Vocabulary Games

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Barbara J. Feldman

Whether your goal is an "A" on Friday's vocab test, or to improve your SAT scores, vocabulary games, word scrambles, and interactive flashcards make studying vocabulary words fun and can improve retention. Some of this week's sites offer built-in vocabulary lists, and others allow you to input your own words. Have fun!

Learning Vocabulary Fun

5 stars

Each of the eight word games at Learning Vocabulary Fun is customizable with dozens of vocabulary lists and multiple levels of difficulty. Unscramble, for example, has 103 vocabulary lists, arranged alphabetically from "animals" to "write." Other game choices are WordSearch, CrossWords, HangMouse (like Hangman, except you are playing to keep the cat from catching the mouse), Quiz (choose the vocab word that best completes the sentence), Match Game (also known as concentration), Letter Blocks (my favorite!) and Clueless Crossword.

Quizlet

5 stars

"Quizlet eats flashcards for breakfast." Although some games are playable without an account, you'll want to sign up for a free account to build your own interactive flashcard sets to study in five different modes: Familiarize, Learn, Test, Scatter Game, and Space Race Game. Sets are organized by tags, and can be coded private or public, or exported in a variety of formats to use elsewhere. Before I run out of space here, I must tell you that Andrew Sutherland started Quizlet in 2005 when he was just fifteen. Put Quizlet on your must see list, and spend a few minutes reading up on this amazing young entrepreneur.

Sheppard Software: Web Games Vocabulary

5 stars

"Unlike his previous work, the prose of his new novel is limpid and not over-burdened with profundities. What does limpid mean?" This section of the Sheppard Software site focuses on SAT and GRE vocabulary with interactive quizzes, online flashcards, and printable word lists with definitions. Elsewhere on the site, you'll find science games, animal trivia, math games, history trivia, and map games. Sheppard truly lives up to their tag line, "We make learning fun!"

SuperKids: Vocabulary Builders

3 stars

This six-pack of vocabulary activities from SuperKids includes 1000 SAT flashcards, a word-of-the-day by grade level, Hangman (with several dozen topical vocabulary lists), and the timed Mumbo Jumbo game ( similar to a one-person Scrabble). For those wanting to use their own vocabulary lists, SuperKids has two make-it-yourself printable games: Word Scrambler (with words scrambled one per line) and Hidden Word Puzzles (also known as word search puzzles.)

Vocabulary Coach

5 stars

With over 4000 vocabulary words and six games, Vocabulary Coach targets both students studying for entrance exams such as SAT, ACT or GRE, and grownups simply wanting to improve their vocabulary. " A few minutes each day is all that it takes. Each day spend 5 minutes on each game; use your new words in your conversations, and perhaps even make flash cards, and before you know it, you'll have a brand new vocabulary!" Each test/game offers three levels of difficulty, so you can start at a level that's just right for you.