As its name suggests, Spanishdict started out as (and continues to be) the best and most engaging Spanish to English dictionary on the web. In fact, I didn’t even know that they had expanded to lessons until a client told me! Since then, I’ve personally used Spanishdict to work on some of my own Spanish grammar points, so it’s only fair that I share this Spanishdict review with you.
While you can access most all of what Spanishdict has to offer for free, this Spanishdict review will include both the free version as well as a Spanishdict Premium review so you can make the best choice for your own Spanish language learning journey.
Spanishdict dictionary
If you’ve ever come across Spanishdict, it’s likely from Googling translations between English and Spanish – sure, Google Translate is fine, but Spanishdict is better.
If you’re not Googling translations, you can also go straight to the website and stick in any translation request, from individual words to phrases to whole sentences, right from the front page.
If you’ve used this search function before, your history will pop up. The last thing I’d looked up was “reverse psychology”, so I just clicked that for the sake of an example. As you can see, they don’t mess around!
You can listen to an audio clip of the word/phrase/sentence and, most importantly (in my opinion), you have some options for putting the phrase in context, which you can easily copy and paste into an Anki deck, Quizlet set, notebook, or any other collection of vocab that you use. Context is king, folks!
Looking for simple conjugations? Just hop over to the next link over at the top, type in a verb, and scroll down for all the conjugation lists your heart could ever desire!
Scroll down for conjugations in the subjunctive, imperative, progressive, perfect, and perfect subjunctive tenses. This format is pretty great – you get the verb conjugated in literally every way possible all in one place with pronunciation and context, but it’s not overwhelming about it. I mean, just the above screenshot will take you from total beginner to solidly intermediate.
Again, complete with audio clips, examples, and even the irregular conjugations highlighted in red! Seriously.
Now, until recently, that was the extent of my knowledge of Spanishdict. But this Spanishdict review is just getting started!
Spanishdict review: vocabulary
While there are plenty of places to find and practice Spanish vocabulary, Spanishdict truly excels in two areas: engaging vocabulary practice for beginners and those taking a formal Spanish class. Let’s start with the simple vocab.
Vocab lists
If you’re a beginner Spanish language learner, you may be going the route of starting with the 2-3,000 most common vocabulary words; this is an effective strategy for some…but it can also get boring. Without the right strategies, learning vocabulary is not only boring and unmotivating, but it also doesn’t work (if you don’t enjoy the process, it ain’t gonna work). Enter Spanishdict.
Spanishdict has tons and tons and tons of lists of vocabulary broken up into different categories. This is just a very small example. Not only is the website itself really smooth (rolling over these images causes them to shift up a little bit – it’s the little things!), but the lessons themselves are also way more engaging than just simple flashcards.
New vocabulary are accompanied by graceful, slow-moving videos to help illustrate the concept, like Memrise Pro’s vocab decks. If you get it right, you get a nice little tone to confirm, followed by an audio clip of the Spanish word. If you get it wrong, you get an audio clip, plus a prompt to check out some context. Then, you’re prompted again to translate that word.
If you didn’t know the word the first time or you get it wrong, you’ll type it out again a couple more times until you get it right. Woo, repetition! And also, woo active recall!
Eventually, though, you’ll get to a point where Spanishdict’s curated vocab lists are a little simplistic for you. Fortunately, there’s also a tool to create your own lists of words!
Í didn’t have a list of words handy, so “choose words” it is!
This bit is pretty awesome! If you add simple words, Spanishdict will stick a video on, so your personal flashcard deck will look just like the curated ones. Of course, there’s not going to be a video for “reverse osmosis”…but I just thought I’d give that one a shot. The platform is really gorgeous and really smooth, and I love that Spanishdict calls you out if you’re not using accents! Language learners tend to ignore accents, assuming they don’t matter, so I love it when a resource pushes you to learn them.
What I don’t like, though, is that it’s hard to add accents on desktop. The screenshot to the right was taken on desktop, and it led me to hold my finger over the letter that I wanted to accent. Obviously on a desktop, that don’t work. There wasn’t any clear way to add the accent on the page, and it didn’t even work when I tried to create the accented letter with my international keyboard. At the same time, it wouldn’t let me pass until I get the accent right. So…maybe stick to the app?
Textbook help
If you’re taking a formal Spanish class with a textbook, Spanishdict also has some curated content for you based on a variety of different Spanish textbooks!
All you gotta do is select the appropriate textbook and if Spanishdict supports it, you can search through the table of contents, find the chapter you’re working on, and take quizzes to test your understanding!
This is great for teachers who are looking for more interesting ways to manage their classrooms, or honestly even just independent Spanish language learners who want a touch of structure without it being too boring. Like Conjuguemos, you can sign up under your teacher, or you can use the resources for a little extra vocab/grammar help along the way!
I love this for Spanish language learners who have to take a formal Spanish class (for school, work, etc.) but find textbook work really boring and unengaging. Because, by definition, it is. This is an awesome tool to help make that textbook work just a tad easier, more entertaining, and (most importantly) modern.
Spanishdict’s grammar lessons
Here’s my favorite: the grammar practice! A lot of language learners struggle to find the balance between effective practice and entertaining practice. I love the Spanishdict approach, honestly. At least when it comes to simple memorization (not for everyone obviously, but it’s been super effective for me!).
Just like with the vocab section, you can either search for specific grammar concepts or find them organized by level of difficulty. Considering grammar is a bit more complex than vocab, there’s more to work with here.
You get tons and tons of examples with audio clips, plus a handful of interactive quizzes to, you guessed it, test yourself on these concepts! The quizzes start out with teaching videos, but you can also skip right past those if you don’t need them, and test yourself in the context of a story as told by a video clip.
You’ll get a combination of questions to keep you on your toes: multiple-choice, write-in, and simple listening practice. Definitely, definitely engaging. And considering there’s info and quizzes for all concepts from beginner to advanced FOR FREE? Geez!
Spanishdict Premium review
Suffice to say, the free stuff is top-notch. So what’s the deal with Spanishdict Premium?
Can I be honest? I don’t think Spanishdict Premium is worth it. Out of all the perks, the only one that I’m really personally interested in is supporting the company. At least for me, the rest of the perks really aren’t worth paying $13/month. But, you know, it’s there, so if you do want to try it out, you can start with the free 7-day trial.
These perks may be better for beginners, so don’t let me sway you from trying out Spanishdict Premium if it looks interesting to you.
Also, if you get to the bottom of most pages on the website, you’ll see a mention of Fluencia, which Spanishdict also created. I’ve reviewed Fluencia here, but I’m not sure if it’s just a passion project or what. Nonetheless, it’s another option!
When to use Spanishdict
I love Spanishdict, and I absolutely use it from time to time to work on my own grammar. It’s simple and engaging, and available seamlessly on desktop and mobile. Spanishdict Premium might be worth it for beginners, but the free content is already so robust that you really don’t even need to splurge. We love accessible language learning!
Spanishdict is pretty much the top of the top when it comes to vocab and getting your bearings on your grammar in a not-boring way. Obviously, it shouldn’t make up your entire language strategy, unless your goal is to have your vocab/grammar assessed and that’s it, but I only wish they could expand to other languages in the future. Gold star!