Vocabulary
About / VocaNum
A point of view on English vocabulary
Words deserve
more than
a guess.
VocaNum is a vocabulary-focused English learning product built around a simple question: which words do you actually know?
We help you turn a loose sense of familiarity into a clearer picture of the words you know.
Our point of viewA small study in knowing
- 01 / Unknown
glimpse
- 02 / Familiar
glimpse
- 03 / Verified
glimpse.
One word. More than one kind of knowing.
A conceptual study. Not a score.01 The question
How many English
words do I
actually know?
You can spend an afternoon reading in English and still get stuck on a word you thought was yours.
A language can feel familiar while the vocabulary inside it remains surprisingly hard to describe.
VocaNum exists to make that picture clearer.
The things we tell ourselvesFamiliar feelings. Open questions.
- “I think I know a lot.”
- “I understand most things.”
- “I keep forgetting that word.”
- “What should I practice?”
- A feeling“I know this.”A useful place to begin.
- A signalAn answer.Something to look at.
- EvidenceA pattern.More than one encounter.
- A vocabulary pictureA next step.A word worth revisiting.
A deliberately narrow focus
A whole product.
For the words.
Vocabulary is our subject. The form you recognize, the meaning you understand, the word you can almost recall. Grammar lessons and conversation have their own place in learning English. We give words our full attention.
recognitionmeaningfamiliarityrecallforgettinggrowth
02 The measure
Vocabulary,
measured.
A number should be the beginning of an explanation.
Behind a vocabulary number are individual words. Behind each word are encounters: familiar, uncertain, remembered, missed. “Measured” means paying attention to that evidence.
A word is the smallest unit of the storyIllustrated record / 001
accountn.
A record. A report. A word with more than one meaning. Every encounter tells us something about the word you know.
- 01
A familiar form
“I’ve seen account before.”
Familiarity with the form. - 02
A meaning found
“A record of a customer’s activity.”
A meaning recognized in context. - 03
A different sense
“Her account of the journey.”
The same word. A different sense. - 04
A reason to return
“Does it still come to mind?”
More evidence, including uncertainty.
Evidence can strengthen a picture. It can also reopen a question.
What “verified” means
Verified vocabulary reflects words supported by your answers in VocaNum. That record can change with further evidence. It describes what your practice supports, not mastery in every context.
A clearer picture.
Room for uncertainty.
Approximately
3,000
Users in our first week
Curiosity
has company.
VocaNum reached approximately 3,000 users in its first week. A first week that gave us a reason to keep looking closer.
How much English is already yours?
03 The beliefs
There is more inside a word.
Six ideas that shape VocaNum.
- 01
Familiar is only one layer.
A word can look familiar before its meaning is clear. Its meaning can be clear before you can recall it yourself. Those differences deserve a place in the picture.
noticen. / v.
- As a verb
- “Did you notice?”
- As a noun
- “Read the notice.”
- Without the cue
- “What was that word?”
- 02
Recognition leaves room for a guess.
A familiar word is a useful signal. One correct answer leaves room for a guess, a helpful cue, or a meaning still to discover.
- 03
Forgetting belongs in the picture.
A missed answer belongs in the record. It can point to a word that needs another encounter, without erasing the work before it.
- 04
Give practice a reason.
The next useful word may be one you almost know, or one that has started slipping. Practice should have a reason for bringing it back.
- 05
Name the progress.
Newly verified. Recovered. Ready for another look. A session becomes more useful when you can see which words changed.
- 06
Explain the number.
An estimate needs context: what was asked, what your answers suggest, and what remains uncertain. Precision should never be a pose.
04 The practice
Follow a word. See what changed.
One real session, from a question to the words that changed. This is what the philosophy looks like in VocaNum for iPhone.
A The encounter
A word. An honest answer.
Quick Play asks about meaning. “I don’t know yet” has a place here, too. A useful picture needs room for uncertainty.
B The change
Make the effort visible.
This example session records eight newly verified words, one recovered word, and one that needs review.
VocaNum / Session Summary
C The words behind it
Then give the number its names.
The same session, word by word. Customer account, producer, breathtaking, surprising. Progress you can point to.
VocaNum / Words that changed
The word in the question becomes a word in the record.
Example screens and results. Your vocabulary picture reflects your own answers.
Explore VocaNum for iPhoneThe words behind the number
Words move.
The picture should, too.
Some words feel settled. Some are still taking shape. Others ask to be remembered again. A useful vocabulary picture makes room for all of them.
VocaNum helps English learners measure, verify, understand, and grow their vocabulary through short interactions and evidence from their answers.
Here, evidence means responses to vocabulary questions. Short interactions and repeated signals help build a picture of the words a learner recognizes, and the words that need another look.
- The vocabulary test
- The free website test uses word recognition and meaning questions to produce a vocabulary estimate. It is a starting point for learning, not an exact count of every word in memory.
- The iPhone vocabulary app
- VocaNum for iPhone supports vocabulary practice, repeated encounters, word history, and progress tracking. Verified vocabulary reflects words supported by your answers in the app.
- The meaning of a result
- Recognition is a signal, not definitive proof of knowledge. Vocabulary measurement does not establish complete English proficiency, speaking ability, or a language certification.
05 The curiosity
The Word Journal / VocaNum
Questions worth
staying with.
We are interested in what happens around a word, too. In reading and listening. In recognition, recall, and forgetting. In how language is acquired, and what makes practice useful.
The Word Journal is where we follow those questions into research, examples, and things to try.
Open the Word JournalA reading list Selected from the journal
An ongoing question
Still curious.
VocaNum is still at the beginning. We want to keep making vocabulary measurement clearer, practice more useful, and progress easier to understand.
The work continues, one word at a time.
Your English. A closer look.
Vocabulary, measured.Start with
one word.
Find a starting point for your vocabulary. Give the next word somewhere to go.
01 Find your starting point
Take the free Vocabulary Test A vocabulary estimate. No signup required.
