Word Retrieval vs Keyword Understanding
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Word Retrieval
This app helps children and adults improve word-finding abilities through research-based activities. It offers various exercises like naming, associations, and definitions to enhance lexicon organization and word retrieval.
- Confrontational naming
- Associations and divergent naming
- Convergent naming
- Definitions and sentence completion
- Picture naming
- Progress tracking and reporting
- Audio recording feature
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Word Retrieval was created by a certified speech and language pathologist for children and adults with word-finding difficulties. Word Retrieval was built around research on remediation of word retrieval difficulties to help children and adults organize their lexicons through activities including confrontational naming, associations, and divergent and convergent naming to improve their abilities to access already known words and increase their retrieval of words. Word Retrieval can be used for individuals with: -Aphasia -Specific language disorder -Learning disorders -Cognitive deficits leading to word finding difficulties -Autism -Central Auditory Processing Disorder Word Retrieval includes 7 different activity types. (Each activity offers 80 trials, organized into four sets): -Name this Picture -Sentence Completion (e.g. I eat soup with a…) -Opposite Meanings (e.g. What’s the opposite of the word “open”?) -Convergent Naming (This is an animal that has fur and four legs and is used to catch mice.) -Divergent Naming (Name five musical instruments.) -Associations (What things go with a house?) -Definitions (Define the word “lake.”) Word Retrieval offers two activity types: Flashcards and the Word- Challenge Game. In the Flashcard activity, children or adults are presented with a picture or other verbal task (such as a sentence completion task). In the Word Challenge Game, children or adults practice these tasks in more fun way by playing the “Game of Challenge.” Word Retrieval is easy to navigate and employs several tools to allow users to perform the following tasks: -Enter multiple students or patients -Change settings -Save selected goals for future sessions -Select alternate counts for multiple students or patients -Enable or disable written descriptions -Use the audio recording feature -Track correct and incorrect responses -View reports in table form -E-mail results at the end of the game
Keyword Understanding
This app helps users of all ages improve their ability to understand spoken and written directions. It features various activities targeting vocabulary, basic concepts, and sequential instructions, making it beneficial for individuals with listening comprehension or processing difficulties.
- Follow spoken and written directions
- Improve vocabulary and basic concepts
- Target auditory attention and working memory
- Activities for one and two-step directions
- Temporal and sequential direction practice
- Comprehension check for vocabulary and concepts
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“This app is great for children with processing difficulties which need to improve their ability to follow directions with a variety of embedded concepts.” ~ Smart Speech Therapy blog “Every child I have used it with has been very engaged by the lovely, brightly-colored pictures, and has quite happily kept on listening and following the instructions.” ~ Speech Blog UK “It can be used for informal assessments, language therapy and home practice. It can also be used to target auditory attention and working memory for cognitive-communication goals.” ~ Speaking of Apps blog Keyword Understanding is a professional speech and language therapy app that targets the ability to understand sentences and follow spoken and written directions of increasing difficulty. Children and adults are asked to follow directions in their everyday lives. In order to follow directions, the child or adult requires a strong knowledge of vocabulary, basic concepts and the ability to process and retain the information they have listened to or read. WHO IS KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING FOR? - Parents - Teachers - Speech language pathologists / Speech and language therapists - Children with reduced attention and listening comprehension or auditory processing difficulties - Children with receptive language delay, developmental language delay or autism - Adults with mild to moderate aphasia due to stroke or traumatic brain injury - Adults with cognitive-communication difficulties due to stroke or traumatic brain injury WHAT COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES ARE INCLUDED IN KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING? Comprehension Check: This activity helps you identify where comprehension breaks down. It checks the understanding of individual vocabulary items, and the basic concepts of size and color. Object, Size & Color: This activity works on the understanding of the basic concepts of size and color as well as the ability to follow one and two-step directions of increasing difficulty. 2 keyword level: Touch the green car 3 keyword level: Touch the big red mug 4 keyword level: Touch the green vase and the yellow cushion 6 keyword level: Touch the small pink gloves and the big blue comb Before & After: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow temporal directions (directions which include the concepts before/after in a variety of positions in the sentence). “Before you touch the t-shirt, touch the phone” “After you touch the lamp, touch the vase”, “Touch the flower before you touch the box”, “Touch the sock after you touch the bucket”. First & Then: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow sequential directions (directions which include the concepts first/then in the sentence). “First touch the ladder, then touch the bike”. WHAT LANGUAGE & COGNITIVE SKILLS DOES KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING TARGET? - Vocabulary - Listening / Auditory Comprehension - Reading Comprehension - Working Memory - Attention to Detail - Language Processing - Basic Concepts / Adjectives (size, color) - Temporal Directions (Before/After) - Sequential Directions (First… Then) FEATURES 3 modes: - Listening/ Auditory Only: Match the spoken direction to the picture(s) - Reading Only: Match the written direction to the picture(s) - Listening and Reading: Match the spoken and written directions to the picture(s) Keyword Understanding lets you: - Choose from a variety of vocabulary items in different sizes and five different colors allowing for thousands of following directions tasks - Follow directions of increasing difficulty and length - Add individual user profiles - Automatically track correct and incorrect responses of each user - Email a detailed result summary after a session or at a later date - Receive audio feedback for correct answers only, incorrect answers only or both All Aptus Speech Therapy apps participate in the 50% off Volume Purchase Program. Visit our website for more details about our other speech and language therapy apps.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Keyword Understanding at 5.0 against Word Retrieval's 2.5. Keyword Understanding also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Word Retrieval's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $17.99) and review sentiment (46% vs 25%). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Word Retrieval costs $9.99 and Keyword Understanding $17.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Keyword Understanding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 46% of Word Retrieval's written reviews are positive against 25% of Keyword Understanding's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Word Retrieval ships an update every 3 months, Keyword Understanding every 10 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Word Retrieval | Keyword Understanding |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 — better | $17.99 |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.2% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 54 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Virtual Speech Center Inc. | Aptus Speech and Language Therapy Limited |
Customer experience
Word Retrieval
Keyword Understanding
In-app purchases
Word Retrieval
No in-app purchases
Keyword Understanding
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Word Retrieval free?
Is Keyword Understanding free?
Which has better reviews, Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding?
Do Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding have ads?
Which is updated more often, Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding?
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