Card types1 / 9
In this guide
Card types
Which to use when
A quick map from what you're teaching to the right card type.
What & why
Deckberry has several card types, but you don’t need to master them to make a great deck. Most of what people learn — words, definitions, facts, dates — is a plain question and answer. The type only matters when the shape of what you’re teaching asks for something more: a blank to fill, or an image that carries the question.
The rule
Not sure? Start with Basic. Reach for another type only when the material clearly calls for it.
Seven types are in the editor today:
- Basic — a question on the front, the answer on the back. Your default for almost everything.
- Cloze — fill-in-the-blank inside a sentence. Use it when the surrounding words are the point. One note can expand into several review cards.
- Rich media — when an image is the question or the answer needs a picture beside it.
- Reverse — a fact studied both ways. Use it when the learner must both recognise and produce the answer — vocabulary above all. One note becomes two review cards.
- Multiple choice — a question with 2–5 options and one correct answer. Use it for test-prep and exam practice, where recognising the right answer among plausible distractors is the skill.
- Matching — two short columns the learner pairs up. Use it to drill a small set of related items — words and translations, terms and meanings — in one card.
- Listen & Type — a clip plays and the learner types what they hear. Use it for the part of language reading can’t teach — listening and pronunciation.
- Image occlusion — mask regions of an image and reveal them one at a time. Use it when position is the knowledge — anatomy, maps, diagrams. One image can become several review cards.
All eight card types are live in the editor. Each has its own page describing what it’s for.
Bad → good
The same fact, forced into Cloze versus written as plain Basic. Tap to flip.
Cloze used for a simple word pair — the blank adds nothing.
Basic — the natural shape for a two-sided fact.
When it applies
- Reach for Cloze when the sentence around the blank teaches the meaning — a fact in context, a term inside its definition.
- Reach for Rich media when the learner needs to see something — a flag, a painting, a diagram, a landmark.
- Reach for Reverse when both directions are a real skill — reading a word and saying it, a term and recalling it from its meaning. Skip it when only one direction makes sense (naming a country from its capital usually isn’t the skill you’re after).
- Reach for Multiple choice when the material is exam-style — a question with plausible wrong answers the learner must tell apart. Skip it for plain recall, where Basic is leaner.
- Everything else is Basic. It’s not the beginner’s type; it’s the type most good decks are mostly made of.
Don’t pick a fancier type to make a deck look richer. The best type is the one that matches the material — usually the simplest one that fits.