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Flashcards help learners acquire new words through repetition. So, I searched for flashcard sets that target specific vocabulary themes or categories.
I found 15 vocabulary flashcards that are good for
- Simple vocabulary like Word Teasers
- Exam preparation such as GRE Vocabulary Flashcards
Vocabulary Flashcard Games Comparison Table
I arranged the flashcard games in this table so that you can identify immediately the best flashcard set to use at home or at school.
| Game | Purpose | Age | For | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learn With me | Vocabulary | 1-5 | Parents | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| 50 First Words | Vocabulary | 2-5 | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★☆☆☆ |
| First Words | Vocabulary | 1-7 | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Word Teasers | Vocabulary | 6-13 | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Vocabulary Builder | Vocabulary | 6-8 | Teachers | $$$$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Go Together | Vocabulary | 4-8 | Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Noun, Verbs and Adjectives | Vocabulary | 5-10 | Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Noun Vocabulary Builder | Vocabulary | 5-10 | Teachers | $$$$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Rootword | Vocabulary | 8-12 | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Essential TOEFL Vocabulary | Exam | 18+ | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| SAT Vocabulary | Exam | 17-19 | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| GRE Vocabulary | Exam | 23+ | Parents, Teachers | $$ | ★★★★★ |
| Vocabulary Flashcards | Exam | 13+ | Parents, Teachers | $$$ | ★★★★☆ |
| MCAT Flashcards | Exam | 23+ | Parents, Teachers | $$$ | ★★★☆☆ |
Vocabulary Flashcards for Daily Conversation
In this section, I list flashcard sets that include commonly used words in daily life.
Learn with Me Flashcards (Learnworx)
★★★☆☆
For Parents | Age 2-5 | 1-2 Users
Learn with me
consists of 101 double-sided flashcards that focus on early vocabulary.
One side of the card contains an illustration and the name of the item.
The other side contains a little game that asks learners to either:
- Spot the difference
- Identify the color
- Count elements on the card
- Other types of questions
The cards are classified into several categories: Animals, Food, Household items, Places…
On the flip side,
- The cards look sturdy
- The illustrations are colorful
But the cards are very large, making them not easy to hold for small children with their little hands.
The vocabulary is very basic (known by 3 year-olds) but as the words are written and there are the games on the back of the cards, you can use it with 4 or 5-year-old children.
50 First Words Flashcards (Scholastic Early Learners)
★★☆☆☆
For Parents | Age 2 to 5 | 1-2 Users
50 First Words Flashcards includes 50 giant-sized double-sided flashcards with basic words.
Each card contains a photo and a written word.
The good points include:
- Some illustrations are real photos
- There is a list if suggested activities
But some cards feature words with confusing illustrations, for example :
- “big”: an elephant
- “more”: a dougnut
- “all gone”: an empty plate
- “cold”: a drink with straw and bubbles
- “loud”: a child playing drums with musical notes in the air
Carson Dellosa First Words Flashcards (Brighter Child)
★★★☆☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age 1 to 6 | 1-3 Users
First Words Flashcards is composed of 54 cards that are two-inch larger than an ordinary deck of cards.
Each card teaches an essential word (like Egg, flower, tree, sun, umbrella, shoes). The written word is on one side, an illustration plus the written word on the other side. A bonus card contains extension activities and games.
The pros:
- The cards are durable
- Can reinforce word learning and recognition (early reading for 5 year-olds for example) by
- Using the face with picture + word to learn the words
- Using the other side of the card which contains the word only for word recognition
The cons:
- Some words are a bit outdated like telephone and top
- Too few words
Word Teasers (ELM Education Marketing)
★★★★☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age 6 to 13 | 1-3 Students
A great learning tool to enhance vocabulary is Word Teasers.
It comes with 150 cards that feature:
- The word in bold letters
- Pronunciation
- Function
- Definition with an example
- Synonym
These cards are good for:
- Quizzing each other
- Having a conversation about the question on the reverse side of the card
I like this set because
- The cards are informative (they include examples and usage in a sentence)
- Users will learn the correct meaning and spelling of the word
- Users can practice pronouncing the word
- The words included are helpful in exam preparations as well
But it lacks categories or levels to determine the difficulty of words or sort them.
Teachers can use it as a topic generator
- For classroom games
- With the related question on the back
Vocabulary Builder Flashcards (Create Fun)
★★★☆☆
For Teachers | Age 6 to 8 | 1-4 Students
Vocabulary Builder Flashcards is comprised of 299 cards that are divided into six categories which include:
- Emotions: 5 cards each for the 10 emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised, tired, stressed, love, excited and disgust)
- Go Togethers: 50 cards that are good for matching games
- Nouns: 50 cards that consist of food, animals, vehicles, professions, instruments
- Opposites: 50 cards that highlight 17 commonly used contrasting concepts like in/out, up/down, on/off, open/close and more
- Prepositions: 49 cards that revolve around 7 prepositions such as behind, inside, between, in front, next to, on top and under
- Verbs: 50 cards that cover 25 unique action verbs, for example, swimming, running, playing, whispering and many more.
The good points:
- The cards use actual images of the word
- The cards are color-coded, and the words used readable fonts
- Related words are enumerated at the bottom of the word (however, these overlapping items may confuse learners so adult supervision is necessary)
- Can be used in ESL classroom
- For compare and contrast lessons
- For sentence-building or storytelling activities (by drawing cards at random for example)
There are some problems though:
- Some pictures do not match the words at the back of the card
- The cards are not labeled according to difficulty
Go Together Flashcards (Create Fun)
★★★☆☆
For Teachers | Age 3 to 8 | 1-4 Students
Go Together Flashcards contains 50 cards that depict everyday objects and opposite words.
The advantages of using this set include:
- The cards are thick and easy to turn over.
- The illustrations are real images of the word
- can be used to learn how to combine words
- The cards are self-correcting. (The partner item is in parenthesis below)
However, some pictures do not match the concept. For example,
- the picture shows a “fishbowl” but the word on the reverse side of the card says “fish tank”
- it teaches opposite words like “tall and small” instead of “tall and short”
They can be used as quiz cards or to play a matching game like “Go Fish”.
Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives (Key Education – Carson Dellosa)
★★★☆☆
For Teachers | Age 4-10 | 1-4 Students
Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives consists of 275 photo cards that cover commonly used parts of speech: nouns, verbs and adjectives.
There are 6 sets of color-coded cards (each with 46 photographs) that feature the following categories:
- Everyday items
- Food
- Action verbs
- Opposite adjectives
- Daily activities
- School
It also comes with 13 resource card guides in three languages: English, Spanish and French. They contain game suggestions and instructions.
I am giving this flashcard set a three-star rating because:
- The illustrations are real pictures of people, places and objects
- Has “wh” questions at the back of the card which are useful in starting a conversation
- Can be used as learning aid in sentence-building activities or grammar lessons
The things that should’ve been improved are:
- Topics are not equally represented (For instance, there are more pictures that represent males so the use of pronouns “she” and “they” are limited)
- Some pictures do not depict the correct action and emotion
- Some images are blurry and outdated
All things considered, I recommend using this set in an ESL classroom or with children aged 4 years old and up.
Noun Vocabulary Builder Flashcards (Create Fun)
★★★★☆
For Teachers | Age 5 to 10 | 1-4 Students
Noun Vocabulary Builder Flashcards contains six sets of 50 flashcards that feature the following themes:
- Emotions and Feelings
- Matching Go Togethers
- Nouns
- Opposites
- Prepositions
- Verbs
The pictures include
- Animals
- Food
- Instruments
- Sports
- Vehicles
The set:
- Covers a variety of subjects
- Can be used as visual aid since it has high quality images
I would just wish the food examples would not include less unhealthy items like pizza, ice cream, donut, burger, hotdog and more.
Root word Flashcards (Party Tarty)
★★★☆☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age 8 to 12 | 1-4 Students
There are two volumes of Root word Flashcards.: Volume 1 is from A to L, and Volume 2 is from M to Z.
Each volume consists of 84 double-sided cards that tell
- the origin and meaning of the word
- Word examples
- fun facts
I like that the cards
- are color-coded according to six levels of gameplays.
- teach about 100+ Latin and Greek root words that are relevant in studying around 1500 words.
- are numbered at the bottom
It can be used in classroom games like “pass the message” or in study groups where 2-4 students can take turns quizzing each other.
If this set will be used for self-review, I suggest studying three cards a day and do a quick test at the end of the week.
Vocabulary Flashcards for Exam Preparation
In this section, I list flashcards that are commonly used by students to improve their vocabulary in prestigious tests or examinations.
Essential TOEFL Vocabulary (Princeton Review)
★★★☆☆
For Parents and Teachers| Age: 18+ | 1-4 Students
Essential TOEFL Vocabulary consists of 500 cards that contain the following information:
- Word, meaning and pronunciation (front side of the card)
- Definition, synonyms and contextual sentence (reverse side of the card)
The advantages of using this set are:
- Flexibility (it has digital version wherein you can also access the 500 words online)
- there are 50 additional blank cards that can be used for difficult or interesting words.
- Can track your progress using the color-coded scale under the cover
For me, the best use is by having a regular peer learning session. One of the simple games I recommend is selecting cards randomly and take turns in
- Giving definition, examples or synonyms
- using them in sentences
Then, review the words with a time limit.
This set is recommended for ESL beginners or learners with a low English level. The words are simple so intermediate and advanced learners will not find this set useful.
SAT Vocabulary Flashcards (Barron’s Test Prep)
★★★☆☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age: 17 to 19 | 1-4 Students
SAT Vocabulary Flashcards are good for teens who are weak or non-readers because they will help them understand the meaning of the word through the definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and examples provided on the cards.
It contains 500 vocabulary words and 50 blank cards which they can use for practice drills or self-quiz.
Here are some suggestions:
- Group the cards according to a theme, function or any link that is meaningful for you (use the ring to add cards)
- Quiz yourself by
- guessing the meaning, antonym or synonym
- Read the meaning then guess the word
- Use the word in a sentence
Depending on the student’s target score, the exam preparation may need more than 5-20 hours a week of studying for the whole SAT. Therefore, if you have enough time to prepare for SAT, studying 1 to 2 cards a day is okay.
GRE Vocabulary Flashcards (Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guide)
★★★★★
For Parents and Teachers| Age: 23+ | 1-2 Students | Author: Zeke Vanderhoek
GRE Vocabulary Flashcards is comprised of 500 cards that contain:
- Vocabulary word, part of speech, alternate part of speech (front side)
- Definition and sentence examples (back of the card)
I like this set because
- The cards are sturdy and larger than normal index cards.
- Some cards introduce memory tricks (information that help you remember the word faster and longer)
- Some cards explain the origin of the word (although the explanations are a bit limited compared to other vocabulary flashcards)
- Includes related words that help understand the word better
- The words are also available online (check out the official website of Manhattan prep services)
I suggest reciting the memory tricks aloud or with some gestures in front of a review partner.
Out of the vocabulary flashcards sets in this list, this is the most well-put-together in my opinion. That is why I recommend this set to both newbies and seasoned test-takers because a huge fraction of the words in this flashcard set appears on the real test.
Vocabulary Flashcards (Educational Software Technologies)
★★★★☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age: 13+ | 1-4 Students
Vocabulary Flash Cards is comprised of 1496 flashcards that are created for study sessions for GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, SAT, IELTS and CAT.
Each card contains:
- Part of speech
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Pronunciation
- Contextual sentences
Overall it is a great set with so many words:
- Available in pdf and can be accessed via a phone app
- Can be accessed online and the pass code is unique for each user
- The explanation for word usage is easy to understand
- The cards can be arranged in alphabetical order or level of difficulty (three levels)
But:
- It is heavy of course (choose the section to study first so that you can carry them comfortably)
- Contents are not all consistent (some cards do not provide antonyms)
MCAT Flashcards (Kaplan Test Prep)
★★★☆☆
For Parents and Teachers | Age: 23+| 1-3 Students
MCAT Flashcards consists of 1000 Flashcards.
Here is the breakdown of the test areas it covers, and the number of flashcards dedicated to it:
- Behavioral Science (230)
- Biochemistry (187)
- Biology (247)
- General Chemistry (143)
- Organic Chemistry (90)
- Physics (103)
Here are some pros of this set:
- Content-wise, the information in some cards lacks accuracy but helpful in reviewing basic terminology
- Questions are useful
- Can be accessed via an app
This set would’ve been better if
- there are visuals like graphs, charts, diagrams to explain difficult concepts clearly
- The cards are larger, thicker and easier to flip
This set is helpful in drill practice with study groups. However, if you are going to use these cards alone, I suggest starting with the test area that needs improvement.
Separate the cards that you can’t remember three times in a row. Replace them with new cards until you memorize them all using this cycle.
Overall, I recommend this set as supplemental learning material for MCAT.
Other Types of Vocabulary Games
If you are interested in more vocabulary games, you might want to check the following posts
- 12 Vocabulary Board Games for Schools and Families
- 14 Vocabulary Card Games for Prekindergarten to Elementary
- 25+ Tabletop Letter and Word Games for Families and School
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