LyricsTraining is a listening platform built around one idea: turn music videos into interactive gap-fill exercises. Students watch a real music video, the lyrics scroll below, and words disappear one by one. The student has to type what they hear before the song moves on.

The site has been around since 2009 and now hosts content in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Turkish, Polish, Swedish, Finnish, and Catalan. The English catalogue is by far the largest.

You can filter by genre (pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, country, jazz, classical, soundtrack, world, children's music), by language, and by difficulty. Difficulty is controlled through three modes:

• Beginner — only 1 or 2 words missing per line
• Intermediate — about half the words missing
• Expert — the entire line is blank, typed from scratch

There's also a Karaoke mode with the full lyrics displayed and a microphone-friendly scoring system. Premium removes ads, unlocks HD videos, and expands the music library.

Three classroom patterns that actually work:

• 5-minute warm-up: one song on the projector at the start of class. Students race against the timer. Instant engagement, even with teens who normally tune out.
• Listening comprehension task: pick a song you taught the previous week. Play it twice. Students fill in the gaps. Discussion follows: meaning, slang, cultural references.
• Pronunciation drill via karaoke: after students know the song, switch to karaoke mode. They sing into the mic and get a rough accuracy score. Builds confidence for shyer students.

For higher levels, use the Expert mode as a dictation exercise. For mixed-ability groups, pair weaker students with stronger ones on Beginner mode and let stronger students attempt Expert on their own.

The site works on phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and laptops. School filters sometimes block YouTube, which breaks video playback — audio-only mode still works in that case, or you can switch to a mirror site if your district allows it.

Yes — LyricsTraining is worth bookmarking as a regular listening resource. The free tier alone covers most classroom use cases, and students genuinely enjoy it because they're listening to songs they already know or want to know.

The honest limits: difficulty is song-by-song, not CEFR-tagged. A Taylor Swift song is much easier than a fast UK grime track even at the same gap-fill level. You'll need to preview songs before class. Also, no grammar or vocabulary teaching — this is pure listening practice.

Honest recommendation: use LyricsTraining once a week as a listening warm-up or Friday reward activity. Pair it with a more structured listening resource (British Council, ESL Brains, or Crystal Clear ESL) when you need CEFR-tagged practice with comprehension questions.