Learn Russian, Italian, Georgian or Spanish words by fighting zombies
EngiWord is a free browser game for building vocabulary. Zombies are walking at you, each with a sign over its head: a picture or an English word. Type that word in the language you are learning, and the zombie drops. Too slow, and it crawls closer. One game runs you through dozens of words, and spaced repetition keeps them from slipping away.
One-click sign-in with Google. Runs in the browser on a computer or a phone.
How it works
- A sign over every zombie shows a picture or a translation. Type the word in the language you are learning, no need to press Enter: the right word fires the shot.
- Too slow? The zombie keeps walking, and a new one comes out behind it. Miss three in a row, and the fourth one eats you. The closer a missed zombie crawls, the more letters show on its sign.
- A new word comes with a picture and a translation and gives you more time. Typed it with no mistakes and no hints in time? Then you already knew it: the word counts as learned at once and won't show up again.
- Didn't get it the first time? The word comes back in the same game. Two right answers in a row, and it is learned.
- Rounds and locations. Kill every zombie of a round, and after a countdown you are in a new location: Graveyard, Night City, Beach, Snowy Village, Moon Base. After the last one a mountain of defeated zombies grows.
Russian, Italian, Georgian or Spanish
The game speaks five languages — English, Russian, Italian, Georgian and Spanish — and teaches any pair of them. Speak English? Learn any of the other four. Every pair keeps its own level, words and records, so you can learn two languages side by side without mixing them up.
🇷🇺 Russian
Cyrillic words from the basics up to B2. The letter ё is optional: черный counts as чёрный. The game warns you when your keyboard is on the wrong layout.
🇮🇹 Italian
The same words in Italian. Accents are optional: citta counts as città and perche as perché. A good start before a trip to Italy or a course.
🇬🇪 Georgian
Georgia's own alphabet, word by word: from გამარჯობა (hello) to B2. Type with a Georgian keyboard layout or simply say the words out loud.
🇪🇸 Spanish
The same words in Spanish. Accents are optional: cancion counts as canción, but ñ has to be typed as ñ. A good start before a trip to Spain or Latin America.
Speak Russian, Italian, Georgian or Spanish and want to learn English? EngiWord teaches English too: pick your language at the top of the page.
Vocabulary from A1 to B2
The game holds 3,754 words sorted by CEFR, the international scale of language levels: A1, A1+, A2, A2+, B1 and B2. You pick a level when you start. When the new words of a level run out, the game tells you it is time to move up.
Starting from zero? Take A1. There the zombies walk slower, the first hint letter shows up already halfway, the game starts with two grenades, and a grenade crate falls from the sky every 5 zombies.
Spaced repetition: words that stay
A learned word comes back after 1, 3 and 9 days, and once recalled after 9 days it is learned for good. Hard words return again and again, easy ones less and less often. Words you knew from the start leave the queue at once and don't waste your time.
The menu shows how many words are learned, how many are in progress and which are due for review, and after every game you get the list of words you stumbled on.
Say it instead of typing
Turn on the microphone and say the words out loud. Speech is recognised right in the browser: the recognition model (40–50 MB) downloads once, and the microphone audio is never sent anywhere. Voice input works for all five languages of the game, which is especially handy on a phone.
Squads: play with friends
Create a squad and invite friends by their nickname: up to three players in one game, a shared score and voice chat. You can shoot zombies on any lane, so teammates cover each other. Squads have their own trials, from Baptism of Fire to Mountain of Corpses for 2,000 zombies, and a squad game takes you to the School, the Jungle and the Lagoon.
Before the fight everyone picks a hero:
Nerd
Read everything there is about zombies. Now testing it in the field.
Granny
Fed her grandkids for forty years. Now she feeds zombies — dumplings right between the eyes.
Punky
Cranks the bass all the way up — zombie ears fall off. And not only ears.
Catstronaut
Flew to space for some cream. Came back, and the place is full of zombies.
Flying zombies and a falling grand piano
Now and then special zombies fly in: izomb on a hot-air balloon, vazomb on a party balloon and vizomb on a bunch of black balloons. They hover over you and tease you in the language you are learning, with lines that match your level, and their sign carries a whole phrase. Type it in time, and they drop a weapon: a grenade, a grenade launcher, and from vizomb a grand piano 🎹. Every third izomb shot down also drops a totem of undying: it saves you once, when a zombie does get to you.
On a phone, like an app
EngiWord runs in the browser on a computer and a smartphone. On a phone you can add the game to the home screen: it opens full screen like a regular app, with no app store and nothing to install.
Questions
How much does it cost?
Nothing. There are no paid features and no ads.
How do I start?
Open engiword.com and tap “Sign in with Google”. We get only your first name from Google, not your email. Then pick the language you speak and the one you want to learn, and fight.
I don't know a single word. Is it for me?
Yes. Pick level A1: new words come with a picture and a translation, and the zombies there walk slower.
Can I learn several languages?
Yes. Add another language pair in the menu: each pair has its own level, words and records.
Do I need to install anything?
No, a modern browser is enough. For voice input the browser needs access to the microphone.
What do you store about me?
Only what the game needs: your nickname, your Google account id to recognise you next time, your progress with words and your game results. The details are in the privacy policy.