A Portuguese word is easy to forget when you meet it once on a list. These apps differ in where your words come from, whether they keep the sentence and the audio, and how they bring a word back. This page is about Brazilian Portuguese, and Brazilian and European Portuguese have different words and different recordings, so choose the variety on each app before you start. For all the ways to learn Portuguese, see our Portuguese apps comparison, and for reading and listening, see our Portuguese comprehensible input comparison.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Portuguese. You learn from Portuguese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Brazilian Portuguese 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.
- Choose Brazilian or European Portuguese, and lessons are written and voiced for the one you pick.
- Save the words you want from each lesson.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Words come back in new lessons, not on a flashcard schedule, so use Anki if you want cards.
- 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™
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LingQ
LingQ gives you Portuguese lessons to read and listen to, and it reviews the words you save. Brazilian and European Portuguese share one library, so check each course title for its variety.
- Mini Stories in Brazilian and European Portuguese, each with 62 lessons.
- Tap a word to save it and keep the lesson it came from.
- Flashcards
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Drops
Drops teaches Portuguese words through quick games with pictures. Its topics are made by Drops, and each Portuguese word is taught with a picture.
- Brazilian Portuguese has its own course, apart from European Portuguese.
- Each word comes with a picture.
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uTalk
uTalk groups Brazilian Portuguese words and phrases into topics and drills them with games. A recording can be replayed more slowly.
- The Brazilian Portuguese version is recorded by speakers from Brazil.
- Record yourself copying a recording, then compare the two.
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Clozemaster
Clozemaster hides one word in a Brazilian Portuguese sentence, and you pick or type it. The sentence comes back later, so the word sticks to a context.
- Its Portuguese course uses Brazilian Portuguese sentences.
- Sentences start with the most common words, so you learn the most useful ones first.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- AnkiFlashcards you make or download. Put the Brazilian Portuguese sentence and audio on the card yourself, and Anki schedules the reviews. It is free on computers, and the iPhone app is a one-time purchase.
- QuizletMake a set of Portuguese words, or use one shared by another learner, and study it with flashcards. Check that a shared set uses Brazilian words.
- MemriseA Brazilian Portuguese course with word lists and scheduled review, with a limited free plan and a paid Pro plan.
Each number is how many languages the app's US iPhone App Store listing shows. uTalk's number is the base languages its publisher lists, and Bubblegum's is the languages you can use its menus in. Lessons and explanations may be offered in fewer.
| App | Where Words Come From | How Words Come Back | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Lessons Poppy writes | In new lessons | 76 | Full list
|
| LingQ | Lessons you read and import | Scheduled review | 17 | Full list |
| Drops | Its own word lists | Games and quizzes | 16 | Full list |
| uTalk | Its own topics | Recall games | 140+ | Full list |
| Clozemaster | Sentence collection | Scheduled review | 39 | Full list |
| Memrise | Its own word lists | Scheduled review | 22 | Full list |
| Anki | Cards you make or download | Scheduled review | — | Anki |
| Quizlet | Sets you make or share | Flashcards and quiz modes | — | Quizlet |
Which Portuguese vocabulary app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Portuguese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. For ready-made words, add Drops, whose free plan gives you 5 minutes every 10 hours, or uTalk, whose starter words are free.
Should I make my own flashcards?
In Anki or Quizlet, put the whole Brazilian Portuguese sentence on the card and not just the word, and save the form you met, such as a verb ending. Our Portuguese apps comparison lists courses you can take the words from.
Are Brazilian and European Portuguese words the same?
Many words are the same, and many are not, and the recordings sound different. Drops, Memrise and uTalk have separate Brazilian and European courses, and LingQ puts both in one library. Pick the Brazilian course when you add words.
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
- Drops: Brazilian Portuguese
- Drops: free versus Premium
- Drops: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- uTalk: Brazilian Portuguese
- uTalk: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Clozemaster: Portuguese vocabulary
- LingQ: Portuguese
- LingQ: Portuguese courses
- LingQ: free versus Premium
- LingQ: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Memrise: Brazilian Portuguese course
- Memrise: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Anki
- Quizlet: iPhone App Store listing
- Clozemaster: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Bubblegum
- Clozemaster
