Open Words

Open Words is a simple yet powerful app for creating personal dictionaries, reviewing vocabulary through games, and learning foreign languages.

This app is the next generation of my earlier .NET MAUI, now fully rewritten in Flutter with expanded functionality and a modern UI..

For the best results, use English as the base language along with the language you're learning.

Table of Contents

• Open Words
  • Table of Contents
  • Features
  • Data Format (Import/Export JSON)
    • Example JSON
    • Structure
  • Data Sources
  • Supported Platforms
  • Getting Started
    • Requirements
    • Install and Run
  • License
  • Screenshots
    • Dark and Light
    • Build Vocabulary
    • Export your Dictionaries
    • Play Games
    • Desktop or Tablet

Features

All features are designed to help you stay organized and make learning more interactive and fun.

• 🎙️ Text-to-Speech support and configuration — listen to word pronunciation.

• 🎨 Multiple themes and color schemes — choose the look that suits you.

• 📁 Create folders and dictionaries — organize your vocabulary into structured groups.

• 🎮 Games based on your dictionaries — reinforce learning through interactive practice.

• 🌐 Quick translation in browser or with AI — open words in a translator with one tap.

• 🔍 Fetch metadata for English words — get meanings, definitions, phonetics, synonyms, and antonyms (English only for now).

• 📤📥 Export and import dictionaries — share or save them locally.

Currently, to use AI, you need to have a server (your computer that can run LM Studio or a similar software).

At first glance, it may look hard, but it’s actually easy and secure.

Check out my tutorial on how to set up LM Studio.

Data Format (Import/Export JSON)

The app uses a clean and simple JSON format for importing and exporting dictionaries. Internally, Open Words stores data in a local SQL database for performance and scalability.

Example JSON

The JSON data can be provided in two forms:

A single dictionary object:

{
  "name": "Nature",
  "origin": "en",
  "translation": "uk",
  "words": [
    { "origin": "tree", "translation": "дерево" }
  ]
}

Or an array of dictionary objects:

[
  {
    "name": "Nature",
    "origin": "en",
    "translation": "uk",
    "words": [
      { "origin": "tree", "translation": "дерево" },
      { "origin": "garden", "translation": "сад" },
      { "origin": "mountain", "translation": "гора" }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "Animals",
    "origin": "en",
    "translation": "uk",
    "words": [
      { "origin": "cat", "translation": "кіт" }
    ]
  }
]

The app will automatically detect and handle either format during import.

Structure

Each dictionary (or word group) is represented as an object inside a JSON array:

• name: The title of the word group (e.g., "Nature").
• origin: The ISO language code (e.g., "en", "uk")
• translation: Same as origin, but for the target language.
• words: An array of word pairs:
  • origin: Word in the source language
  • translation: Corresponding word in the target language

This flexible and minimal structure makes it easy to back up, share, and transfer your vocabulary across devices.

Data Sources

Open Words fetches English word metadata — including definitions, phonetics, synonyms, and antonyms — from the Dictionary API, a free and open-source dictionary API.

Example API request for the word "advice":
https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en/advice

You can find their source code and documentation here:
GitHub - meetDeveloper/freeDictionaryAPI

Supported Platforms

Platform	Status	Notes
Windows	✅ Fully tested	Stable and fully functional
Android	✅ Fully tested	Optimized for phones and tablets
Web	⚠️ Partially supported	UI works, but local database is not implemented yet
Linux	❓ Untested	Expected to work, but not yet tested
iOS	❓ Untested	Expected to work, but not yet tested
macOS	❓ Untested	Expected to work, but not yet tested

🧪 If you test on an unverified platform, feel free to open an issue!

Getting Started

Requirements

• Flutter SDK
• A device or emulator (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, or Linux)

Install and Run

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/sipasi/open_words.git
cd open_words

Get the dependencies:

flutter pub get

Run the app:

flutter run

Make sure you have the appropriate platform toolchains installed. Refer to the official Flutter docs if needed.

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and share ❤️

Screenshots

expand

Dark and Light

Build Vocabulary

metadata web loading supports only english words

Export your Dictionaries

supports formats: json, text and pdf (will be available in future releases)

Play Games

Desktop or Tablet