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21 Interactive Websites to Learn English at Any Level
People learn by doing: You’ll never learn to play the violin by just watching or reading about it!
That’s why the best English learning websites are interactive.
Keep reading to discover 21 websites with activities that will let you practice your English skills and prepare you to use English in real life.
Contents
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Babbel
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$
Babbel lets you practice new vocabulary and grammar through quick quizzes and mini-games.
Babbel focuses on repetition, helping you to remember new words and concepts by reminding you about them often, with audio, videos, images and exercises. You can even improve your speaking skills with the speech recognition tool.
You can choose which course you’re learning at any time. Complete lessons to unlock more learning opportunities!
Babbel really turns learning English into a game. You can earn achievements, compete against friends and set a weekly goal for yourself to complete. Plus, there are actual games that you can play if you want a fun break from the regular lessons.
Do you want a more formal education? You can now join virtual group classes with Babbel Live. Choose an instructor and a topic, and start learning with other students like you!
You can read our full review of Babbel here.
FluentU
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$ (after free trial)
Using real English content is a powerful learning method, but finding good English content and then actually understanding what you’re watching isn’t always easy. There are a lot of low-quality videos (and even worse subtitles) out there, and it’s hard to learn from a video where you only understand one word out of 10.
FluentU was designed to teach through real English content without any of the difficulties that come with it.
The program uses authentic video content that’s arranged by level, format and topic to teach English naturally and make it easier to find a video that’s just right for you. It has many types of videos made by and for native English speakers, from TED talks and instructional videos, to funny commercials and exciting movie clips.
FluentU offers plenty of support to make these videos accessible at any level. Attached to each video are accurate English subtitles that you can interact with to see the definition of any word in a video.
From here, you can also see the grammar information, example sentences and other videos where the word appears. More importantly, all this information is contextual, so you’ll see the meaning of each word as it’s used in that sentence, and the text and video examples will all show the word as it’s used in the same context.
Save new words to personalized flashcards and use quizzes after each video to check what you’ve learned. You can also review flashcards with exercises that let you choose, type or speak your answers.
BBC Learning English
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free
The BBC always has high-quality material, so it’s not surprising that their BBC Learning English website is very good quality.
The Bwebsite is designed for intermediate and advanced English learners. It teaches English with BBC-style videos and radio broadcasts. These focus on topics like stories in the news, the latest English words and phrases and even some videos that explain English pronunciation in incredible detail.
Although there’s no interactive speaking feature, each of their podcasts and videos include post-listening activities for you to check your understanding. Overall, this is a great resource for practicing listening skills.
British Council
App versions: British Council offers several mobile apps for different learning topics
Price: Free (additional programs have a fee)
The British Council’s LearnEnglish website features a huge number of interactive lessons, videos, games and podcasts to learn just about any skill. This means that no matter what level you’re at or what topic interests you, you’ll always find something on British Council.
The website is divided into six main sections: Skills (for reading, listening, writing and speaking practice), Grammar, Vocabulary, Business English, General English (for topics that don’t fit anywhere else, like British culture, short stories and even Shakespeare) and IELTS practice.
Each of these sections is then split into many lessons and activities, designed for different levels of learners. For example, if you choose to work on your writing, beginners can practice filling out forms and writing simple texts like emails, while advanced learners will find lessons on how to write essays, reports, articles and college assignments.
Best of all, these resources are absolutely free!
If you really enjoy working with the British Council, you can sign up for their paid tools, like live group classes, one-on-one tutoring, self-study courses and IELTS prep courses. You can try all these programs for free or very cheap to see if they’re right for you.
Duolingo
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free
Duolingo helps you learn new vocabulary and grammar through five-minute games and quizzes on their easy-to-use app. Each lesson comes with very cute illustrations and animations to make it even more fun to use!
Duolingo separates each lesson by category (food vocabulary, family vocabulary, the verb “to be,” etc.). It also includes helpful tips and notes in case you need more explanation.
Duolingo gets you to start creating sentences from the very beginning, teaching words in context, not just on their own. Every word comes with an audio recording so you can hear how to pronounce every new word that you learn.
Duolingo also lets you set goals and shows your progress as you use the program. You also have to complete lessons or take a placement test to “unlock” new lessons.
And the best part is that you can do all this in just five minutes per day!
We reviewed Duolingo, if you want to know more about the ups and downs or this program.
English Central
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$
English Central focuses on learning through videos. First, you just watch the video. Then, you check the words in the video with the transcript, choosing the lines and saving the words that you want to practice.
Finally, you play each line one by one, and practice speaking them. The speech recognition program will let you know how well your recording matches up to the video’s. However, please note that at the time of this writing, the recording doesn’t always work.
You can also practice your listening skills and spelling by typing in the missing words in the “Learn the Words” part of each video.
There are many types of videos, from very slow and simple options for complete beginners, to more advanced and authentic clips.
If you need some extra help, you can book an online lesson with a professional tutor, who will test your listening, speaking and pronunciation skills and create a personalized lesson plan for you with recommended videos you should learn with.
Phrasemix
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$ (offers some free lessons)
I love Phrasemix because it simulates how people actually learn languages. Instead of learning new words by themselves, Phrasemix teaches you whole phrases.
Not only that, but the site focuses on phrases that real people use in real conversations. So, next time you go to talk with your new friends in English, you’ll be able to speak like them, not like your textbook!
PhraseMix is a very audio-focused program. With their audio player, the Phrase Mixer, you can listen to each sentence one at a time, rewind or skip to a new sentence or slow them down. You can study as quickly or slowly as you’d like.
The sentences in PhraseMix are very natural, but spoken clearly enough for learners to understand. Plus, each sentence is broken down into its parts so you can understand every phrase and vocabulary word that’s used.
Cambridge English
Mobile versions: Cambridge English has several apps for different learning topics
Price: Free
Cambridge English is a popular resource for students who want to study for the Cambridge English proficiency exam or learn English, in general. The website has over 175 options of online activities for reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar and vocabulary.
These activities take about five to 10 minutes to complete. Though there isn’t much explanation for each activity, the targeted practice means you can focus on a specific skill for a short amount of time if you’re having a busy day!
All activities on the Cambridge English website have a theme and a level, so you can find one that’s perfect for your learning goals. Themes include travel, sports, food and hobbies. Levels are divided into basic (beginner), independent (intermediate) and proficient (advanced).
While the activities are English exam-focused, they’re also educational and will give you a fantastic basis in English, especially as a beginner. In addition to the activities, Cambridge English offers writing prompts, an online English dictionary and an audio course called Virtually Anywhere.
Busuu
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$ (free plan available)
Busuu is a website and learning app that’ll help you learn English in an ordered way. In other words, Busuu follows a “Study Plan” to guide your English learning. Most of the activities use flashcards and mini-lessons on English phrases, vocabulary and grammar.
The power of Busuu is repetition. You read and hear a word or a phrase in English, and then you do a variety of practice activities to help you learn the word or phrase fully. There are also mini-grammar lessons along the way as well as a quiz at the end of each lesson to test your understanding.
The app also helps with pronunciation and conversation through a chat option, which allows you to speak and interact with native English speakers. These speakers can also correct the things that you write in Busuu to help you become a better English writer.
If you plan to visit or live in an English-speaking country, then Busuu is a great learning option for you. The website is also full of cultural information as well as tips to help you understand more native ways to speak and interact in English.
My favorite feature of this program is that it lets you create a study schedule and set learning goals. This gives you complete control over your learning goals and the time you spend on the app.
You can read what we thought of the program in our Busuu review.
WordReference (forum)
Mobile versions: Android and iOS (dictionary only)
Price: Free
The WordReference website is a fantastic resource to find English definitions and translations into other languages. In this section, though, we’re specifically talking about the website’s forum.
On the WordReference forum, you can interact with English learners from across the globe. You can ask questions about native phrases, idioms, expressions, pronunciation or anything else you can think of related to English.
You can even browse the forum for previously-asked questions. This is a great way to find tips for learning English and to learn about the English language.
Other than the “English Only” section, there are also sections for other languages. This is great if you speak, for example, a first language like Spanish or French. You can ask a question about English in your first language and get a useful response in that language. In addition, the English learners on the forum are very helpful and friendly.
You’ll also discover many great tips, study routines and advice from English learners.
Lingua
Price: Free (premium content for a fee)
Lingua is a website with a lot of fun activities in English (and other languages). The activities are based on reading, listening and dictation. There’s also a business English section if you’d like to practice this particular style.
The activities let you read and listen to a short text before answering a quiz or completing an exercise. The quizzes are short, at only five questions long, so it’s an awesome way to get quick reading or listening practice. You can even listen to the audio recording of a text in more than one accent!
The activities are designed to be done without another learner or support. Because of this, Lingua is a great resource to use at home. It’s also super helpful if you’re learning English by yourself.
Be sure to check the levels of the activities and pick the level that’s right for you. These levels range from A1 (Beginner) to C1 (advanced).
You can also sign up for a premium account for a fee. This unlocks a lot more reading and listening comprehension activities. However, the amount of free material available to learners is very generous.
This is an excellent all-around great resource to practice listening and reading skills.
Daily Grammar
Price: Free
The website design might look slightly old-fashioned, but I promise this is an awesome resource for studying English grammar.
The Daily Grammar site features almost all the parts of English grammar broken down into easy activities. This includes grammar activities on beginner topics such as verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. The website also has more advanced topics like indirect objects and prepositional phrases. You’ll have many options: There are 440 activities to choose from and 88 quizzes!
The lessons are presented logically. That means that the beginner topics start at lesson number 1 and then increase in level until lesson 300, the most advanced lesson. Lessons 300 to 440 focus on punctuation.
The website is straightforward to use and it’s entirely up to you how fast or slow you make your way through the activities. Each lesson starts with a short explanation of the topic, followed by questions.
There’s also an interactive glossary that links out to the activities based on the topic. This means you can focus on a specific grammar point and learn it properly.
The blog is also updated regularly and is a great place to practice a little bit of daily grammar!
Using English
Price: Free
Using English is an English student and ESL teacher website with a large compilation (many different resources from a range of topics) of English learning materials.
This website has pre-made word lists focusing on native English language, such as idiom dictionaries and phrasal verb lists. These expressions can make a big difference in your use of English and fluency.
Plus, there are many free quizzes and reading comprehension activities to help test your level and improve your English skills. In fact, there are over 520 quizzes that you can take for free, and these quizzes cover grammar topics such as verb tenses, phonetics and articles.
Many of the reading activities are followed by tests to make sure that you’re learning and recalling as much as possible from the text. These reading activities cover topics like entertainment, business English and politics. They’re broken into three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
While this may be an excellent website for several English skills, it’s especially handy for developing reading skills and boosting vocabulary.
Magoosh
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: $$ (free trial available)
Magoosh is a test preparation website that helps students develop skills to pass their upcoming exams. These include common exams in the English-speaking world such as the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).
We’ve included this website as it’s also a top place to learn and study English! Because the site is focused on academics, Magoosh is a great choice to learn more about English grammar and study specifically for English proficiency exams.
Magoosh introduces you to English grammar in its TOEFL course. It has over 140 online video-based lessons and over 420 video explanations. The lessons are similar to a private tutor teaching you the materials. Therefore, the videos explain the topics well and follow a nice slow speed.
To practice what you’ve learned, the course has over 420 practice questions.
You also have the option of joining a small English-speaking group with instruction from a highly skilled tutor. These sessions run for one hour are a great way to get feedback on your English speaking without paying top dollar (a high price) for a private tutor.
Knoword
Price: Free (premium content for a fee)
Knoword is a very addictive online vocabulary-building game. While the website is not specifically for ESL learners, it’s still a great place to practice your vocabulary and word association.
In the “Level Up Your Vocabulary” feature, you choose a difficulty setting (easy, medium or hard). Since the game is for native English speakers, the easy level is more like an intermediate one.
To play the game, you’re given a word definition and the word’s first letter. You must then type the missing word. At the end of the game, you can view your answers and summarize the vocabulary. For an extra challenge, you can set a time limit.
There are also learning “packs.” These are decks of vocabulary based on a particular topic. There are over 1,000 packs, and they cover subject areas like science, history and arts. Some packs give you the choice between typing in the word or choosing it from a list of multiple choices.
The packs are designed by users of the app, and they can help you learn different elements of the English language. For example, one pack helps you learn irregular verbs in English.
If you’re trying to learn specific vocabulary, you can search through the packs and you might find one that’ll help you with that. For a fun (and useful) learning session, I recommend this super fun idioms pack.
TED
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free (paid membership available)
TED is one of the world’s largest online educational video websites. TED creates videos known as “TED Talks,” which are presentations by experts in many fields. You can find TED Talks about science, philosophy, self-help, education and much more.
TED talks and TED videos are popular and effective ways to practice your English listening skills. They’re often led by native English speakers, and they have a lot of vocabulary that’s useful for many situations. The videos cover a huge range of topics such as history, finance, science and nature (plus many others).
To study with TED talks, listen to the video more than once, take notes and research any unknown vocabulary. It can also be helpful to watch videos in subtitles first in your native language and then in English.
As an additional tip, try to find videos on topics you’re interested in, as this will keep you motivated and interested in the clip as you watch it more than once.
Coursera
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free (option to pay for a certificate at the end of the course)
Coursera is a directory that has free online courses known as Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The “Open” part of the name means that anyone with an internet connection can take the course.
Coursera has many MOOCs from all around the world. You can find courses in intermediate English, grammar-specific classes, business or science English and more.
I recommend Coursera because all the courses were created by recognized institutions like universities and respected companies. You can search for a course by level, length or even the institution which provides the resource.
Most courses are self-directed. This means that you go through the course material at your own pace whenever you want. Many courses include videos or readings, and some even have practice exercises to complete.
Be sure to check the reviews before signing up for a course. Also, remember to follow the activities and classes as closely as possible. There are great forums related to the course where you can post questions and speak with other learners.
ABC
Price: Free
ABC stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It’s the Australian public news service and it has many different media pages, including an English learning website!
On the ABC learn English page, you’ll discover a number of English learning activities like articles, video courses and listening exercises. Many of the activities are based on current issues in Australia and the world.
For example, learners can read articles that interview people about life in Australia or what they thought of the year 2020, but there are also articles for learning English idioms, explanations of grammar points and learning tips.
Currently, there are six video courses in English, including everyday English, academic English and how to talk about the weather. ABC also has a number of podcasts for English language learners.
A fantastic resource from the website is BTN, Behind the News. In this section, you can watch short news clips and focus on vocabulary related to the story. There are also follow-up questions to test your understanding of the clip.
This is an especially useful resource if you want to develop an Australian accent or have a particular interest in Australia, in general.
News in Levels
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free
News in Levels is a fantastic resource that introduces English learners to news stories at three different levels of difficulty. Simply choose a news story of interest, and then choose a level: level 1 for easy, level 2 for intermediate or level 3 for advanced.
I recommend trying the first level if you’re not too sure where to start, and then moving up from there.
On this website, you can read and watch an original news story. As you read, some words are bolded to show that they may be difficult or important to the text.
From there, you decide how much more to learn. News in Levels lets you take a level test, answer questions related to the text and even speak live with someone on Skype about the content of the page.
The best part about this resource is that it updates as the news develops. New articles are added every day, so there’s always new content to choose from.
Collins Dictionary
Mobile versions: iOS and Android
Price: Free
When learning English online, it’s important to have a solid and reliable English language dictionary.
Enter, Collins! One of the most well-known English dictionaries in the world. Along with the online dictionary, thesaurus and translation sections, you’ll also find the latest news from Collins and other great articles all about the English language.
Simply click on the “Definitions” for dictionary entries for any English word. Once you look up the word, you’ll see important information about it such as its meaning, origins, pronunciation and grammatical information.
The thesaurus is great for finding synonyms (words that mean the same thing), and the translation section allows you to find out the meaning of the English word in another language such as Russian or Japanese.
Collins also has an English grammar section with articles on grammar topics like nouns, verbs and prepositions. You can also learn about “Scrabble,” a popular English word game. There are lots of articles about how to play the game and how popular it is in the English-speaking world.
Make sure to keep this website handy when you’re studying to help make the learning as easy as possible.
How to Get More out of the Best Websites to Learn English
- Know your level. If the lesson is too easy, you’ll be bored. If it’s too hard, you won’t learn. So before you start to learn English online, know your level and be honest!
- Know how you learn best. Find English learning websites that’ll help you learn through your favorite learning style.
- Use a computer or phone with a microphone. Many of these websites and apps have activities where you can practice speaking. You’ll need a microphone for that.
- Find topics that interest you. When you use topics that you like, you’ll want to learn and listen or read!
- Schedule a time each day to study. You need to practice often and regularly to get better. Schedule a set time each day to study English, like while you have breakfast or take the train to work.
- Don’t forget to go offline, as well! Even if you learn a lot from these English websites, don’t forget to practice with real people, too!
Which One Is the Best Website to Learn English?
Every day, the internet has more and more great resources for language learning.
All the websites I list in this article are excellent options to learn English! It all depends on what you want from a learning resource. Do you want to build your vocabulary or improve your grammar? To practice your listening or your reading?
You’re sure to find the best website to learn English to match your learning goals and style!
So go learn English online with these great sites today!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
