One word, three ways of knowing it
Triple Match
电脑 · diànnǎo · computer. Three shuffled columns, one tap in each — link the character to its sound and its meaning before the clock runs out. 770+ HSK words, four levels, three lives. Or carry four words through sound, meaning and characters in the untimed relay.
Four words · three links each · untimed
Sound-to-Meaning Relay
Hear a word and find its meaning. The listening choices then disappear: reconnect that same word to its characters from memory. Finally, reverse the direction and find the sound for those characters.
Each word has a visible three-link chain. A mistake keeps your earned links. After four words, try each missed link once, then listen again to the words that needed help.
Tap Listen when you are ready. Replaying is welcome. Text support is available and labeled in your recap.
1 Hear → meaning · 2 Recall → characters · 3 Characters → sound
- Three columns, one word — 汉字, pīnyīn and English are each shuffled separately, so the rows never line up.
- Tap one tile in each column — as soon as all three are picked, the game checks them. Tap a selected tile again to release it.
- A clear refills the board — the matched triple fades out and the next queued word takes its slot, so the board never gets easier as the round goes on.
- Three lives. A wrong triple or a run-out clock costs one. Every 3 clears in a row raises your multiplier, to a maximum of x5.
- Stuck? H or the hint button lights up a 汉字 and its pīnyīn for 50 points — you still have to find the meaning.
How is the relay different from Triple Match?
The relay shows one task at a time instead of three simultaneous columns. Each of four words travels through audio → meaning → characters → audio. Earlier choices vanish before the next link, so you practise carrying a word between listening, memory and reading.
There is no clock. A missed link gets one repair attempt after the four words; completed links stay earned. Your recap separates first answers, pinyin support and repairs. The final listening replay focuses on words you missed or supported, with dictionary readings and a Save to Review button.
This short practice records one study completion and has no ranked score. For the timed board and its leaderboard, select Classic board above. Definitions marked † are from CC-CEDICT; other definitions belong to ThePureLanguage.
† Definitions adapted from CC-CEDICT under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A two-column matching game rewards partial memory. You can pick 电脑 out of a list next to computer without being able to say it out loud — that is recognition, not knowledge. Knowing a Chinese word is three linked facts, and this game refuses to let you skip one.
1. The shape
What the character looks like, and how it differs from its neighbours. This is the half that survives when you read but never speak.
2. The sound
The syllables and the tones. Most learners' weakest link: the meaning is there, the pronunciation is a blur.
3. The meaning
Easy to feel confident about and easy to get subtly wrong when two words sit close together on a board.
Beginner — HSK 1–2, five words on the board
爸爸 电视 飞机 看见 明天 认识 天气 现在 一点儿 宾馆 非常 火车站
Intermediate — HSK 3–4, six on the board
阿姨 鼻子 不但 城市 担心 电子邮件 方便 刚才 关系 后来 几乎 节目
Advanced — HSK 5–6, seven on the board
爱护 包裹 保留 背景 必然 标志 病毒 不断 步骤 惭愧 产生 彻底
Say it before you tap
Read the pinyin out loud with its tone before you commit. It slows you down for a round or two and then it stops costing you anything — and it is the difference between reading Chinese and speaking it.
Mine your misses
The sidebar keeps a running count of the words you keep getting wrong across every session on this device. Those are your real study list — take them to the flashcards and come back.
Move up early
If you clear Beginner without losing a life, go to Intermediate even if it feels early. Matching under mild pressure at the edge of what you know is where the recall actually gets built.