipeline.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import pytest
-from spacy import registry, Vocab
+from spacy import registry, Vocab, load
 from spacy.pipeline import Tagger, DependencyParser, EntityRecognizer
 from spacy.pipeline import TextCategorizer, SentenceRecognizer, TrainablePipe
 from spacy.pipeline.dep_parser import DEFAULT_PARSER_MODEL
@@ -268,3 +268,21 @@ def test_serialize_custom_trainable_pipe():
         pipe.to_disk(d)
         new_pipe = CustomPipe(Vocab(), Linear()).from_disk(d)
     assert new_pipe.to_bytes() == pipe_bytes
+
+
+def test_load_without_strings():
+    nlp = spacy.blank("en")
+    orig_strings_length = len(nlp.vocab.strings)
+    word = "unlikely_word_" * 20
+    nlp.vocab.strings.add(word)
+    assert len(nlp.vocab.strings) == orig_strings_length + 1
+    with make_tempdir() as d:
+        nlp.to_disk(d)
+        # reload with strings
+        reloaded_nlp = load(d)
+        assert len(nlp.vocab.strings) == len(reloaded_nlp.vocab.strings)
+        assert word in reloaded_nlp.vocab.strings
+        # reload without strings
+        reloaded_nlp = load(d, exclude=["strings"])
+        assert orig_strings_length == len(reloaded_nlp.vocab.strings)
+        assert word not in reloaded_nlp.vocab.strings
diff --git a/spacy/tokenizer.pyx b/spacy/tokenizer.pyx
index 61a7582b1..5a89e5a17 100644
--- a/spacy/tokenizer.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokenizer.pyx
@@ -765,7 +765,7 @@ cdef class Tokenizer:
         DOCS: https://spacy.io/api/tokenizer#to_bytes
         """
         serializers = {
-            "vocab": lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(),
+            "vocab": lambda: self.vocab.to_bytes(exclude=exclude),
             "prefix_search": lambda: _get_regex_pattern(self.prefix_search),
             "suffix_search": lambda: _get_regex_pattern(self.suffix_search),
             "infix_finditer": lambda: _get_regex_pattern(self.infix_finditer),
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@ cdef class Tokenizer:
         """
         data = {}
         deserializers = {
-            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b),
+            "vocab": lambda b: self.vocab.from_bytes(b, exclude=exclude),
             "prefix_search": lambda b: data.setdefault("prefix_search", b),
             "suffix_search": lambda b: data.setdefault("suffix_search", b),
             "infix_finditer": lambda b: data.setdefault("infix_finditer", b),