Comparison

Word Retrieval vs Keyword Understanding

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Confrontational naming
  • Associations and divergent naming
  • Convergent naming
  • Definitions and sentence completion
  • Picture naming
  • Progress tracking and reporting
  • Audio recording feature
Features
Read full description

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

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
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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

Keyword Understanding4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Word Retrieval ships an update every 3 months, Keyword Understanding every 10 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Word Retrieval versus Keyword Understanding: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWord RetrievalKeyword Understanding
Price$9.99 — better$17.99
Rating2.5 (2 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.2% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings23 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS7.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVirtual Speech Center Inc.Aptus Speech and Language Therapy Limited

Customer experience

Word Retrieval

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral15.4%
Negative38.5%

Keyword Understanding

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%

In-app purchases

None

Word Retrieval

No in-app purchases

None

Keyword Understanding

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Word Retrieval free?
Word Retrieval costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Keyword Understanding free?
Keyword Understanding costs $17.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding?
Keyword Understanding is rated higher. Word Retrieval averages 2.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Keyword Understanding averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding have ads?
Neither Word Retrieval nor Keyword Understanding shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Word Retrieval or Keyword Understanding?
Word Retrieval ships an update every 3 months, and Keyword Understanding every 10 months. Most recently, Word Retrieval was updated on October 23, 2026 and Keyword Understanding on October 23, 2026.

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