Spelling Test: Practice Words

Spelling Test: Practice Words does the job you do on a Thursday night. School sends a spelling list home on Monday, the test is on Friday, and somewhere in between somebody has to sit down and say the words out loud while your child writes them down. This app is that somebody. Type the list in once and it dictates every word, your child types what they hear, and each answer is marked the moment it is given.

TYPE IN THIS WEEK'S LIST

The words that matter are the ones your child's teacher sent home, and no general word game can guess what those are. Typing them in takes a minute, and after that the app tests exactly those words, all week. You can add an example sentence to any word, and it is spoken after the word — which is the only way "their" and "there" can be told apart when they are heard rather than seen.

A REAL DICTATION TEST

The app says the word. Your child types it. The word is never shown, because a spelling test you can read the answer off is not a spelling test. Answers are marked instantly and fairly: a capital letter does not count against them, a stray space does not count against them, and a word spelled correctly is always marked correct.

THE WORDS THEY MISS BECOME THE NEXT DRILL

Every test ends with a score and the list of words that were missed, and those words become their own retry drill. The words they already know do not need practising again, and the drill is rebuilt after every test.

PRACTICE FIRST, TEST LATER

Practice mode shows the word, says it aloud, and asks your child to copy it out. Rehearsal on Wednesday, the real thing on Thursday. For spellers who are not typing confidently yet, both modes can be answered by tapping letter tiles instead of using the keyboard.

WORD BANKS AS WELL AS YOUR OWN LISTS

Alongside the lists you type in, there are ready-made banks to test from: a spelling test for grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3, and on through grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6 — each a band of the most common words in written English. There is also a bank of the words adults and English learners most often get wrong — accommodate, definitely, separate, rhythm, necessary and two hundred more.

INSTEAD OF PRINTABLE WORKSHEETS

If you have been printing spelling worksheets, or writing the list out twice so somebody can read it aloud, this replaces the paper spelling test entirely.

WATCH THE SCORES CLIMB

Every test is saved, so you can see how a list went this week compared to last, and which lists keep causing trouble.

MORE THAN ONE SPELLER

Add a profile for each child. Their lists, their results and their streak stay separate, so nobody is ever tested on their sibling's words.

A NUDGE THE NIGHT BEFORE, IF YOU WANT ONE

An optional weekly reminder can invite your child back for one more practice before the test. You choose the evening, it is scheduled on the device, and it stays off until you turn it on.

QUIET BY DESIGN

• No ads, anywhere
• No account, no sign-up, no email address
• Works completely offline — in the car, on a plane, in a waiting room
• The app speaks, and never listens: there is no microphone use of any kind
• Nothing is uploaded. Everything stays on the device, and you can save a backup file yourself

WHO IT IS FOR

Primary and elementary spellers in grades 1 to 6. Homeschooling families. Adults and English learners working on the words that trip everybody up. Parents who would rather spend ten minutes on Thursday than an argument on Friday morning.

ABOUT THE WORD BANKS

The grade banks are frequency bands derived from the public-domain Fry word list (1957/1980) — they are practice banks ordered by how often words appear in print, not any school's curriculum. This app is not affiliated with any school, curriculum, publisher or school district. The words that matter most are the ones you type in yourself.

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