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Verbal Memory Test

Words appear one at a time. Is each one new, or have you seen it already?

Type
Memory
Takes
about 1-3 min
Result in
words

Verbal Memory

~1-3 min

  1. Words appear one at a time.
  2. If you have seen the word before in this run, answer Seen. If not, answer New.
  3. You have 3 lives: each mistake costs one. Keyboard: S or N.

It gets harder as the list of words you have seen grows.

Your result: — words

How it's measured

Try another challenge

How does the verbal memory test work?

Words appear one at a time. For each word, answer Seen if it has already come up in this run, or New if it hasn't, with the buttons or the S and N keys. After the first few words, about 40% are repeats of words already shown. You have 3 lives: each wrong answer costs one, and the run ends when they are gone. The words are everyday nouns and adjectives, 302 of them, chosen for this site.

How is your result calculated?

Your result is the number of right answers before your third mistake. You also see how many words you were shown and how many different words came up. There is no time limit on an answer.

What is verbal memory?

Verbal memory is memory for words and other things put into language. This test asks for recognition: not recalling words yourself, but judging whether a word is familiar. It gets harder as the run goes on, because every word you have seen makes the next judgement more crowded: a word can feel familiar just because a similar one came up.

How to score higher

  • Picture each new word. An image of a lantern is easier to recognise later than the bare word.
  • Distrust vague familiarity. Common words can feel familiar even when they are new. If you can't remember actually seeing it, it is more likely new.
  • Take your time. There is no clock. A careful answer costs nothing, and a mistake costs a life.

This is a recreational test, not an assessment, and it has no clinical norms. For memory for faces, try the Face Memory Test; for memory for numbers, the Digit Span Test.

Questions

What is the average verbal memory score?
Around 40. On Human Benchmark's verbal memory test, which works the same way (new or seen, out after three mistakes), the middle score of about 26,700 results on its statistics chart was about 41 when we read it on 13 October 2026. Its word list is different, so take that as a rough guide.
What does the verbal memory test measure?
Recognition memory for words: telling words you have seen from new ones, while the list of seen words keeps growing.
How often are words repeated?
After the first few words, about 40% are repeats, picked from the words already shown, never the one just before.
Can a word be repeated more than once?
Yes. A word you have seen can come back again later; it stays a Seen word every time.
Is this a test for dementia?
No. It is a game with no norms. If you are worried about your memory, talk to a doctor.