The best app to learn English vocabulary depends on what you need it for. Flashcards help you recognise a word. Gamified courses keep you studying every day. Video and book apps let you meet words in real context. But if you want to use words in your writing, at work and in an exam, not just recognise them, choose LetsWords. It’s an online trainer that runs in your browser: you learn to use words without mistakes and see what to fix and why, with explanations in your native language (Russian, Korean or Vietnamese). You can try the approach right now: the free LetsWords exercises are open to everyone, with no sign-up needed. They cover more than 1,000 expressions in eight sections, each with examples, a common mistake, an explanation and an answer check. The trainer adds your own words, feedback on word usage, recall, spaced repetition and IELTS Writing.
How to choose an app to learn English vocabulary
Many roundups list twenty apps in a row. It’s simpler to decide first what should change in your English, then ask each app three questions and check what’s free.
- How do you learn the words? Recognising impact on a flashcard and writing had an impact on yourself are different skills. You build the second one with tasks where you have to recall the word and use it. Hulstijn and Laufer compared three tasks with new words: learners remembered the words best when they had to write a composition with them, and worst when they simply came across them while reading (Hulstijn & Laufer, 2001). In LetsWords, using words is the core exercise. It’s handy when there are ready-made sets by level and goal, and when you can add your own words from work, TV shows and your coursebook.
- What help do you get when you make a mistake? A flashcard will show you the right answer, but it won’t explain why yours didn’t work. If you got the collocation, the preposition or the form of the word wrong, you need feedback: what to fix and why. It helps when that explanation comes in a language you fully understand.
- How do you lock in what you’ve learned? A word you learn today should come back a few days later. And when it does, you should recall it yourself, not reread it: retrieving vocabulary from memory again and again helps you keep it for the long term (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008).
- What’s free, and what are you paying for? Free versions are usually limited by time, the number of words per day or the modes you can use. Check what a subscription unlocks: more of the same exercises, or help that gets you using words without mistakes.
LetsWords: learn to use words correctly
LetsWords is our trainer, so we’ll start with it. It runs in your browser, with nothing to install. The interface is available in English, and explanations and feedback on your mistakes come in your native language: Russian, Korean or Vietnamese. Here’s how LetsWords vocabulary practice answers the same three questions:
- How you learn a word. Each card gives you a definition and examples of the word in use. You can choose English explanations and hide the translation, revealing it only when you need it. Then you build a sentence with the word you’re learning. Not sure what to say? The generator suggests a sentence in your native language at the difficulty you choose, and you put it into English.
- What happens when you make a mistake. LetsWords points out usage and grammar mistakes, suggests a correction and a better way to phrase it, and explains them in your native language. Choose brief or detailed feedback. It takes your goal into account: an exam or general English.
- How the word sticks. In review, you see the meaning in your native language, recall the English word yourself and use it again. Spaced repetition brings words back in later sessions.
You can start with a ready-made collection: words by level, exam and academic vocabulary, collocations, phrasal verbs, idioms. Add your own words and collections at any time, and edit cards whenever you like. For IELTS, the same service includes Writing practice: hundreds of Task 1 and Task 2 prompts, criterion practice and full answers with feedback on all four criteria.
The trainer is subscription-based. The free part of LetsWords is the Exercises section: you work through a common mistake, check your answer and write a sentence with the expression. When you’re ready to learn your own words and understand what to fix and why, move on to the trainer.
LetsWords feedback example: have an impact on
You’re studying impact and writing about working from home:
Working from home did a big impact to my productivity.
What the feedback shows. The meaning is right: impact is a noticeable effect. The mistakes are in the words around it. English says have an impact, not do. And after impact, you need on, not to. There’s a tip on phrasing too: big impact doesn’t say whether the effect was good or bad. If your productivity went up, say so:
Working from home had a positive impact on my productivity.
Use it in a new situation. When the word comes back in review, you recall it from its meaning and write a new sentence, for example for an essay about tourism:
Mass tourism can have a negative impact on small coastal towns.
On a flashcard, you’d have recognised impact correctly and never noticed that you were getting the verb and the preposition wrong. The feedback exposed the mistake and gave you a pattern for future answers. Lock it in with the free have an impact on exercise.
Flashcards: Anki and Quizlet
Anki works best for people who are happy to build their own decks and fine-tune their review schedule. You can add audio, images and video to cards and import shared decks. Reviews follow a spaced repetition algorithm (SM-2 by default, FSRS if you switch it on), and you set your own limits for new cards and reviews. Free: the desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux, AnkiDroid for Android and the AnkiWeb browser version. The iPhone and iPad app is a one-off purchase.
Quizlet works best for school and university students: ready-made and custom sets, plus classes run by teachers. Learn mode builds an adaptive study path from multiple-choice, true/false and written questions. Free: flashcards and practice questions, plus Learn for a limited number of rounds per set. Learn and Test are unlimited if a teacher has added the set to their class. Otherwise, Learn beyond the limit and Test require a subscription. Written answers are checked against the card in the set, and after a mistake you can retype the correct answer.
We cover the difference between flashcards and active practice in detail in our comparison of Anki, Quizlet and LetsWords.
Vocabulary from frequency lists: ReWord
ReWord is built for growing a core vocabulary fast on your phone. On Android, you’ll find it on Google Play under a different name. It comes with 50 categories and the NGSL, Oxford 3000 and Oxford 5000 frequency lists. You swipe through cards, reviews follow the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, and there’s native-speaker audio and an offline mode. When you add a card of your own, the translation, transcription, picture and examples fill in automatically. The free version limits how many words you can learn a day, and full access requires a subscription.
Gamified apps: Duolingo, Lingualeo, Drops
Duolingo is a general language course, not a vocabulary trainer: lessons in reading, listening, speaking and writing, plus streaks and leaderboards. It’s best for building a daily habit and starting from zero. Free: the whole course, with ads and limited energy. The Super and Max subscriptions remove the limits and the ads, while reviewing your mistakes in the Practice tab is free.
Lingualeo is a gamified vocabulary app with a Russian-language interface. It offers vocabulary drills, a personal dictionary and word sets, original texts and videos, pronunciation and listening practice, an AI chatbot for conversation, plus battles and challenges. It’s best for beginners who want a game-like experience and an interface in Russian. It works in the browser and on iOS and Android. The unlimited task plan comes with a Premium subscription.
Drops offers short visual mini-games with words and audio. It’s best for your first words in five-minute bursts. Free: 5 minutes of play every 10 hours, with topics unlocking one at a time. Premium, as a subscription or a one-off purchase, removes the time limit and opens every topic.
Learning words through video, books and TV: Memrise, EWA
Memrise is best for conversational vocabulary: videos of native speakers, flashcards and an AI conversation partner. Reviews are spaced from 4 hours to 6 months, and a mistake resets the interval. Free: basic word sets and limited lessons, videos and conversations, with ads. All lessons, unlimited conversation practice and your own word list are PRO only.
EWA teaches words through books and TV series: over 10,000 books with audio and tap-to-translate, video courses featuring characters from films and TV shows, flashcards with spaced repetition and personal word lists. It’s best for learners who want to pick up vocabulary from stories they love. Courses and features are unlocked with a subscription.
Side-by-side comparison
| App | How you learn words | Help when you make a mistake | How you lock them in | What’s free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LetsWords | the word in context, then you use it yourself; ready-made sets and your own words | corrections to usage and grammar, explained in your native language | recall from the meaning, a new sentence, spaced repetition | free exercises, no sign-up; trainer by subscription |
| Anki | your own and shared decks with audio, images and video | the answer on the back of the card | SM-2 or FSRS spaced repetition | everything except the iPhone and iPad app |
| Quizlet | ready-made and custom sets, classes | a check against the card; you can retype the correct answer | adaptive Learn mode | flashcards; Learn for a limited number of rounds |
| ReWord | flashcards from frequency lists on your phone | translation, transcription and native-speaker audio on the card | reviews based on the forgetting curve | a limited number of words per day |
| Duolingo | a general course with gamified lessons | the correct answer; answer explanations in some courses | streaks; mistake and word review in the Practice tab | the course, with ads and limited energy |
| Lingualeo | gamified drills, texts and videos, a Russian-language interface | — | a personal dictionary, battles and challenges | unlimited task plan in Premium only |
| Drops | short visual mini-games | a picture and audio for each word | Dojo, Quiz mode, your word collection | 5 minutes every 10 hours |
| Memrise | videos of native speakers and flashcards | a mistake resets the interval, so the word comes back sooner | intervals from 4 hours to 6 months | basic sets, limited lessons |
| EWA | books and TV series | tap-to-translate and audio | flashcards with spaced repetition | courses and features by subscription |
Which app to choose for your goal
If you already learn words with flashcards, LetsWords adds what they’re missing: you learn to use those words without mistakes. And if you only have time for one app, choose LetsWords: you learn each word in context, see what to fix and why, and lock it in with recall and spaced repetition.
Starting from zero. Start with one word and one sentence: from your first weeks, write short sentences about yourself with new words. In LetsWords, pick the collection for your level. The generator suggests what to say, and feedback in your native language explains each mistake. The free LetsWords exercises show you why learners mix up say and tell or make and do, and you’ll find more pairs like these in the Confusing words section.
For work. Add words from your emails, calls and documents to LetsWords, and write sentences about your own tasks. That way, you practise the vocabulary you’ll need tomorrow.
For IELTS. Start with exam words and academic vocabulary, and write sentences with them: the feedback takes your exam goal into account. Once the words start coming together into phrases, move on to Writing in the same service: criterion practice, then full answers with feedback on all four criteria. The free Linking words exercises will help you connect the ideas in your essays.
To plan your first week and work out how many words to take on at a time, read our guide to learning English words.
If you want to use words at work, in conversation and in your exam, not just recognise them, choose LetsWords vocabulary practice. You’ll start by answering a few questions about your goal and level and taking a vocabulary test, and LetsWords will pick the right practice for you.