Inspiration

When learning English, I noticed that full-page translators make reading effortless but also ineffective. You no longer engage with the text — everything is instantly translated. LexiLearn was born from the idea that language learning should stay contextual and active: highlight only new words, show their meaning instantly, and let you save what truly matters.

What it does

LexiLearn is a Chrome extension that helps users learn English vocabulary directly while browsing. It automatically highlights new or unknown words, displays definitions in context, and lets users save selected words into personalized vocabulary decks for review or export.

Key features included

• Smart highlighting: only new or unknown words are annotated, keeping reading natural.
• Instant meaning lookup: view word meanings with one click.
• Personal vocabulary decks: organize words by topic or difficulty (e.g., basic, GRE).
• Excel export: save all words into My_Vocabulary.xlsx for further study.
• Offline-friendly: works locally with built-in word lists (/assets/lists/*.txt).

Challenges we ran into

• Ensuring the extension correctly injects scripts into various webpage types.
• Handling large text files for GRE and frequency word lists efficiently.
• Managing async communication between content.js, background.js, and sidepanel.js.
• Fixing export bugs and path issues with xlsx.full.min.js in Chrome’s restricted environment.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

My first hackathon project!!! Finish by myself!!!🏆 (of course with ChatGPT :)

What’s next for LexiLearn

• Expand word list coverage: Add more vocabulary sets for different goals and exams (e.g., TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, GRE, etc.), so learners can always find a list that fits their needs.
• Support more languages: Extend beyond English to include bilingual learning modes for users studying other languages.
• Add a notes module: Allow users to write quick notes, examples, or memory tips for each saved word.
• Publish on the Chrome Web Store: Make LexiLearn easily accessible to everyone with one-click installation.

Built With

• css
• github
• html
• javascript
• xlsx.js