The best Irish vocabulary app depends on where you want your words to come from and how it treats Irish spelling. Drops and uTalk give you word sets with pictures or recordings, Clozemaster puts each word in a sentence, Éirelingo reviews Irish cards and understands fadas and initial mutations, and Anki holds cards you write yourself. This page compares how each app gets words to you, how it brings them back and what stays free. For courses, tutors and speaking, see our Irish app comparison. It is about Irish, the Gaeilge language. For the English spoken in Ireland, see apps to learn Irish English.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Irish. You learn from Irish you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Irish lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
- Every Irish lesson is written at your level, about things you like.
- Ask Poppy about an Irish sentence while you read.
- Saved words come back in new lessons through Regenerative Review™, and you can send them to Anki too.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- You can't turn an Irish book into a lesson. But Poppy will explain a page you paste or photograph.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Drops
Drops hands you Irish words in themed sets. Each word has a picture, a recording and a short game, which suits visual learners who would rather not build the list themselves.
- Each Irish word comes with a picture and its audio.
- Quick games bring back words you have already studied.
Mobile
uTalk
uTalk groups Irish words and phrases into topics and tests you with recall games that get harder. You can record yourself and compare by ear, but the app does not score it.
- Irish words and phrases come with recordings of native speakers.
- You can record yourself and compare your voice with the recording.
MobileWeb
Clozemaster
Clozemaster shows each Irish word inside a whole sentence and asks you to fill the gap. The route runs from English to Irish, and the sentences come from Tatoeba, a community collection.
- Fill in the missing Irish word in a sentence.
- Sentences you have seen come back later, with English translations.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (4)
- ÉirelingoPremade decks labelled TEG, plus cards you make or import. It searches with fadas, handles initial mutations and reviews with FSRS. Its audio is generated and labelled as Connacht Irish.
- Madra TeangaIrish lessons and word pages built from open Irish data, with automatic word tracking. The site says it is free, with no ads or paywalls.
- AnkiWrite your own cards or download shared decks, reviewed with SM-2 or FSRS. The iPhone app can be used in Irish. Desktop Anki and AnkiWeb are free, and AnkiMobile is a one-time purchase.
- QuizletBuild your own Irish flashcard sets or pick shared ones, then study with its learning and test modes. Check a shared set before you trust it, because anyone can publish one.
| App | Word source | Review | Sentence and audio | English help | Free boundary | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Lessons Poppy writes | Saved words return in new lessons | Words appear in new sentences | Partly | Lessons by other learners are free to read; unlimited custom lessons need Pro | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Éirelingo | Premade decks and cards you add | FSRS | Generated audio labelled Connacht | Yes | Free download; paid features unconfirmed | iPhone |
| Drops | Topics made by Drops | Games that bring back studied words | Pictures and audio | Unconfirmed | 5 minutes every 10 hours | iPhone, iPad |
| uTalk | Topics made by uTalk | Recall games | Native recordings and your own recordings | Yes | Free starter words; the rest is paid | iPhone, iPad |
| Clozemaster | Sentences with a gap | Review of sentences you saw | Sentences with English translations | Yes | Free to start; Pro adds more | iPhone, iPad |
| Anki | Cards you make | SM-2 or FSRS | Only if you add them to the card | Your own cards | Desktop and AnkiWeb free; AnkiMobile paid once | iPhone, iPad, computer |
| Quizlet | Sets you make or pick | Study and test modes | Depends on the set | Your own sets | Free to start; Quizlet Plus is paid | iPhone, iPad |
| Madra Teanga | Lessons and word pages | Word tracking in practice and tests | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Free, with no ads | Web |
To meet Irish words in reading and listening first, see our Irish comprehensible input app comparison. For vocabulary methods in any language, see vocabulary apps compared.
Which Irish vocabulary app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Irish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or choose Drops if you want pictures and a ready-made list. Anki is better once you want cards from Irish you came across yourself.
Which Irish vocabulary app handles fadas and mutations?
Éirelingo says it supports fadas in search and initial mutations, which change the start of a word, such as (woman) and (the woman). In Anki and Quizlet you type the fadas and each form yourself.
Can I keep the sentence an Irish word came from?
Clozemaster turns the sentence into the exercise. An Anki card has a sentence only when you add one, and in Bubblegum the words you save return in new sentences.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Éirelingo: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Drops: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Drops: what's free
- Drops: Irish course
- uTalk: Irish course
- uTalk: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Clozemaster: Irish and English
- Clozemaster: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Clozemaster: FAQ
- AnkiMobile: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Anki: what's free
- Quizlet: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Madra Teanga
- Foras na Gaeilge: bean
- Foras na Gaeilge: bean, grammar
- Bubblegum
- Clozemaster
