Forty deaf subjects were compared with 40 fifth graders with normal hearing on the learning of 16 English words. Eight of the words had sign equivalents; eight did not. The task consisted of eight study-test trials. Analysis of the mean number of correct responses showed higher recall of signable than unsignable words. The deaf recalled all words better than the hearing, but this advantage was due primarily to the deaf’s superior recall of the signable words. It was concluded that having a single sign equivalent for a word facilitated its recall.