Learn English Vocabulary: 8 Amazing English Flashcards Apps You Should Try
Sometimes, you just have to sit down and memorize English vocabulary words with flashcards.
This can actually be fun, thanks to flashcard apps for your phone or tablet.
So put aside those flashcards written on paper cards. It’s time to go digital.
Contents
- The Benefits of Learning with Flashcards Apps
- How to Learn English Vocabulary with Flashcards
- The 8 Best English Flashcards Apps for iOS and Android
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
The Benefits of Learning with Flashcards Apps
Flashcards are pretty great, but flashcard apps are even better. Here’s why:
- They’re portable. That means you can take them anywhere, anytime. Many of the apps on our list are available offline, too. So you don’t have to worry about losing your paper flashcards anymore.
- They make learning a game. Many flashcard apps add features like achievements and mastery information (like a list of words you’ve already learned). These game-like features make it more fun to learn English words, and they encourage you to do even better next time.
- They keep track of all your learned words. Just because you learned a word doesn’t mean you can forget it! Flashcard apps remind you of your already-mastered words through reviews. You can also see how far you’ve come, so you will feel encouraged to keep learning.
- They don’t let you cheat. How many times have you peeked at the back of a flashcard to remind yourself of the word’s definition? Go ahead and admit it, we’ve all done it. Flashcard apps don’t let you do that—if you miss a word, or need to see a reminder, most apps will know and will note that you need more practice with that word. It’s like having a friend with you to make sure you don’t cheat!
Flashcard apps are a great companion for any English learner. If you’re working on learning some vocabulary, it’s a good idea to have one of these on your phone!
How to Learn English Vocabulary with Flashcards
While flashcards are a great learning tool, they definitely should not be your only method of learning. On their own, flashcards only help you memorize a word. Flashcards should be used in combination with other studying methods to be really effective.
You can also use a few tricks for making some really useful flashcards, instead of just studying a simple definition with each card. Here are some ideas for creating excellent flashcards:
- Include a whole sentence that uses the word, so you can see how it’s used.
- Use the built-in audio that many flashcard apps have, so you can hear how the word is spoken.
- Include a trick for remembering a word, like a picture, a silly rhyme or what the word “sounds like.”
- Avoid translating the word into your native language whenever you can, to help you think in English. Write all of the definitions and explanations in English.
Once you feel like you’ve learned a word thanks to a flashcard, you should go out and use it by speaking, reading, hearing and writing it. The more often you practice, and the more different senses you include—like seeing, hearing, touching and tasting—the better you’ll understand and remember your new vocabulary words.
The 8 Best English Flashcards Apps for iOS and Android
Memrise
Price: Free
Memrise is set up as an adventure in learning, and it’s a great one.
Instead of traditional flashcards that let you see just the word and its definition, this app allows people to contribute their own additions to the flashcards. Choose a course with words you want to learn, and you’ll get to see the definitions as well as many fun pictures, memorization tricks and other help for learning the words. You won’t have trouble memorizing the words this way!
Memrise uses a quiz-like setup, testing your knowledge of a word by quizzing you on it. Once you’ve fully learned a word, it’s not forgotten: Memrise has regular reminders of old words, just to make sure you haven’t forgotten them.
You can browse through your words at any time, and you can even download them to view offline. You can mark words as “challenge words,” which are words you need more help with, and for an additional fee the app will quiz you only on your challenge words—to help you learn them better and faster. The only downside to the app is the inability to create your own word lists. Still, there are plenty of lists there to choose from!
FluentU
Price: Free trial, see current rates on pricing page
FluentU is a full immersion program, but its flashcard features make it a strong addition to any learner’s toolbox. The program lets you watch and learn with authentic English videos like great moments from movies, fun music videos, amusing commercials, inspirational talks and more.
FluentU lets you add any word from any video as a flashcard to decks of your making. You can do this either by searching for specific terms (this will also let you see all the videos that use the term) or by clicking on a word as the video plays.
The flashcards are multimedia, which means that they’re supported by different types of content: images, example sentences, audio pronunciations and even clips from other videos where the word appears.
Best of all, these flashcards are contextual. This means that the program will show you the definition of a word as it’s used in the video. So, for example, if the sentence in the video is “I have a date with Joe tonight,” the definition for “date” that you’ll see is “a romantic meeting” (and not “a specific day of the month and year”).
You can study these flashcards using personalized exercises which adapt to your level of comfort with each word. The quizzes let you practice your typing skills, as well as answer questions by speaking into your phone.
Vocabulary.com
Price: $2.99
This app doesn’t look like a traditional English flashcards app, but it works in much the same way. The app puts the entire learner-friendly dictionary at your fingertips, but the best part isn’t the dictionary—the best part is the learning flashcards and quizzes.
When you come across a word you want to learn, just add it to your list and play. As you answer questions, fill in the blanks and choose the correct definition, the game records your progress and displays it to you at the end of a round. There are even achievements and a high score list. This game-like setup makes learning fun and drives you to do better every time. As you play, you can flip back any time to the definition of a word, just like a flashcard.
There are many vocabulary lists to choose from, or you can create your own by visiting the words on the dictionary and adding it to your “to learn” list. You can also organize your vocabulary words into categories and lists by visiting the Vocabulary.com website—the lists are then carried over to your app. Pretty simple! The conversational explanations of the vocabulary words and the interactive flashcard setup make this a must-have for any English learner.
Word Power Lite (U.S.)
Price: Free
Available: iOS
Want to quickly learn the most common English words? Word Power Lite puts them right in your pocket with 100 flashcards for the most frequently used English vocabulary.
Every flashcard comes with an audio pronunciation from an American English native speaker. You also get pictures and example sentences.
But this app is also packed with tons of bonus features that make it stand out. For example, you can save difficult words in a personal word bank to review later. You can try the “word of the day” feature to learn a new, random word every single day. You can even mix up the types of flashcards you get (picture, audio, etc.) to keep yourself interested.
There’s also a British English version of the Word Power Lite app.
Want to take your learning up a level? These apps were created by the team behind EnglishClass101, a comprehensive English course where you can learn way more than just words. EnglishClass101 provides hundreds of video and audio podcast lessons, with fun hosts and tons of cultural information.
Quizlet
Price: Free
Quizlet’s app has more than just flashcards. The app also has a “learn” mode with word pronunciations from native speakers, a fast-paced vocabulary matching game, the ability to share your words with others and much more.
You can choose from flashcard lists made by other users or make your own. After you’ve studied your word list and feel confident, you can test yourself with customizable quizzes. The simple and smooth design of the app means no distractions.
Magoosh English Vocabulary Flashcards
Price: Free
Available: Android | iOS
(Note: The Magoosh link below is an affiliate link, which means that we’ll receive compensation if you make a purchase on the Magoosh site. By purchasing through our affiliate link, you are supporting our ability to provide you with free language learning content—so, thank you!)
Magoosh offers not just one but many English flashcard apps to choose from, depending on the kind of vocabulary you need to learn. These are perfect if you’re studying for a test like the GRE, the GMAT or a few others. The app tracks your responses, and helps you focus on the words you need help with.
The great thing about these flashcards is how focused they are. Each app comes with about 1,000 flashcards and is developed by experts in studying for that specific test.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a flashcards app that lets you make your own deck or choose between different word lists, this might not be the right app for you.
If you love these apps from Magoosh, you should check out their full English learning programs. They have a program to help you practice English grammar, and they even have a specific program for many major exams, including the TOEFL, GRE and GMAT.
Flashcards with Cram
Price: Free
Cram.com is a studying website with millions of flashcards to choose from.
This app brings the flashcards from the main website into a more mobile form that you can take with you wherever you go. Even if you’ve never used the Cram website before, you can find many words and lists to choose from on the app itself. Like other flashcard apps, this one lets you make your own cards or edit existing cards to better fit your needs.
You can use this app to review words or help you memorize new ones. A “memorize” mode automatically hides words you’ve already learned so you can focus on new words. Turn on “cram” mode to learn the words even better through repetition.
Flashcard Deluxe
Price: $3.99
Even though this is the most expensive app on our list, this one also looks the simplest.
It does exactly what you need it to, and that’s what makes it a fantastic addition. Most people who try it love it. This app was designed by someone who wanted a good flashcards app, and the developer is always updating and improving it.
It allows you to make your own flashcards (with different visual themes), create flashcards with up to five sides (in case you want to include your native definition in addition to the English one, for example) and add photos and sounds.
Studying mode has a few different options as well, including the option to test yourself on your spelling using audio. Finally, the app allows you to upload a large number of flashcards from your own collection or connect to Quizlet to use any of their thousands of flashcard lists. It’s a complete, well-developed app that’s worth the price if you’re looking for a long-term English flashcards app.
Flashcard apps are an incredibly useful tool for English learners, and these are some of the absolute best.
With these awesome English flashcard apps, you’ll never go back to paper flashcards!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
