Our team of instructional designers have culled this list down to the 20+ apps that we feel offer the best in vocabulary learning. We’ve used each of these apps and were impressed with their level of quality, how well they teach vocabulary, and the positive educational impact they could have on every learner.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Learning Vocabulary
Would you like a bigger vocabulary? If you’re like most people, the answer is yes. Then again, if you’re like most people, you don’t have the free time to enroll in a course or work your way through the dictionary.
But you can use your smartphone as a powerful tool to learn new words, increase your vocabulary and strengthen your command of the English language without devoting blocks of time to the task. These apps make learning new words painless or even fun, and all you need is a minute or two at a time while drinking your morning coffee or waiting in line. (Unless noted otherwise, these apps are available for both iOS and Android devices.)
This combined learning tool and game allows you to either learn and retain words you choose or words the app chooses for you. Vocabulary.com claims to use sophisticated algorithms to customize questions and exercises just for you.
PowerVocab is a definition matching game similar to this quiz currently popular on Facebook, or to Free Rice. Players match words against multiple-choice definitions with the added elements of competing against other players and playing against the clock. (Android only.)
This quiz app is similar to PowerVocab but is specifically aimed at improving scores on the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) used for entry to graduate schools. Magoosh is an online prep company that helps graduate school applicants do better on the GRE and other exams.
From the people who brought you PowerVocab, A Word A Day Widget puts a new vocabulary word on your device’s home screen every day. Android only, but for iOS, try Word of the Day Widget.
This fun little vocabulary game gives you seven definitions and tiles with combinations of two or three letters on them that you have to arrange into the seven words. You learn as you narrow down your choices from words you do know to words you don’t. I’ll admit to having played many rounds of 7 Little Words myself.
This clever word association game offers you lists of words and challenges you to find the connections between them. They could be synonyms or antonyms, related words (such as “scurvy” and “liver”) or elements in common phrases. Word to Word is simple to play but looks addictive to me.
This highly successful game from Zynga (the company behind Farmville) has been around for years and still appeals. (I’m a recent convert myself.) Because the only way to win is to find uncommon words, Words with Friends forces you to learn new words although not ones you’re likely to find on a GRE exam. Plus, it’s a nice way to stay in touch with distant friends. Available for Windows Phone as well as iOS and Android.
Doing crosswords is a great way to increase your vocabulary and Penny Dell Crosswords offers a free daily puzzle. But there are many other crossword app options out there, including the venerable and challenging New York Times crosswords, if you’re willing to pay for the subscription. Doing a crossword puzzle on a mobile device can be a lot more appealing than doing one with a pencil or pen–no worries about illegible letters or having to erase a wrong answer.
Apps for vocabulary
- Vocabulary Upgrade II
(iPhone, iPad)
Looking for the best vocabulary app? Vocabulary Upgrade is one of the most comprehensive vocabulary apps available that aims at helping young people, with a good understanding of the English language, the ability to continue to improve your vocabulary.
The app uses a wide variety of learning experiences to help users maximise the content and opportunities for learning through games, tests and stories. The app introduces, explains and helps users become fluent in 80 frequently tested words and 70 frequently tested synonyms. The app also gives a range of support to aid in this learning, through audio pronunciations as well as a dictionary giving further information on the words themselves.
Devices: iOS
Vocabulary.com
- Vocabulary.com
(Android)
Vocabulary.com mobile app is the quickest, easiest way to learn vocabulary. This is the vocabulary app that grows with you and also helps you memorize words. Users move through a series of quick questions to determine their level, and Vocabulary.com can cater a list to fit their abilities. You can also choose from over 50,000 pre-made lists. With the incentive to earn points and badges, you can be motivated and start building your vocabulary by competing with world-wide users.
This combined learning tool and game helps you learn over 12,000 words more effectively. This vocabulary app includes clever usage tips and thousands of real-world example sentences that’ll show you how words live in the wild and will make you more confident about using them yourself.
This word learning app reinforces word skills until mastery is achieved. With the integration of topic lists, personalized lists, and user selected words, this app really is an all-inclusive vocabulary study companion. Vocabulary.com can also be accessed from the web.
PowerVocab is not only a fun word game – it also has a built-in dictionary that you can use everyday making it one of the best vocabulary apps on the market. PowerVocab is a free word game for Android which is not available anymore in the Google Play Store.
Devices: Android
IXL
Vocab Victor English Word Game
- Vocab Victor English Word Game
(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Vocab Victor can support English Language Learners who are building their language proficiency. The app can help English speakers improve their vocabulary too, but is particularly useful for students learning the language. With Vocab Victor, students can explore intermediate-level vocabulary to increase competence across four language skills.
This is a game based app that follows the story of Victor who, living in a castle, has had all of his words taken away by a dragon. It is up to the user to move through the game completing the word exercises in a bit to retrieve them and to help Victor recover all his words.
This word learning app is designed to supplement classroom instruction. Assign this fun app in lieu of vocabulary lists, flashcards, and worksheets to give students focused instruction that will hold their attention. Victor teaches intermediate-level vocabulary, increasing competence across all four language skills, and helps students build native-like word association networks making it one of the best vocabulary apps on the market!
Vocabulary knowledge builds up over time, and studies show that students know more about words than they think they do.
Devices: Android, iPad and iPhone
Download Vocab Victor
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Word of the day
- Word of the day
(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Word of the Day is a simple vocabulary app that every day select a word for you to know and memorize and deemed by many as the best vocabulary app on the market. Read the definition and expand your vocabulary in an easy way. This word learning app also allows you to save your favorite words.
Word of the Day is a vocabulary app that will help you to expand your vocabulary in an easy way. Get a new word every day, remember your favorite words, know what other people like and share words with your friends. This knowledge app is also designed to provide vocabulary trivia and learn words daily. It features quizzes for a more fun vocabulary learning.
Using a word a day calendar, or subscribe to a website to receive Word of the Day email every day, or install widget on the home screen of your devices and you will get a new word every day with its definition or develop your own list of words to learn.
It is a well-known fact that ‘A word a day’ method is highly effective when mastering a language. Here are some of our favorites:
Merriam-Webster Word of the Day (Web, Email)
Dictionary.com Word of the Day (Web, Email, iOS, Android)
Wordsmith.org: A.Word.A.Day (Email, Web)
Devices: Android, iPad and iPhone
Download Word of the Day
Magoosh Vocabulary Builder
- Magoosh Vocabulary Builder
(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Like all other vocabulary apps, Vocabulary Builder aims to expand your grasp of words. The app provides a word, its definition, and examples of its use within real sentences. Vocabulary Builder spans difficulty levels so you can focus on words that are the right difficulty for you, no matter what your verbal skills are which is one of the reasons we think it is one of the best vocabulary apps.
Magoosh, known to some as the best vocabulary app, offers not just one but many English flashcard apps to choose from, depending on the kind of vocabulary you need to learn. Magoosh Vocabulary builder (available for Android and iOS) is just one of their vocabulary apps aimed at students preparing for their GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and SAT tests. Magoosh’s vocabulary app is ideal for students on the go that may have just a few minutes at a time to learn new words.
Conclusion
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