Listen with purpose
Sentence-level playback keeps practice focused instead of drifting into passive listening.
Dictation training for curious ears
Build listening & spelling all at once
Dictation may be the most efficient way to improve your listening, spelling, reading, and writing — all at once. Word By Word turns that idea into a playful, completely free practice loop: listen, type what you hear, check your accuracy, save your misspelt words, and turn weak spots into your next workout.
Offline use is supported after voices are downloaded.
Support
Modern browser, 740px
Best On
Mac & iPad
Chapter 04
The Little Rocket
Listen carefully, then type the sentence you hear.
the rocket glowed...
92%
:)
Tap play.
Hear it again.
Win the sentence.
repeat
check
Type what you hear
The typing area turns every pass into active recall, not just recognition.
Turn mistakes into momentum
My Tricky Words keeps the words you miss, Context Drill puts them into fresh situations, and Create lets you make the next lesson fit your curiosity.
The reason to come back
Context Drill puts tricky words into unexpected situations.
It notices the words you keep misspelling, selects your most persistent weak spots, and weaves them into a fresh, coherent story for you to practise. Your errors stop being a score on a page and become the material for your next workout.
01Dictate normally and real mistakes accumulated automatically.
02Context Drill places your trickiest words in a fresh context.
03Listen, type, repeat — tricky words cleared in a fun way!
Your tricky words
environment
necessary
opportunity
→
A new drill
The Unexpected Opportunity
Listen to a story that naturally uses the words you need most.
listen · type · improveBuilt in from day one
Start with something worth hearing.
Word By Word includes 1,229 original listening and reading practice exercises across 13 learning tracks — from English A1 and Cambridge-style A2–C2 practice to IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, GRE, Spanish and SIELE materials.
1,229built-in exercises
13learning tracks
4core skills in the loop
What is inside?
Sentence-level listening, dictation-friendly transcripts, short dialogues, monologues, interviews, academic talks, articles and exam-informed reading practice.
This is your starting point.Everything here is ready to practise — Create and My Import are optional ways to add your own material later.
Important: Built-in materials are original Word By Word practice content informed by the listed levels, genres and exam formats. Word By Word is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official preparation provider for Cambridge English, IELTS, ETS, College Board, Instituto Cervantes or any other exam owner. Exam names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The library does not reproduce official questions, answer keys or test papers unless specifically identified.
Optional add-on · extend the level ladder
Want more practice? Generate a lesson at your level.
Create starts from the same level system as the built-in library. Give WBW a topic, and its AI shapes a fresh dictation episode to match your selected language, difficulty, vocabulary and sentence length.
- Choose the level and language before you generate.
- Get original, coherent listening material instead of a random text dump.
- Save generated episodes into your own books and practise them like built-in lessons.
- Use Create when you want more guided material inside the library’s progression.
Your idea
A short story about space travel
B1 · English
→
Your new episode
The First Long Journey
Original text, tuned to your level and ready to listen, type and repeat.
guided · level-matched · yoursOptional add-on · bring your own text or photos
Already have a passage or a photo? Practise it as-is.
Have an article, a class handout, a work email, a page or a photo of text you want to study? Paste it or import from a picture into My Import, save it under your own books and episodes, then listen, follow the transcript and practise it sentence by sentence.
- Paste up to 1,000 characters per episode.
- Import from a photo — handy for handouts, screenshots and book pages.
- Edit, preview and save your own raw text.
- Organise custom books and episode titles.
- No level system and no AI rewriting — your text stays yours.
After the built-in library
Add your own material when you’re ready.
Guided by WBW AI
Start with a topic. WBW follows your selected level and shapes it into a new practice episode.
Text or photos from you
Start with text you already have — paste it or import from a photo, keep the wording exactly as it is, and practise it without AI rewriting.
Strongly recommended
Start in the app, then keep it close.
Before you start
What to know today.
Does it work on phones or Android?
Word By Word works in modern browsers on any device with a screen width of at least 740 pixels. Phones are too narrow for the current layout, but most tablets and all desktops are fine.
Do I need to install anything from an app store?
No. Open the web app in Safari, then save it to your Home Screen or Dock for the recommended experience.
What's the best way to use Word By Word on iPad?
For the best experience on iPad, use a Bluetooth keyboard like Apple's Magic Keyboard rather than the on-screen keyboard.
Can I practise with my own text?
Yes. Use Create for a level-matched episode generated from a topic, or My Import for text you want to keep exactly as written. Paste it or import from a picture, create books and episodes, use up to 1,000 characters per episode, and practise against the text you brought in.
Ready when you are