The Best Spelling Apps for ESL Learners in 2026 (That Actually Work)

If you learned English as another language, you probably do not need an app to teach you what "necessary" means. You need something that makes you produce it, letter by letter, often enough that it stops being a guess. That is a narrower job than most language apps are built for, and it is why so many learners use an app daily for a year and still hesitate over "recommend".

This guide looks at the spelling apps and tools that ESL learners actually use in 2026, what each one really does for spelling, what it costs, and who it suits. We checked each one in September 2026 against its app store listing or official site, and brought our own entry up to date in October 2026. Prices change often and differ between countries and platforms, so treat them as a guide and confirm before you pay.

One disclosure first: one of the apps below is our own. We have tried to judge it by the same standard as the rest, including where others do something better.

What makes a spelling app work

The research on memory gives a clear checklist, and it is worth having before you look at any app.

It makes you recall, not recognize. Choosing the right spelling from four options is recognition, which needs only a partial memory. Typing a word you have just heard is recall, which needs all of it. Retrieval practice, the effort of pulling a word out of memory, is what strengthens it, as Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke showed in their well-known 2006 study. For spelling, the best exercise is hearing a word and typing it.

It corrects you immediately. In a 2023 study with fifth graders in Brazil, spelling from memory beat copying only when the correct spelling was shown straight after each attempt. An app should show you the right spelling at once, ideally with the exact letters you got wrong.

It brings words back on a schedule. Practice spread over days and weeks beats the same practice in one sitting, and this holds for second-language learners: a 2022 meta-analysis by Su Kyung Kim and Stuart Webb, combining 48 experiments, found a clear advantage for spaced practice. Good apps use a spaced-repetition algorithm to decide when each word returns.

It lets you work on the words you need. A general list is fine for a start. Your own misspellings, from your emails and essays, are worth more.

It matches your variety of English. If you are preparing for IELTS or working in the UK, you want British spellings accepted; if you work with US companies, American. Mixing both in one piece of writing is the thing to avoid.

Few apps tick all five boxes. Most are strong on one or two.

The apps at a glance

Spelling.School

This is our app, so weigh this entry with that in mind. It is built around one exercise: a clear voice says a word, you type it, and the app shows exactly which letters went wrong, with the word's syllables, meaning and tricky part when you miss it. Each word then returns on a schedule set by FSRS, an open-source spaced-repetition algorithm, so words you know appear rarely and words you miss return soon. There are ten levels from everyday words to competition words, topic lists including work vocabulary, and an adaptive warm-up that finds your starting level on the first day. When you keep missing the same pattern, such as a doubled consonant, it adds a few extra words built on that pattern until you get it right.

Price: every account starts with a 14-day trial of everything. After that, the free plan keeps all your reviews forever and adds three new words a day. Pro is $95 a year or $15 a month and opens all ten levels, all topic lists, unlimited new words, and adding your own words.

Good for: intermediate and advanced learners who want daily recall practice in a few minutes a day, and exam candidates who need to spell words they hear.

Weaker at: it teaches spelling only, not grammar or conversation. The voice is American; British spellings are accepted as correct, but there is no British voice yet. It works in a web browser on phone or computer, and each account is for one learner.

Anki

Anki is a free, open-source flashcard program with the most flexible spaced repetition available. Since version 23.10 it has offered FSRS as an alternative scheduler, which you switch on in the deck options. For spelling, you can build cards that play a word aloud using your device's voice and give you a box to type into, then compare your answer letter by letter.

Price: free on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android (AnkiDroid). The iPhone app, AnkiMobile, is a one-time $24.99. No ads.

Good for: determined learners who want full control over their own word lists, including technical vocabulary for work or study.

Weaker at: setup. Making type-in audio cards means editing a card template, which puts off many people. Shared decks exist but vary a lot in quality.

Spelling Notebook (iPhone and iPad)

Spelling Notebook is a small, long-running iOS app for making your own spelling lists. It speaks each word aloud, you type it, and it keeps drilling the words you have not yet mastered. You can choose voices for American, British, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand English, or record your own voice reading the words.

Price: free, with a $1.99 upgrade.

Good for: learners who want cheap, simple dictation practice on their own list, such as words from a course or a job.

Weaker at: it was designed with children in mind and looks it. It repeats missed words but does not schedule reviews over weeks, so you need to come back to old lists yourself. iPhone and iPad only.

Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary.com is best known as an adaptive vocabulary trainer, but it includes a genuine spelling question: it shows a definition, plays the word aloud, and asks you to type it. It follows up on words you get wrong, and it has a large library of word lists, including academic and test-preparation lists.

Price: a free account gets ten trainer questions a day plus lists and the dictionary. A paid learner subscription removes the limit; check the site for the current price in your country.

Good for: upper-intermediate learners who want vocabulary and spelling together, with clear definitions.

Weaker at: it uses American spelling. The website is current, but its phone apps have not been updated since 2021, so use it in a browser.

Spellzone

Spellzone is a structured online spelling course for ages six to adult, used by schools and individuals. It starts with a placement test, then works through units on spelling rules and patterns, with explanations, games and tests, and over a thousand ready-made word lists. It names support for English learners and for people with dyslexia.

Price: an annual subscription; we could not confirm the current individual price, so check the site.

Good for: learners who want the rules explained in order, one pattern at a time.

Weaker at: it is built around the English national curriculum in the UK, so British spelling is the default. It is a course rather than a quick daily habit, and it runs in a browser rather than as a phone app.

Eductify Spelling and Grammar

This app, sold under the Eductify name, covers more than 100 categories of spelling and grammar questions: -able or -ible, -ance or -ence, silent letters, homophones, and common grammar points. It includes a study plan and tracks your results.

Price: free to download; on iPhone, PRO costs $3.99 for three months or $19.99 once. No ads listed.

Good for: learners who like rules and want cheap, organized practice on specific patterns.

Weaker at: almost everything is multiple choice. Picking the right answer from a list is recognition, so it helps you understand a pattern but does less to make you produce the word under pressure.

WordUp

WordUp is a vocabulary app built around the most common 25,000 English words. It shows each word with real-world example sentences, adds translations into more than 30 languages, and uses spaced repetition to bring words back.

Price: free with limits and, on Android, ads. Paid plans on iPhone start at about $8 a month, with yearly and lifetime options.

Good for: learners whose main goal is a bigger vocabulary, who want spelling to come along with it.

Weaker at: spelling is only one of several challenge types, so you see words far more often than you type them.

Duolingo

Duolingo's English courses cover reading, listening, speaking and writing. Some listening exercises ask you to type the sentence you hear, which is good spelling practice, and the daily streak keeps people coming back.

Price: free with ads. Super Duolingo removes ads and adds features; prices vary by country and plan.

Good for: beginners and lower-intermediate learners building the basics.

Weaker at: it is a general course, not a spelling trainer. It does not track individual words you misspell or bring them back on a schedule, and advanced learners will find the English course too easy.

Grammarly and Ginger

Grammarly and Ginger are writing assistants, not trainers. They underline mistakes as you type in email, documents and browsers, and both catch spelling errors in their free versions. Ginger lets you set American or British English; Grammarly offers the same choice in its settings. Both have paid plans with more advanced checks.

Good for: everyone, as a safety net on important writing. They also catch some wrong-word errors, such as "their" for "there", that simple spell-checkers miss.

Weaker at: teaching. When a tool fixes a word for you, you skip the moment of recall that would have taught it. Used carelessly, a checker can keep you dependent on it; our post on why spell-check can weaken your spelling explains why. The fix is simple: keep a list of the words it corrects and practice those from memory somewhere else.

Other apps you may come across

Spelling Master (SkynetComputing) is a free Android quiz game with American and British modes and lists of commonly misspelled words. It carries ads, and this developer's version is not on the App Store.

Elevate is a polished brain-training app with some spelling and writing exercises among many others. It costs about $10 a month or $40 a year on iPhone; spelling is a small part of what you pay for.

Word games such as Scrabble GO and the New York Times Spelling Bee are enjoyable ways to meet words, and a misspelled word will not score. They are recognition and word-finding games, though, not practice at spelling words you hear, and Scrabble GO's free version carries frequent ads.

Which app should you choose?

Start with what you most need.

You mainly need to spell words you hear, for work, for IELTS listening, or for everyday confidence: choose a tool that plays a word and makes you type it, with spaced review. Our own app, Anki with audio cards, and Vocabulary.com's spelling questions all do this.

You want your own words, for free: Anki if you will take an hour to set it up; Spelling Notebook if you have an iPhone and want something simple.

You want the rules explained step by step: Spellzone for a full course, or Eductify for cheap practice by pattern. Pair either with some recall practice.

You are still a beginner: Duolingo for the basics, adding a spelling-focused tool once you have a few thousand words.

Everyone: keep a checker on for important writing, and turn its corrections into your practice list. Our guide to making a personal spelling list shows how.

Whatever you choose, the app matters less than the habit. Ten minutes of recall on most days, with old words coming back, will do more than an hour of scrolling through word lists once a week. If you want to understand what is going on under the hood, our post on how a spaced-repetition algorithm decides when you see a word again explains it.

What to do next

Pick one tool from the "hear it, type it" group and use it for ten minutes a day for two weeks. At the same time, collect the words your spell-checker corrects in your real writing and add them to your practice. After two weeks, test yourself on those words without help; that will tell you whether the app is working. If you want to understand why English spelling gives second-language learners so much trouble in the first place, read our guide on why English spelling is so hard for non-native speakers.

Questions people ask

What is the best app to improve English spelling for ESL learners?

The best app is one that says a word aloud, makes you type it from memory, corrects you at once, and brings the word back on a spaced schedule. Tools that do this include dedicated spelling trainers, Anki with audio type-in cards, and the spelling questions in Vocabulary.com. General language apps such as Duolingo help beginners but do not track and repeat the individual words you misspell.

Are there free spelling apps for adults learning English?

Yes. Anki is free on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android and can be set up for dictation-style spelling practice with spaced repetition. Vocabulary.com offers ten free trainer questions a day, including spelling questions. Spelling Notebook on iPhone is free with a small paid upgrade, and several paid apps offer free levels or limited daily practice.

Does Duolingo help with English spelling?

Somewhat. Duolingo's English courses include exercises where you type what you hear or translate into English, so you do practice spelling. However, Duolingo is a general course, not a spelling trainer, and it does not track the specific words you misspell or bring them back on a schedule. It is most useful for beginners; advanced learners usually need a dedicated spelling tool.

Is Grammarly good for learning spelling?

Grammarly is good at catching spelling mistakes but not at teaching spelling. Because it fixes words for you, you skip the effort of recalling the spelling, which is what builds memory. To learn from it, keep a list of the words it corrects most often and practice them from memory in a separate tool or on paper.

Should ESL learners use American or British spelling apps?

Use the variety that matches your goals, and be consistent. For IELTS, the UK, Australia or many international schools, British spelling is common; for US companies and many global workplaces, American is more common. Exams such as IELTS accept both as long as you do not mix them. Many apps offer both voices or accept both spellings, so check the settings before you start.

How long should I use a spelling app each day?

About ten to fifteen minutes on most days is enough for steady progress. Short daily sessions work better than long weekly ones, because spaced practice is what moves spellings into long-term memory. What matters most is that the app makes you recall words rather than just look at them, and that it brings earlier words back after gaps of days and weeks.

Fix the words you actually get wrong

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