Best Online Spelling Websites and Apps in 2026: Teens, Adults, ESL

Updated October 2026. Our own entry was brought up to date on October 5, 2026, and every other tool was checked on its official site or app store listing on September 25, 2026. Prices are in US dollars and change often, so confirm before you pay.

There are more spelling websites and apps than ever, and most of them were built for young children in classrooms. If you are a teenager, an adult who wants to spell with confidence, or someone learning English as another language, the choice is harder than it looks. Games with cartoon mascots are not what you need, and a spell-checker, however clever, will not teach you anything.

This guide compares the tools that are genuinely useful for older learners in 2026: what each one actually does, what it costs, who it suits, and where it falls short. It also covers a few well-known names that have changed or disappeared since last year, so you do not waste time looking for them.

One disclosure before we start. We make one of the tools reviewed here, and we mark it clearly where it appears. We have tried to judge it by the same standard as the others, and to say plainly where other tools do something better.

How we chose and checked

We judged each tool against what memory research says makes spelling practice work, rather than against its feature list.

Recall, not recognition. Choosing the right spelling from four options is much easier than producing it, and it teaches less. The strongest practice asks you to hear a word and write or type it from memory. Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke's 2006 study of the testing effect is the classic evidence that recalling beats reviewing.

Spaced review. Words should come back over days and weeks, with longer gaps as you get them right. Nicholas Cepeda, Harold Pashler and colleagues' 2006 review of hundreds of experiments found this spacing effect again and again. In a 2013 review of study techniques, John Dunlosky and colleagues rated practice testing and spaced practice as the two most useful.

Useful feedback. Being told "wrong" is less useful than seeing which letters went wrong.

Fit for older learners. Vocabulary beyond primary school, an interface that does not feel childish, and ideally support for British as well as American spelling.

Honest pricing. A free option or trial, and a price you can find before you sign up.

For each tool we checked that it is still active in 2026, read its current pricing page or store listing, and noted what it does. We did not run controlled trials, so the judgments below are informed opinions, not test results. Where we could not confirm a detail, such as a price that is not published, we say so.

The list at a glance

Structured courses for older learners

Spellzone is the most complete rule-based course on this list. It starts with a spelling ability test that places you on a personal course path, then works through English spelling patterns in order, with listen-and-spell tests, games, word lists and printables. It is built by a UK company, covers ages six to adult, and sells plans for single learners, tutors and schools. A year for one learner costs $39, with bigger plans for families, tutors and schools, and a free trial of 7 days for single users. If you want to understand why English words are spelled as they are, step by step, Spellzone does that better than anything else here. Its practice is organized by lesson rather than by a personal review schedule, so you may want to add your own spaced review of the words you miss.

SpellQuiz is a browser-based site covering grades 1 to 12 plus an adult level. It uses real dictation: you hear a word and type it. A vocabulary diagnostic places you, an adaptive path adjusts to your results, and there are custom lists, a spelling bee mode and, more recently, reading and writing activities. You can start free without a card, and the terms describe a 14-day trial followed by monthly or yearly billing. The site does not publish its prices, though, which makes it hard to compare. It uses American spelling. For a self-directed learner who wants graded tests from easy to hard, it is a solid choice.

Wordela is the current home of the long-running Ultimate Spelling and Ultimate Vocabulary programs; Ultimate Spelling's own site now points to it. It combines spelling with vocabulary, describes its practice as gamified spaced repetition, lets you paste in your own word lists, and runs on computers, tablets and phones. The homeschool plans are unusual: $67 buys five years of access for a family of up to four students, with a 7-day trial and a money-back guarantee. The price for a single adult is not shown until you start signing up. Wordela promises never to show ads to students. It suits learners who want to build vocabulary and spelling together.

Spaced repetition you run yourself, or have run for you

Anki is the free, open-source flashcard program that many medical students and language learners live by. Since version 23.10 in late 2023, it has included FSRS, a modern scheduling algorithm that predicts when you are about to forget each card. It is free on computers and Android, and the iPhone app costs $24.99. Anki can do excellent spelling practice: its "type in the answer" card option and built-in text-to-speech let you hear a word and type it. The catch is setup. You build the cards yourself, and getting audio dictation working takes some patience. If you like to tinker and want something free and endlessly flexible, Anki is hard to beat.

Spelling.School (ours) does the same job without the setup. You hear a recorded word, type it, see exactly which letters went wrong and why, and each word comes back on its own schedule, just before you are likely to forget it. A short adaptive warm-up finds your level on the first day, and when you keep missing the same pattern, such as a doubled consonant or ie and ei, it brings in a few extra words built on that pattern until you get it right. It has ten levels from everyday words to competition words, about 4,400 words in all, plus topic and career lists, and a short animation on the home page shows how it works. The voice is American, and British spellings such as colour are accepted as correct. Every account starts with a 14-day trial of everything. After that, a free plan keeps all your reviews forever and adds three new words a day. Pro costs $95 a year or $15 a month and adds every level and list, unlimited new words, and your own words. Its limits are real: there are no games, the family and classroom plans are new and simple, and the phone apps are still on the way. For a single learner who wants a few minutes of dictation a day with the scheduling handled, it fits well.

Custom-list sites for families and classrooms

Home Spelling Words is built for parents and homeschoolers who want to practice a school's weekly list. You enter the words, and the site reads them aloud, turns them into more than 20 games and auto-graded tests, and makes printable worksheets. All plans cover up to five students and cost $14.99 to $24.99 a year; the free area carries ads. Its sister site, Spelling Stars, offers the same approach for teachers, from $26.99 a year for a small class, with a 7-day trial. Both are aimed at kindergarten to grade nine, so older learners may find the tone young, but they are the cheapest way to practice any list you like.

Power Spelling offers games, reusable assignments and auto-graded tests, with a parent plan at $19 a year for up to five students and teacher plans from $29 a year. It has an unusually generous two-month free trial. Its tests are multiple choice, which checks whether you can recognize a spelling rather than produce one, so pair it with some dictation if you use it.

SpellingTraining.com is completely free, supported by ads, and covers grades one to four with audio, custom lists and simple games. It is a reasonable no-cost starting point for beginners, including adults at an early stage of learning English.

Programs for schools

Spelling Shed, from EdShed, is a classroom spelling program used, by its own count, by millions of learners. It offers a full, sequenced spelling curriculum based on phonics and morphology, lively games, assignments and leagues that let classes compete. Teachers get detailed data on which patterns each pupil misses. There is a free tier with basic games. Its US pricing page asks both homes and schools to request a quote, so check the current price with the company. For a teacher or homeschool family with children in elementary or middle school, it is excellent. For an adult practicing alone, it is the wrong tool.

VocabularySpellingCity no longer exists as a separate product. Its web address now leads to Vocabulary A-Z from Learning A-Z, which includes the familiar SpellingCity games along with lesson plans and reports. It is aimed at kindergarten to grade five classrooms and offers a free 90-day trial; check the current price with the company. If you remember SpellingCity from school, this is where it went.

For spelling bees

Word Club, the official app of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, is free on iPhone and Android with no in-app purchases that we could find. The 2026 to 2027 version includes all 4,000 study words for the season, with flash cards, fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice modes across three difficulty levels. For anyone preparing for a bee, it is the obvious first download. Older learners who enjoy hard words will find it a good challenge too. Its modes lean toward recognition, though, so combine it with practice spelling the words aloud or in writing.

Small apps and word games

Several small apps are worth knowing about, with some care about what they really train.

SpellingNotebook (iPhone, free with a $1.99 upgrade) lets you type in your own list, then speaks each word so that you can test yourself without seeing it. It supports British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand English. It is simple and does one useful thing well.

Correct Spelling: English (iPhone) is a new app, released in June 2026, that speaks words inside quotes and proverbs for you to type, and keeps a personal list of your mistakes. It covers about 2,000 common errors, and the first lesson is free, with Pro at $1.99 a month or $12.99 a year. It looks promising for English learners, but it is too new to have many reviews.

Spelling Master Game (iPhone, free with ads, or $2.99 for the full version) is a set of quick multiple-choice spelling games. It is pleasant for a few minutes, but choosing between spellings trains recognition, not recall.

Scrabble GO and The New York Times Spelling Bee are word games, not spelling courses. They build vocabulary and a feel for letter patterns, and they only accept real words, so they reward correct spelling. Scrabble GO is free with ads and in-app purchases. Full access to the Spelling Bee needs a New York Times Games subscription, listed at $60 a year after an introductory offer. Enjoy them, but do not expect them to fix the words you misspell.

Spell-checkers are not teachers

Grammarly has a free plan that checks spelling and grammar, with Pro at $12 a month billed yearly. Microsoft Editor is built into Word and Outlook, with a free basic checker and more with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Both are useful for catching errors before you send something.

Neither teaches you to spell. They fix mistakes quietly, so you rarely notice what you got wrong, and they can miss real words used in the wrong place, such as their for there. Use them as a safety net, and use their suggestions as a source of words to practice.

How to choose

If you want to understand the rules of English spelling from the beginning, choose Spellzone. If you want graded dictation tests and like to see your level rise, try SpellQuiz. If you want spelling and vocabulary together, look at Wordela. If you want something free and do not mind setting it up, use Anki. If you want short daily dictation with the review schedule handled for you, that is what we built.

If you are a parent practicing a school list, Home Spelling Words is the cheapest and simplest. If you teach a class, look at Spelling Shed or Spelling Stars. If your child is preparing for a bee, download Word Club first.

Whatever you choose, the tool matters less than the habit. Ten minutes on most days, spelling words from memory and reviewing the ones you miss, will do more than any app used once a week. For a method that works with any tool, see our ten-minute daily spelling routine. If you are an adult starting from scratch, our 30-day plan for improving your spelling lays out a month of practice.

What to do next

Pick one tool from this list that fits your situation, try its free version or trial for a week, and practice for ten minutes on at least five of those days. Before you start, spend twenty minutes finding the words you actually get wrong, using our self-audit, so that whatever tool you choose is working on your real problems. If you are curious how the better apps decide when to show you a word again, see our guide to how a spaced repetition algorithm decides when you see a word again.

Questions people ask

What is the best website to improve spelling for adults?

It depends on what you need. Spellzone is the strongest for a structured, rule-based course, SpellQuiz offers graded dictation tests from easy to hard, and Anki is the best free option if you are willing to build your own cards. The most important thing is that the tool makes you spell words from memory, rather than choose from options, and brings words back for review over several days.

Are there free spelling apps for adults?

Yes. Anki is free on computers and Android and can be set up for spelling dictation. The Scripps Word Club app is free and useful for hard vocabulary, and SpellingTraining.com is a free, ad-supported site for beginners. Several paid tools, including Spellzone, SpellQuiz and Wordela, offer free trials, and some have permanent free levels.

What happened to VocabularySpellingCity?

VocabularySpellingCity no longer runs as a separate product. Its web address now redirects to Vocabulary A-Z from Learning A-Z, which includes the SpellingCity games along with lesson plans and teacher reports. Vocabulary A-Z is aimed at kindergarten to grade five classrooms and offers a free 90-day trial.

Which spelling app is best for ESL learners?

Look for an app that reads words aloud and asks you to type them, because English spelling is hard to predict from sound, and hearing then writing is the skill you need. SpellQuiz and Spellzone both use dictation and suit English learners, and SpellingNotebook lets you practice your own list with a spoken voice. Check whether the tool accepts the spelling system you use, British or American.

Do spelling games actually improve spelling?

Games help when they make you produce spellings from memory, and help much less when they only ask you to recognize the right spelling among options. Word games such as Scrabble and the New York Times Spelling Bee build vocabulary and a feel for letter patterns, but they rarely target the words you personally misspell. Use games as a supplement to regular dictation practice, not a replacement for it.

Is Grammarly good for learning to spell?

Grammarly is good at catching spelling mistakes, and its free plan covers basic spelling and grammar. It is not designed to teach spelling, because it corrects errors for you and does not make you recall words or review them over time. It becomes useful for learning if you note the words it flags and practice them separately.

Fix the words you actually get wrong

A few minutes a day, spaced repetition, built only for spelling. Try five words without signing up.