Gloss · Guides
Guides.
Short, practical pieces on words: which dictionary or vocabulary app to choose, how to learn words so they stay, how to say what you mean, and where the words come from. Every number has its study; every app fact has its date.
Choosing an app
The best dictionary apps for iPhone in 2026
The best dictionary app for most people is still Merriam-Webster: the most complete entries, free, with ads you can remove for $2.99.
Read the comparisonThe best vocabulary apps for adults in 2026
A vocabulary app works if it does three things the research agrees on: brings a word back before you forget it, makes you recall it rather than reread it, and shows it in context.
Read the comparisonThe best word of the day apps for iPhone
A word of the day only works if you still open it in March, so the best app is the one that puts the word where you already look (the lock screen, the home screen) and asks something of you.
Read the comparisonDictionary apps without ads, and what each one costs
Two dictionary apps on the iPhone carry no ads at any tier: Merriam-Webster Dictionary+ ($9.99, once) and Gloss (a membership after three free days); LookUp’s listing does not mention ads either.
Read the comparisonLearning words
How to improve your vocabulary as an adult
Adults learn words much the way children do, mostly from reading.
Read the guideHow to remember new words
You don’t forget words because you are bad at remembering.
Read the guideWhy you forget a word right after you look it up
You forget a new word because you met it once, read its definition, and moved on.
Read the guideHow to keep a word-of-the-day habit that lasts
A word a day is 365 words a year, which is about double what an adult picks up naturally.
Read the guideHow many words does the average person know?
About 42,000.
Read the guideSAT vocabulary: what the test actually asks, and 50 words worth knowing
The SAT stopped testing obscure words on their own in 2016.
Read the guideUsing words
How to be more articulate
Being articulate isn’t about big words.
Read the guideWords that make you sound smart
The words that make you sound smart are the exact ones: the word that says in one stroke what would otherwise take a clause.
Read the guideWords to use instead of “very.”
Very asks the next word to do more than it can.
Read the guideHow to explain anything simply
Explaining simply isn’t dumbing down.
Read the guideHow to read hard books without stopping at every word
You can read a hard book comfortably when you know about 98% of its words, one unknown in fifty; below 95%, one in twenty, reading becomes decoding.
Read the guideWhere words come from
Latin and Greek roots behind thousands of English words
Most hard English words are built from a few hundred Latin and Greek pieces, and knowing the pieces lets you guess a word you have never seen: benevolent is bene (good) and vol (wish), someone who wishes you well.
Read the guideDictionary, thesaurus or glossary: which one you actually need
A dictionary tells you what a word means.
Read the guide