Merriam vs Interactive Thesaurus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Merriam
Access America's leading dictionary with over 15,000 extra entries for people and places. Enjoy offline access, voice search, and daily vocabulary builders. This app offers expert word guidance with a thesaurus and example sentences.
- Ad-free experience
- 15,000+ premium entries
- Offline dictionary access
- Voice search functionality
- Daily Word of the Day
- Vocabulary-building word games
- Integrated thesaurus
Read full descriptionHide full description
Get America's most useful and respected dictionary, optimized for your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Continuously updated with the newest words and meanings, this is the premier iOS app for English language reference, education, and vocabulary building. Key Features: * No ads! * Premium Content: Over 15,000 additional entries covering people and places * Offline access: Complete access to definitions and synonyms whether or not you're connected * Voice Search: look up a word without having to spell it * Word of the Day: learn a new word every day * Word Games: fun, fast quizzes to test your vocabulary * Favorite Words and Search History: keep track of the words that are most important to you * Favorite Word Syncing Through iCloud: share your favorites between devices and on the Web * For Tablets: browse the entire dictionary with a scrolling index * Apple Watch Extension: see the Word of the Day and find watch-sized definitions with voice search Expert Word Guidance: * Integrated Thesaurus: more than 200,000 word choices with examples of their use * Example Sentences: understand how a word is used in context * Audio Pronunciations: voiced by real English speakers, not text-to-speech robots Terms of Use: https://www.merriam-webster.com/terms-of-use
Interactive Thesaurus
Explore word meanings and relationships with this smart English thesaurus. It helps you find suitable words, expand your vocabulary, and improve grammar through an intuitive interface with semantic relations and color-coded parts of speech. Offline access and sharing options are included.
- 200,000+ English words and definitions
- Visual semantic relations between words
- Color coding for parts of speech
- Word suggestions
- Editable bookmarks
- Offline access
Read full descriptionHide full description
Interactive Thesaurus is a new smart way to explore word meanings and relations. This application is a English thesaurus that helps you find the meanings for words and show relations between associated words. You can quickly find a suitable word, extend your vocabulary and improve your grammar. FEATURES: ● More than 200,000 English words and definitions ● Intuitive interface that shows semantic relations between words ● Color coding for different parts of speech ● Word suggestions ● Editable bookmarks function ● Undo/Redo ● Save the result image into Photo library, send it by email or share it with your friends ● No internet connection required FEEDBACK: If you enjoy it, be sure to rate each new version 5 star on the App Store. If you have any comments or suggestions, email me at support@alextataurov.com. THESAURUS SOURCE: The application uses the WordNet® lexical database (created by Princeton University).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Interactive Thesaurus at $2.99 against Merriam's $9.99. Interactive Thesaurus also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Merriam's advantage is ratings volume (22K vs 759) and chart position (#10 vs unranked). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Merriam costs $9.99 and Interactive Thesaurus $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Merriam against 4.8 for Interactive Thesaurus. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Merriam has 22K ratings behind it against 759, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Merriam's written reviews are positive against 71% of Interactive Thesaurus's.
Merriam ships an update every 5 months, Interactive Thesaurus every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Merriam | Interactive Thesaurus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (22K ratings) | 4.8 (759 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.0% of reviews — better | 71.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 22K — better | 759 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Freemium — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #10 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 238 MB | 96 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Merriam-Webster, Inc. | Alexey Tataurov |
Customer experience
Merriam
Interactive Thesaurus
User reviews
Merriam
From 22K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clear and intuitive layout
- 🚀 Convenient offline access
- 🔍 Comprehensive word definitions
- 🔠 Helpful thesaurus and word games
- 🔊 Useful audio pronunciations
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app freezes and crashes
- ⚠️ Missing words and incomplete definitions
- 🔍 Lack of spell-check and word suggestions
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔀 Difficulty navigating back to previous words
Interactive Thesaurus
From 759 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 💡 Innovative visual approach
- ❤️ Helpful writing tool
- 👍 Useful for writing and expanding vocabulary
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and performance issues
- 🤔 Overlapping words and cluttered display
- 🤔 Limited word associations and definitions
- 🤔 Rotation and movement issues
Bugs and requests
Merriam
Reported bugs
4 issues- App freezes and crashes on launch
- Audio pronunciations not working in some cases
- Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
- Syncing issues between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Improved search with spell-check and suggestions
- Ability to mark and review words
- Integration with system search and Siri
- Support for landscape mode and dark mode
- Expanded word coverage and more detailed definitions
Interactive Thesaurus
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when typing
- Tapping on words doesn't always work as expected
- Inconsistent behavior across devices
Requested features
4 requests- Allow users to add words
- Ability to isolate and expand individual word nodes
- Option to turn off animation/rotation
- Incorporate audio/sound features
In-app purchases
Merriam
No in-app purchases
Interactive Thesaurus
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Merriam free?
Is Interactive Thesaurus free?
Which has better reviews, Merriam or Interactive Thesaurus?
Do Merriam or Interactive Thesaurus have ads?
Which is updated more often, Merriam or Interactive Thesaurus?
Other comparisons















