Best apps to learn vocabulary: which fits your practice?
Choose Anki for a personal review deck, Quizlet for a specific study list, Memrise for vocabulary alongside native-speaker videos, or explore Letters if you enjoy spelling answers to clues. The right choice depends on what you want to practise and how you like to spend those few minutes.
About this guide: We make Letters. This comparison uses the other products' official descriptions, checked on October 26, 2026, and our working web preview. It is a guide to fit, not a hands-on test of every app or a claim that Letters is best for everyone.
Compare the options
| Option | Choose it for | Consider first |
|---|---|---|
| Anki | Your own cards and scheduled reviews. | You choose or build the material. |
| Quizlet | Creating, finding and sharing study sets. | Check that a shared set matches your words. |
| Memrise | Wordlists, videos and speaking activities. | Check the course for your language and level. |
| Letters | A clue-based word-puzzle format. | The iPhone app is a TestFlight beta. |
Anki: build a personal review habit
Anki lets you create decks with text, images and audio. You rate how well you remembered a card, and it schedules another review. That makes it a useful option when you already have words from a book, class or conversation that you want to revisit. The tradeoff is choosing or preparing suitable cards.
Desktop Anki and AnkiDroid are free; the official iOS app, AnkiMobile, is paid. Follow the links on Anki's official site to check the correct app and current local price.
Quizlet: work through a specific word list
Quizlet lets you make term-and-definition flashcards, find existing sets and share them. We would shortlist it for a class list or a set you want to study with someone else. Before using a shared set, check its meanings and examples against your course or a reliable dictionary.
Start with Quizlet's flashcard features and check the current access limits for the study mode you want before subscribing.
Memrise: connect vocabulary with listening and speaking
Memrise describes an experience built around wordlists, spaced review, native-speaker videos and speaking activities. We would shortlist it when hearing and using a word matters as much as remembering its written form. Check the available course and activities for your target language before committing.
See Memrise's official feature overview for its current approach. Features and paid access can change, so check the offer in your account.
Letters: try a word puzzle before choosing the beta
Read a clue and spell the answer from the letter tiles. The web preview below uses English words and clues, so you can try the interaction without an account or installation. You can also explore our Spanish restaurant word pack.
Try it: tap the letters in order, or use your keyboard. A correct answer takes you to another clue. This preview shows the puzzle format; it does not demonstrate a complete language course or every beta feature.
Build knowledge or a new skill
Want Letters on your iPhone? The app is distributed as a beta through Apple's TestFlight. New tester enrollment is currently paused; the web preview remains playable. When enrollment reopens, you will need TestFlight to accept the invitation and install Letters.
How to choose without collecting more apps
Pick one real task: review words from your reading, prepare for a class, understand a conversation, or enjoy a word puzzle. Try the corresponding option with a small set of words. Afterwards, close it and see which words you can recall and use in a sentence. Your own task is a better selection criterion than a universal ranking.
Can a vocabulary app replace language practice?
Use vocabulary practice alongside reading, listening and conversation. Solving a spelling clue does not show that you can understand a fast speaker or use that word in every context. Choose additional practice for the skill you actually need.