Zyzzyva

Zyzzyva is another great freeware program for studying words. I'd compare it to LeXpert. It can generate lists and quizzes. But it has a few features that give it a leg up over LeXpert. Maybe the most important feature is that it has access to the words' definitions. When you type an answer, the word appears in the answer window along with its definition and the inflections that appear in the definition. Although I'm among those who believe definitions are optional knowledge in Scrabble, it helps to know if they are verbs or nouns or whatnot in order to get the hooks straight in your head. It also helps stave off the misreading of words, such as when I read UNIDEAL as UNI-DEAL rather than UN-IDEAL. Hooks are given as well. I also like the timed quiz feature, which gives it more the feeling of a game.

I also like how you can generate lists or quizzes based off of the results of a quiz. Say you missed 50 words in your 120 word list. You can right-click on the results and have it either save the list for you or you can generate a new list using only the words you missed. That's a great way to learn the words you missed.

I'm still feeling it out, particularly the word search features. The term "sub-anagram" seems clunky to me. Maybe LeXpert wins out here. I haven't figure out how to generate lists that include one letter OR another letter, such as words that contain either J, Q, X, or Z. But I'm probably missing something there.

Overall, I think Zyzzyva will be my study program of choice from here on out.