In recent years, the emergence of digital games has had an impact on various educational fields, especially on the motivation and engagement in language learning. This study aims to analyze the latest research trends in game-based learning and gamification applied to vocabulary learning in terms of geographical production, intellectual, social and conceptual structures of the research in this field. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 125 selected documents published between years 2000 and 2020. The main research findings show that one-quarter of the studies related to gamification and vocabulary learning were conducted in Taiwan, followed closely by the United States. However, collaboration between research institutions and countries is relatively limited. The results also identify influential researchers in the field and the collaborations. Additionally, the themes of "gamification", "game-based learning", "language learning", "vocabulary", "vocabulary learning", and "collaborative learning" have attracted significant attention from researchers during these 20 years. Finally, based on publication trends and underdeveloped themes, this study provides suggestions for future research in the field.
