Gloss · Guides · The best word of the day apps for iPhone
Compared
The 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. Vocabulary by Monkey Taps has the widget most people use; Merriam-Webster’s word of the day is the best written; Gloss chooses the word for your level and makes you keep it. Here are seven, compared.
What makes a word of the day stick
Three things, and they are about the habit, not the words. The word has to arrive where you already look, so a lock-screen or home-screen widget beats an app you have to open. It has to be the right size for you: the single most common complaint in these apps’ reviews is a word that is either too obscure to use or too easy to bother with. And it has to ask something back: a question, a sentence to write, a tap to say “I know this,” because a word you only read is a word you will have forgotten by Friday (the forgetting curve is steep in the first day). The research on habits says the rest: in a study that followed people forming a new daily habit, automaticity took a median of 66 days, the range was 18 to 254, and missing one day did not derail it (Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts and Wardle, 2010). Pick the app you can imagine opening on day 66.
| App | Price | Ads | Rating | Best for, and the catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary - Learn words daily | Free; $35.99–59.99 a year; $149.99, once | Yes | 4.8 (221K) | The word-of-the-day widget most people have, with gamesAds, and reviews about features moving behind the paywall |
| Word of the Day・Vocabulary | Free; $7.99 a week to $99.99 a year | Yes | 4.7 (38K) | A word a day, flashcards and word gamesAds; a weekly subscription option |
| Word of the Day – Learn Daily | Free; Pro $3.99 or $18.99 a year | Yes | 4.6 (1.2K) | A simple daily word with a widgetReviews report 30-second ads when a word is opened |
| Merriam-Webster Dictionary | Free; Remove Ads $2.99; Premium $9.99 a year | Yes | 4.8 (330K) | The reference: every sense, usage notes, a word of the day with a podcastAds in the free app; the extras are paid |
| Dictionary.com: English Words | Free | Yes | 4.8 (328K) | Dictionary, thesaurus and word of the day in one free appIn July 2025 it deleted every account and saved word list and removed its ad-free tier |
| LookUp: English Dictionary App | Free; LookUp+ $29.99 a year or $59.99, once | Not stated | 4.7 (3.1K) | A beautifully designed dictionary with a word of the day and a vocabulary builderThe good parts are in LookUp+ |
| Gloss | $39.99 a year after three days free; $5.99 a month; $129.99, once | No | New | Explains any word in the style you read: Plain, ADHD, Gen Z, Metaphor, Formal, or Like I’m 5; a word of the day chosen for your level; synonyms with the difference between them; games on spaced repetitionPaid after the trial; iPhone only; new, so few ratings yet |
Vocabulary by Monkey Taps: the widget most people have
The default choice, with 221,000 ratings. The home-screen widget is good, the words come in themed categories, and there are quizzes. It is free with ads; the subscription is $35.99 to $59.99 a year or $149.99 for life, and the reviews mention both the ads and the paywall. If you want the familiar thing, this is it.
Word of the Day・Vocabulary (Vocabulous): with flashcards
A word a day plus flashcards and word games, 38,000 ratings at 4.7, free with ads. The subscription is sold weekly ($7.99), monthly and yearly (up to $99.99); choose the yearly if you choose it at all.
Word of the Day – Learn Daily: simple, and the ads
A plain daily word with a widget, 1,200 ratings at 4.6. Pro is $3.99 or $18.99 a year. Recent reviews report 30-second ads whenever a word is opened in the free version; at that point the $3.99 is the app.
Merriam-Webster: the best-written word of the day
Merriam-Webster’s word of the day has been running for decades, in the app, by email and as a podcast, and it is the best written of all of them: a definition, a paragraph of usage, and the word’s story. It does not choose the word for you or quiz you on it, and the app carries ads unless you pay $2.99. For someone who wants to read about a word rather than practice it, this is the one.
Dictionary.com: free, with a caveat
A good daily word with a short essay, free, in an app with 328,000 ratings. The caveat: in July 2025 Dictionary.com deleted every user account and saved word list, so do not use it to keep the words you like.
LookUp: the prettiest card
LookUp’s word of the day is a designed card, and its collections are illustrated. Most of the vocabulary features are in LookUp+ ($29.99 a year or $59.99 once). The right pick if the way the word looks is part of why you will open it.
Gloss: chosen for you, then kept
Gloss is ours. Its word of the day is chosen for your level and the things you read about, not from a single list for everyone, and it arrives on the lock screen and the home screen, and as a notification at the first time you pick, with more glosses until the last if you want them. The explanation is written in the style you chose, and three quick questions collect the word, light the day and keep the streak; four short games bring it back later. No ads. It is paid after three free days and new, so it has none of the ratings above. (If you just want today’s word with no app, the word of the day on this site is free, and so is its feed.)
Which one
- The familiar widget: Vocabulary by Monkey Taps.
- The best writing about each word: Merriam-Webster.
- A word plus flashcards, free: Vocabulous.
- Chosen for your level, with no ads and a reason to come back: Gloss.
Whichever you choose, how to keep a word-of-the-day habit is the part the app cannot do for you.
Questions people ask
What is the best free word of the day app?
Vocabulary by Monkey Taps, if you can live with ads; Merriam-Webster, if you want the best-written entry and do not need a quiz. Dictionary.com is free too, but no longer saves your words.
Does the iPhone have a word of the day widget?
Not built in. Vocabulary, Vocabulous, LookUp and Gloss all offer home-screen widgets; Gloss also has a lock-screen widget under the clock.
Is a word a day enough to improve my vocabulary?
Yes, if you keep it. One word a day is 365 a year, about double the rate adults add words naturally; the research on habits suggests the first two months are the hard part.
Which word of the day is best for students?
Merriam-Webster’s for the writing, Vocabulous for the flashcards, Gloss if the words should match your level and come back as questions.
Facts about other apps were read from their US App Store listings on October 24, 2026: prices in US dollars, ratings and counts as the store showed them. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, write to us and we will fix it. Gloss is made by the people who wrote this page, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.
Sources
- Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle, “How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world”, European Journal of Social Psychology 40(6), 2010
- Brysbaert et al., “How Many Words Do We Know?”, Frontiers in Psychology, 2016
- Semrush public domain overview for vocabulary.com (US search volume for “word of the day”), October 2026
Keep reading
How to keep a word-of-the-day habit that lasts · The best vocabulary apps for adults in 2026 · Dictionary apps without ads, and what each one costs · All guides