Free · No signup · 90 seconds
The free adaptive spelling test that keeps score
Eight words, read aloud, typed with autocorrect off. You get one number back: your SpellingIQ.
8 words · about 90 seconds · headphones help
- No account required
- No autocorrect, no hints
- Scored against everyone else
How it works
Hear the word
Spoken aloud like a bee. Definition and example sentence on request, replays unlimited.
Type it blind
Spell-check and autocomplete are switched off in the field. Nothing rescues a guess.
Get your number
One score on a 300–2200 scale, plus a letter-by-letter diff of everything you missed.
Why an audio spelling test is harder than a multiple-choice one
Most spelling tests online show you four spellings and ask you to pick the right one. That measures recognition, which is the easy half of the skill. You can recognise accommodate perfectly well and still type it with one M when nobody is offering options.
This test never shows you the word. You hear it, and you produce it from memory, one letter at a time. That is recall, and it is the thing that actually fails you in an email at 11pm. It is also why scores here tend to land lower than people expect.
How the score is calculated
Every word carries a difficulty weight learned from how often other players get it right. Spelling a word almost nobody gets moves your rating a long way; missing one almost everybody gets moves it a long way in the other direction. The result is a single number on a 300–2200 scale. Most adults first land somewhere around 900–1200, and the interesting part is watching yours climb.
The test stops at eight words when the answer is clear and asks a few more when your score is sitting on a boundary. That is deliberate: a test that always asks the same number of questions is either too long for most people or too vague for the rest. The full method, and how sure the number is, is on the methodology page.
What to do with a bad score
Nothing about a spelling test is useful unless something happens afterwards. Every word you miss in Practice becomes a Nemesis word: it goes into a review queue and comes back the next day, when you have had time to forget it. The gap is the part that makes it stick, and the word follows you until you beat it. That is spelling training aimed at exactly your gaps, and nobody else's.
Questions people ask
- Is the spelling test really free?
- Yes. The eight-word test is free and needs no account, no card and no download. You only sign in if you want your score and streak saved between visits.
- How long does the spelling test take?
- About ninety seconds. Eight words, plus a few extra if your score sits on the fence between two levels and needs settling.
- What is a good SpellingIQ score?
- The best score is a rising one: a number that moved is worth more than a number that is high. Scores run from 300 to 2200 and map onto the Daily Five levels: Starter 300–500, Learner 500–900, Normal 900–1200, Skilled 1200–1500, Expert 1500–1800, Genius 1800+. Most adults first place somewhere around 900–1200 (Normal), and a few minutes of practice a day moves that faster than anything else, because with a free account the words you miss in practice come back until you get them.
- Is this an actual IQ test?
- No. SpellingIQ is a skill rating for spelling ability only, the kind of number chess ratings and ranked games use: it rises when you beat hard words and falls when easy ones beat you. It is not a clinical or psychometric IQ measure and should not be used as one.
- British or American spelling?
- American English is the canonical answer, but common British variants such as colour and organise are accepted where reasonable. The point is knowing the word, not winning an argument about the Atlantic.
Ready when you are.
Eight words, read aloud, typed with autocorrect off. You get one number back: your SpellingIQ.
Keep going
- Spelling practice for adults
One minute a day, adult vocabulary, no cartoon animals.
- The hardest words to spell
The words that beat everyone, and the trap inside each one.
- Spelling bee practice
Real bee format: read aloud, definition on request.
- Daily spelling game
Five words, the same five for everyone at your level, new each day.
SpellingIQ is a skill rating for spelling ability, not a clinical or psychometric IQ measure. American English is canonical; common variants are accepted.