Learning
Learning modes
MemDecks offers four modes of practice, and they do different jobs. Phrase Builder lessons introduce words you do not know. Single-player games rehearse words you already have. Multiplayer matches rehearse them against another person. The Translator, with the pump, is where new words are chosen. Most learners use at least two.
The four modes at a glance
| Mode | Teaches | Adds cards? | Moves card progress? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phrase Builder lesson | Five new words inside one spoken phrase | Yes — five per lesson | Yes |
| Single-player game | Recall and recognition of cards you own | No | Yes |
| Multiplayer match | The same, under time pressure and against a person | No | Yes |
| Translator and pump | Nothing by itself — it is where words are chosen | Yes — one at a time | No |
Phrase Builder: learning words you do not have yet
Phrase Builder is the only mode that teaches unfamiliar vocabulary rather than testing familiar vocabulary. One lesson presents five words, plays them inside a single anchor phrase such as "The mother gives tea to her child at home", and then mixes challenges that rebuild the phrase from its parts. Finishing the lesson saves all five words as cards.
Words appear both in dictionary form and in the inflected form the phrase actually uses, with separate audio for each. That is the point of the mode: a word met inside a sentence carries its grammar with it. The argument for why this matters is in why vocabulary sticks better inside a phrase.
Available for Armenian, Greek, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, German, French and Italian as of 2 September 2026, with fourteen published lessons in each.
Single-player games: rehearsing what you have
Every other MemDecks game reads from your existing collection. They differ in what they ask you to produce — recognise the right card, spell the word letter by letter, match a pair, read a script — and therefore in what they actually train.
| Game | What you have to produce | Cards needed |
|---|---|---|
| WordBase Quiz | Pick the right card out of several | 10 |
| Word Type | Spell the word from a mixed letter pool | 10 |
| Word Mahjong | Match word and translation tiles on a board | 8, board capped at 19 |
| Canon Potato | Hit the correct word under time pressure | 4 |
| Skyword | Land on the matching translation | 3 |
| Alphabet Quest | Read text that shifts into the target script | No minimum; Armenian, Greek and Russian only |
Recognition is easier than production, so a card that reads 60% after WordBase Quiz alone is not the same as a card that reached 60% through Word Type. Mixing games is how you find out which it is.
Multiplayer: the same cards, another person
Three multiplayer games are available as of 2 September 2026: Words Tetris (one to four players), Lexi Spy (two) and Mirror Decks (two). You join by quick match or by sharing a private room code. Progress still lands on your own cards. Multiplayer has the detail.
Translator and pump: choosing what to learn
The Translator is not a practice mode — it adds nothing to card progress — but it is where the content of every other mode is decided. Type a word you met in the wild and save it, or press Next word and let the pump propose one from the topic packs you follow.
Which of the two you use changes what your collection is. Typed words follow your life; pump words follow a curated difficulty order. Neither is better, and MemDecks does not push you toward either.