Spelling, explained
How to Practice English Spelling on Your Phone in a Few Minutes a Day
Short phone sessions can beat long weekly study. How to set up your phone, the listen-then-type exercise, a five-minute routine, and how to make the habit stick.
October 11, 2026
Helping Your Child Spell in English When It Is Not Your Home Language
For parents who speak another language at home: why that helps rather than hurts, what your child's mistakes mean, and how to coach spelling without perfect English.
October 11, 2026
Capital Letters in English: The Rules Learners Actually Need
The English capital letter rules that matter, where they differ from Spanish, French, German and languages with no capitals, and the small traps that catch advanced writers.
October 11, 2026
-ly or -ally? Basically, Accidentally, Publicly and the Rule
Why it is basically, not basicly, accidentally with two l's, and publicly with no -al at all: one question about the adjective settles nearly every -ly word.
October 11, 2026
Its or It's? Apostrophe Rules for Plurals and Possessives
The apostrophe has only two jobs. Learn them and its or it's, the Smiths' house, children's books and James's car all settle themselves, with no apostrophe in plurals.
October 11, 2026
Spelling With Dyslexia as an Adult: What Actually Helps
For adults with dyslexia, diagnosed or suspected: what the research supports for spelling, what it does not, tools that help at work, and a calm practice plan.
October 11, 2026
Though, Through, Thought, Cough: Why gh Words Are Spelled That Way
The gh in night and cough once stood for a real sound. Learn where it went, the gh families you can rely on, and the few ough words you simply have to know.
October 11, 2026
Comparatives and Superlatives: Spelling Bigger, Happiest, Wettest
Bigger or biger, happier or happyer, drier or dryer: the four spelling rules for -er and -est, when to use more and most instead, and the few irregular forms.
October 11, 2026
Everyday or Every Day? One Word, Two Words, or a Hyphen
Everyday or every day, into or in to, setup or set up: how to tell when two words join, stay apart, or take a hyphen, with quick checks you can run as you write.
October 11, 2026
After IELTS: Why Spelling Matters More at University Than on the Exam
Passed IELTS and heading to university abroad? How spelling is judged in coursework, handwritten exams and emails to lecturers, the subject words that go wrong, and a first-term routine.
October 11, 2026
Your First Semester Abroad: English Words Students Write Every Week
Enrollment or enrolment, accommodation, tuition, extension, plagiarism: the words international students write in their first weeks, why they go wrong, and US and UK forms.
October 11, 2026
Emailing a Professor in English: What International Students Get Wrong
Names, titles, greetings, subject lines and the words students misspell most, plus phrases that read differently abroad. A calm guide to a clear, respectful email to university staff.
October 11, 2026
Moving Abroad: Everyday English Words Newcomers Misspell
Lease, landlord, deposit, utilities, cheque, prescription, address: the words of renting, banking, health and school forms, why newcomers misspell them, and the US and UK forms.
October 11, 2026
Interleaving: Why Mixing Up Spelling Words Beats Drilling One Pattern
Mixed practice feels worse and works better. The math and painting studies behind interleaving, what it means for spelling, and how to shuffle a spelling week.
October 11, 2026
How a Spaced Repetition Algorithm Decides When You See a Word Again
From a box of index cards to SM-2 to FSRS: how a scheduler predicts the day you will forget a word, why the gaps grow so fast, and what a miss really does.
October 11, 2026
Is English Spelling Really Irregular? The Numbers Behind the Myth
English spelling is deep, not random. What a computer study of 17,000 words found, which words are truly wild, and why believing in chaos makes spelling harder.
October 11, 2026
How a Word Becomes Automatic: Orthographic Mapping for Parents
Why your child reads a word on Monday and loses it by Wednesday. Orthographic mapping in plain English, and what it means for flashcards, sounding out and practice at home.
October 11, 2026
Why Spelling.School Starts With a Word, Not a Lesson
Follow one misspelled word, recieve, through Spelling.School: why you spell first, see the rule at the moment you miss, retype it, and meet it again later.
October 11, 2026
Able or Ible? The Spelling Rule That Actually Works
Responsible or responsable, accessible or accessable? One test settles most able and ible words, a short list covers the rest, and a little Latin explains why both work.
October 11, 2026
Past Tense -ed Spelling Rules: Stopped, Planned, Traveled, Studied
Stopped or stoped, studied or studyed, traveled or travelled: the four small rules behind every regular past tense, why each one exists, and the verbs that break them.
October 10, 2026
Signs of Dyslexia in a Child's Spelling, and What to Do Next
What spelling linked to dyslexia looks like beside ordinary mistakes, how assessment works, which teaching helps, and what parents can do at home while they wait.
October 10, 2026
Which English Spelling to Use Where You Are Going to Study or Work
Moving to the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Ireland? Which spelling system each one uses, what universities and employers expect, and why consistency wins.
October 9, 2026
English Spelling Mistakes Thai Speakers Make, and How to Fix Them
Why Thai speakers drop word endings, mix up l and r, and read th as t: the habits behind the errors, forty words to practice, and a daily method that trains the ear first.
October 9, 2026
Schwa: The Lazy Vowel Behind Most Adult Spelling Mistakes
Separate, definitely, grammar, cemetery: one quiet vowel sound sits behind all of them. How to find the schwa in a word, and three reliable ways to spell it right.
October 9, 2026