Vocabulary Memory
A small companion to the way your brain actually learns words. Seven memory hooks per word, spaced reviews, test yourself before you check.
Today
Words your brain is ready to forget. Catch them just in time and the trace deepens.
Add a word
Seven small fields, sixty seconds. Each one is a hook your memory can grab on its way to forgetting.
Library
Every word you've recorded. Click any entry to see its full memory hooks.
How it works
A short tour of the system, and why each piece earns its place.
A single translation is the weakest possible memory trace. Each hook (meaning, chunks, family, personal sentence, image, pronunciation) is a different route into the same word. Networked memories are recovered more reliably than isolated ones.
Each word is scheduled at expanding intervals: 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month. At each review, your brain works to produce the word before checking. That effort is what consolidates the trace. When you load a large pack, the words are introduced a few each day rather than all at once, so the schedule stays gentle.
If you remember it, the interval grows. If you don't, you return to day one. No shame in that. Forgetting is part of the process.
Words are remembered in company. Make a decision and heavy rain are stored as units, not assembled word by word. Personal sentences add emotional and autobiographical context, which is some of the stickiest memory we have.
The single most powerful study habit in the research literature. Trying and failing to recall is more valuable than reading the answer ten times. The Review screen uses the personal sentence as your prompt, with the word blanked out. Try first, then reveal.
iPhone: open this page in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Android: open it in Chrome, tap the menu, then Add to Home screen. Desktop: bookmark the page, or use your browser's install option if it appears.
If you move to another phone, computer or browser, export your library first. Import the backup on the new device and your words will be added there.
Evidence base. Spaced practice (Ebbinghaus, Cepeda et al.), retrieval practice (Roediger and Karpicke), the lexical approach and collocations (Lewis, Nation), dual coding (Paivio), and depth of processing (Craik and Lockhart). For B1 adult English learners.