This app provides an extremely efficient way to learn new vocabulary by reading texts (fiction or textbooks) and marking all unfamiliar words, so that you can review them later.

To start, click on the word “is” in the following sentence:

You'll see a little window with four colored rows. They have the following purpose:

Every row has the symbol in it. Click on it to save the word for later. Why four separate stars? Each one has a different purpose:

saves only the given meaning. Try starring one of the words “park” below. Did they both become blue?

saves the given pronunciation. Try starring “read”:

saves the grammar form. Try the second “read” above. Did the third one get highlighted?

saves the whole sentence. Try it in any of the examples above.

The simple rule is: always use the star in the row you would like to remember.

One last thing you should know: phrases and phrasal verbs. Click on “by the way” in the following sentence.

Did you try it? You should see the meaning of the whole phrase, but the grammar and pronunciation rows still show information about the particular word you click on.

When you are ready to review your saved words and phrases, go to the Vocabulary section in the menu (or click on the stars in the top panel).

Keyboard shortcuts

The widget also supports several keyboard shortcuts. You can try them using the examples above.

• arrow keys or h, j, k, l – move between words
• b, r, g, s – star the meaning (blue), pronunciation (red), grammatical form (green) or sentence (sentence), respectively
• i, o – move to the previous/next grammatical form
• u – open the dictionary
• Esc – close or open the widget