Learning vocabulary is an essential skill every child must practice frequently during schooling. In this study, we compared two different learning conditions to evaluate a beneficial and practicable tool for vocabulary training. The trial involved 176 participants (eight to 14 years; Mage: 10.8, SD: 1.64). Half of the children (grouplist: n = 88, 47 female) learned ten word-pairs (one German, one fictional word) within a word list. The other half (groupstory: n = 88, 45 female) studied the same words embedded in a short story. Memory was tested three times: directly after learning (t1), one day after learning (t2) and one week after initial learning (t3). An ANOVA with repeated measurement revealed a significant time and group interaction (F(1.88, 293.45) = 6.06, p = .003, np2 = .037) and a main effect of time (F(1.88, 293.45) = 3.95, p = .022, np2 = .025). Follow-up t-Tests, however, revealed no differences between the two groups at each memory measurement (all p’s > .278). Further analysis showed an age effect, but solely for the story group. Here, the younger children improved significantly from t1 to t3 (t1: M: 3.61 SD: 2.30; t2: M : 4.25, SD: 2.45; t3: M = 5.39, SD = 2.93; F(2, 70) = 12.34, p < .001, np2 = .261) whereas the older children’s memory performance did not change over time (F(1.72, 72.04) = 0.449, p = .61, np2 = .011). These results indicate that using short stories for vocabulary training might be most useful in younger children.