DELE A2 Vocabulary Apps Compared (2026): Anki, Memrise, Duolingo

Preparing for the DELE A2 exam is different from learning Spanish casually. You don't have years - you have weeks. And you don't need all of Spanish, you need the specific vocabulary that appears on the exam.

Here's how the common options compare. Disclosure: we make the Prep2Go DELE A2 deck, so read that section with this in mind.

Why Most Apps Fail DELE A2 Candidates

Duolingo, Babbel, and Memrise are built for general language learning. They'll teach you "the cat is on the table" before they teach you "renew your residence permit" - which is exactly the kind of vocabulary DELE A2 tests.

The exam covers four skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Pass needs 30/50 in each Grupo (Reading + Writing, Listening + Speaking), out of 100. You can look strong overall and still fail on one weak pair.

Apps that don't organize vocabulary by exam section set you up for exactly this trap.

The Apps, Compared

Anki + Prep2Go DELE A2 Deck (our deck)

Anki is a widely used spaced-repetition app. The app is free on desktop and Android (one-time $25 on iOS) and uses spaced repetition - showing you words exactly when you're about to forget them.

The problem: Anki alone is just the engine. You need the right fuel.

The Prep2Go DELE A2 deck is built specifically for the citizenship exam - not general Spanish. It includes:

• 2,100+ words chosen around DELE A2 exam topics
• Clear European Spanish audio on the example sentences
• Vocabulary organized by exam topic so you can target weak areas
• Example sentences in exam context
• Sample-card preview before you buy
• One-time purchase, no subscription

This combination - Anki's spaced repetition engine + exam-specific vocabulary - is the core of an exam-focused vocabulary routine.

Memrise — polished alternative

Memrise uses spaced repetition with video clips of native Spanish speakers, which helps with listening comprehension. The interface is more polished than Anki and easier to get started with.

The downside: It's built for general Spanish vocabulary, not DELE exam content. The free tier is limited, and the paid subscription adds up. You'll learn useful words, but not necessarily the ones tested on your exam.

Best for: Supplementary practice alongside an exam-specific deck.

Duolingo — daily habit tool

Duolingo is free, habit-forming, and genuinely good for building a daily study routine. Spanish is one of its better courses.

The problem: It's designed for general fluency, not exam passing. The vocabulary sequence follows Duolingo's logic, not the DELE exam structure. Most serious candidates use it as a warm-up, not a primary study tool.

Best for: 10-15 minutes of daily warm-up, nothing more.

LingQ — reading-first

LingQ lets you import any Spanish content - articles, books, YouTube transcripts - and look up words instantly. It tracks your vocabulary progress across everything you read.

The downside: Monthly subscription, steep learning curve, and no exam-specific focus. Better for long-term fluency than short-term exam prep.

Best for: Candidates with 3+ months before their exam who want to build reading comprehension alongside vocabulary.

Babbel — structured lessons

Babbel's bite-sized 15-minute lessons are well-designed and cover real conversational Spanish.

The problem: it's a slower route to exam vocabulary, and the lesson path doesn't follow DELE exam topics. As a monthly subscription, it costs more than a one-off deck for exam prep.

Best for: Complete beginners who need foundational Spanish before tackling exam vocabulary.

Side by Side

The Winning Study Stack

A simple stack that covers the main needs:

• Anki + Prep2Go deck (30 min/day) - vocabulary retention
• Duolingo (10 min/day) - daily habit and warm-up
• Talkio (https://www.talkio.ai?via=prep2go, code PREP2GO for 15% off) — solo AI speaking drills between Prep2Go sessions
• SpanishDict (free) - dictionary and grammar reference when needed

Start 2-3 months before your exam. Review 30-50 new cards per day. Focus extra time on whichever exam section is your weakest.

How to choose apps by exam outcome, not hype

Many app lists score apps on popularity, not exam transfer. For DELE A2, your app stack should help you do three things better each week: remember high-frequency vocabulary, understand it in real listening context, and produce it in writing/speaking with fewer pauses. If an app improves only one of these dimensions, it is useful but incomplete.

A practical framework is role-based selection: one app for retention, one for context exposure, and one for fast lookup/clarification. This prevents the common trap of trying to make a single app solve every problem. In exam prep, role clarity saves both time and money.

Weekly usage pattern that scales

1. Mon-Fri: 20-30 minutes retention app (new + review cards).
2. 3 days/week: 15-20 minutes context listening with target vocabulary.
3. 2 days/week: short writing or speaking drill using this week's lexical set.
4. Weekend: mini-timed task to test transfer, then update weak-word list.

This schedule is intentionally simple. Consistency beats intensity in vocabulary preparation. If you can sustain this for eight to ten weeks, you typically gain enough lexical stability to reduce errors across reading, listening, and writing tasks.

Before paying for any premium plan, run a seven-day test: does the app help you recall words faster, use them in sentences, and understand them in audio? If not, switch early. The best app is the one that moves your mock scores, not the one with the most features.

One more criterion that matters for DELE candidates is friction. If the app takes too many taps to start a session, you will skip practice on busy days. Choose tools that let you begin a useful review in less than a minute. Low friction creates habit; habit creates retention; retention creates exam points.

Anki-first workflow for DELE A2 (exam-specific decks)

Spaced repetition works when cards contain usable chunks, not isolated glosses. For DELE, front-load cards with short phrases you can drop into writing and speaking: requests, refusals, time expressions, and polite closings. Nouns alone are easy to review but slow to deploy under time pressure.

Cap new cards per day to a number you can sustain for twelve weeks. Overshooting daily new items creates review debt, then abandonment. A conservative daily load that you never skip beats an aggressive load that collapses after three weeks.

Each week, tag cards by exam skill: reading recognition, listening recognition, production. During review, vary modality: say production cards aloud, visualize listening cards in a dialogue context, and rewrite writing cards once without looking. This cross-modal pass is how Anki transfers to mocks.

If you use a commercial deck, still add a personal “mistake deck” from mock feedback. Exam-specific errors are the highest ROI cards because they target your actual failure modes. Generic decks cannot replace that personalization in the final month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which app is best for DELE A2 vocabulary?

Use a DELE-specific deck in a spaced-repetition app. Ours (Prep2Go) has 2,100+ words organized by DELE A2 topic categories with clear European Spanish audio.

Is Anki free for DELE A2 preparation?

Anki is free on desktop and Android. The iOS app costs a one-time $25. Prep2go's DELE A2 deck works on all platforms.

Can I use Memrise instead of Anki for DELE A2?

Memrise works for general vocabulary but lacks DELE A2-specific topic organization. For exam-targeted prep, a DELE-specific deck is more efficient.

Related DELE A2 Articles

→ DELE A2: 1,000 essential words

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