Spelling practice

You hear a word and spell it from memory, with no autocorrect and no options to pick from. The words sit at the edge of what you can do, and the ones you miss come back days later, when you have half forgotten them. Retrieval, difficulty and spacing are among the best-replicated findings in learning research, and the product is built around them.

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SpellingIQ practice reads a word aloud and you type it from memory, with spell-check and autocorrect switched off. Words come in sets of five, aimed just above your level, and you get three tries at each. It is free and needs no account to start; a free account keeps your rating and brings the words you miss back on a review schedule until you beat them.

How to practise spelling with SpellingIQ

1. Listen. The word is read aloud. Replay it as often as you like before you answer.
2. Spell it from memory. Type the word into a field with spell-check, autocorrect and autocomplete turned off, so the answer is genuinely yours. Only this first try is rated.
3. Retry with a hint. Miss, and you get two more tries, typed from the word's own letters and a few that don't belong. The second can bring the definition, when your miss suggests you didn't recognise the word. On the third, the letter you got wrong is filled in and you type the rest, with one more filled in each time you miss.
4. See where it went wrong. When the word is settled, your spelling is marked against the correct one letter by letter, so a miss tells you which part of the word beat you.
5. Keep going. Words come in sets of five. The difficulty follows your answers, so rounds stay winnable but never comfortable.

Questions about practice

Do I need an account to practise?

No. Practice works as a guest, with words matched to how you are doing. A free account is what keeps your SpellingIQ rating, your streak and your missed words from one visit to the next.

How is practice different from the placement test?

The placement test is a short scored run, eight words or a few more, that estimates your SpellingIQ. Practice is open-ended: as many sets of five as you like, with retries and hints, and for a signed-in player each first try nudges the rating up or down.

What happens to the words I get wrong?

Signed in, each one becomes a Nemesis word. It goes into a review queue, comes back the next day, and keeps coming back on a spaced schedule until you beat it. Recalling a word just as you start to forget it is what makes the spelling stick.

How long should I practise for?

About five minutes is plenty. Short, frequent sessions beat long, occasional ones, because spelling is recall and recall fades without use; after a few minutes of play, practice suggests a short rest at the end of a set.