WordReference APIwordreference.com ↗
Access WordReference translations, vocabulary lists, and word suggestions via API. Get meanings, usage contexts, grammar info, and example sentences across multiple languages.
What is the WordReference API?
This API exposes 5 endpoints covering WordReference.com's multilingual dictionary data, including detailed translations, public vocabulary lists, autocomplete suggestions, and word-of-the-day terms. The get_translations endpoint returns structured translation sections with source terms, usage context, target translations, and verb inflections. The search_words endpoint supports dictionary-scoped autocomplete across language pairs like English-Spanish (enes) and French-English (fren).
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/6dd311ee-d1fb-49ce-999d-31865463a582/search_words?dict=enes&limit=5&query=hello' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace wordreference-com-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: WordReference SDK — translations, suggestions, and vocab lists."""
from parse_apis.wordreference_api import WordReference, DictCode, WordNotFound
wr = WordReference()
# Search for word suggestions in English-Spanish dictionary
for suggestion in wr.wordsuggestions.search(query="run", dict=DictCode.EN_ES, limit=5):
print(suggestion.word, suggestion.lang, suggestion.count)
# Get full translation for a word
translation = wr.translations.get(word="house", dict=DictCode.EN_ES)
print(translation.word, translation.dict)
for section in translation.sections:
print(section.title)
for entry in section.entries:
print(entry.source, entry.context, entry.translation)
# Browse vocabulary lists and drill into one
vocab_list = wr.vocablists.list(limit=1).first()
if vocab_list:
print(vocab_list.name, vocab_list.id)
for vocab_word in vocab_list.words.list(limit=3):
print(vocab_word.word, vocab_word.description)
# Typed error handling: catch WordNotFound for a missing word
try:
wr.translations.get(word="xyznonexistent", dict=DictCode.EN_FR)
except WordNotFound as exc:
print(f"Word not found: {exc.word}")
print("exercised: wordsuggestions.search / translations.get / vocablists.list / vocab_list.words.list")
Search for word suggestions using the WordReference autocomplete API. Returns matching words with their language code and occurrence count. Useful for building typeahead/autocomplete UIs or discovering word forms (plurals, conjugations). Results are ordered by occurrence frequency.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dict | string | Dictionary code specifying the language pair. |
| limit | integer | Maximum number of suggestions to return. |
| queryrequired | string | The search term to find suggestions for. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"suggestions": "array of word suggestion objects with word, lang, and count"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"suggestions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"word": "hello",
"count": 9636
},
{
"lang": "en",
"word": "hellos",
"count": 27
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the WordReference API
Translation Data
The get_translations endpoint accepts a word and an optional dict parameter (e.g., enes, fren, iten) and returns a structured object containing the queried word, the dictionary code used, and a sections array. Each section has a title and an entries array where each entry includes source term, translation, usage context, and example sentences. Where applicable, an inflections field carries verb conjugation or word form data.
Word Suggestions and Autocomplete
The search_words endpoint accepts a query string and optional dict and limit parameters. It returns a suggestions array where each element contains the matched word, its lang (which may be null), and a count integer reflecting occurrence frequency. This is useful for building type-ahead search interfaces or validating input before calling get_translations.
Vocabulary Lists
The list_vocab_lists endpoint returns all available public vocabulary collections as an array of objects with name, id, and url fields. The id value (e.g., Spanish-List.2998) can be passed directly to the get_vocab_from_list endpoint, which returns the corresponding words array — each word paired with a description string — along with the requested list_id.
Word of the Day
The get_word_of_the_day endpoint takes no parameters and returns a words array of the current featured terms alongside a raw_text field containing the original pipe-separated source string. This is a lightweight endpoint suitable for daily content feeds or language-learning notifications.
The WordReference API is a managed, monitored endpoint for wordreference.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when wordreference.com changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official wordreference.com API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Building a multilingual dictionary app that surfaces context-specific translations and example sentences from
get_translations. - Implementing type-ahead search for a language learning tool using
search_wordswith a specific dictionary code likeenes. - Generating daily vocabulary flashcards for learners by polling
get_word_of_the_dayand enriching results withget_translations. - Exporting curated word sets from public vocabulary lists via
get_vocab_from_listfor offline study decks. - Detecting valid dictionary entries before processing by checking
search_wordssuggestion counts. - Populating a language learning course with pre-organized thematic vocabulary from
list_vocab_listsandget_vocab_from_list. - Extracting verb conjugation and inflection data from the
inflectionsfield inget_translationsto build grammar reference tools.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does WordReference have an official developer API?+
What does the `get_translations` endpoint return beyond the translated word?+
sections array where each section has a title and an entries array. Each entry contains the source term, usage context, translation, and example sentences. An inflections field is also included when conjugation or word form data is available for the queried word.Does the API cover user forum discussions or community-contributed translations from WordReference forums?+
Can I retrieve translations for all available language pair dictionaries?+
dict parameter accepts any valid WordReference dictionary code (e.g., enes, fren, iten), so language pair coverage depends on what WordReference supports at the source. The API does not currently expose an endpoint that lists all valid dictionary codes. You can fork the API on Parse and revise it to add a dictionary listing endpoint.Are the vocabulary lists returned by `list_vocab_lists` filterable by language or topic?+
list_vocab_lists endpoint returns all available public lists with name, id, and url fields, but does not expose language or topic filter parameters. Filtering must be done client-side on the returned array. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add server-side filtering if the underlying list metadata supports it.