Card types8 / 9
In this guide
Card types
Reverse
Study a fact in both directions.
What & why
A Reverse card is a Basic card studied both ways. You write one front and back, and the learner is tested in both directions — front→back and back→front. It’s built for pairs where you need to both recognise and produce the answer, especially vocabulary.
When it beats Basic
Use it when both directions genuinely matter. For a language learner, seeing “buenos días” → “good morning” (recognition) is only half the job; being asked “good morning” → “buenos días” (production) is the harder, more useful half. Reverse gives you both from one note.
Skip it when only one direction makes sense — a capital city recalled from its country is useful, but naming the country from “Canberra” often isn’t the skill you’re after.
One note, two cards
Like Cloze, one Reverse note becomes more than one review card — here, two: front→back and back→front. That doubles the review load per note, so a 50-note deck is 100 cards to study. It’s efficient to author but plan the count on purpose: if the reverse direction isn’t worth studying, a plain Basic card is the leaner choice.
A good fit: hola ↔ hello — the learner needs to both understand it and say it.