Spelling Bee
Hear the word, type the spelling. Your browser reads each word aloud, and you get a letter-by-letter check.
First round free · your own word list on Starter
Save a set · free to start
Want your own questions on the spelling bee? Type them once, save the set, play it any time on any device.
Playing this with a student?
In a lesson, open it from Resources and share your screen — and save your own set first so the game runs on your student's words, not a stock list.
Start freeHow to play
Listen to the word
Your browser's own speech voice reads the word aloud — no download and nothing to set up. Play it more than once if you need to; hearing it twice is not cheating, it is listening practice.
Type what you heard
Spell the word out. This is genuinely harder than a multiple-choice spelling test, because there is nothing on screen to recognise — the student has to reconstruct the written form from the sound alone.
Read the letter-by-letter check
The check shows which letters were right and where it went wrong, so the feedback points at the pattern rather than just marking the word. Have the student say the correct spelling aloud, letter by letter, before moving on.
Spelling Bee as a teaching tool
Sound to spelling is a separate skill, and English is unusually cruel about it
A student can know a word perfectly well by sight and still be unable to write it from hearing it, because English spelling maps onto sound loosely and inconsistently. That gap is invisible in most classroom work, where the word is usually on the page in front of them. Dictating a word and asking for the written form isolates the skill exactly, and it is the skill needed for taking notes, writing from a lecture, or any exam with a listening-and-writing component. Expect stronger students to be humbled by it; that is the activity working, not a sign the level is wrong.
The letter-by-letter feedback is what makes it teachable
A spelling test that says "wrong" tells a student nothing they can act on. Seeing which letters were right and exactly where it went astray converts a mark into a pattern: doubled consonants, the silent letter, the -ible versus -able ending, the vowel that sounds nothing like it is written. Teach from the pattern rather than the word. A learner who missed the second C in "necessary" will miss it again unless you name the pattern, and naming it takes ten seconds.
Build the list from the words that actually matter
The default word bank is a demonstration. The version worth a lesson slot is the one where the list is this week's vocabulary, the words from the reading you did together, or the specific words the student misspells every time. Saving your own list turns the game into targeted spaced revision, and if you keep a note of what they get wrong, next week's list writes itself. A list of twelve that matter beats a list of fifty that do not.
Voices, levels and the online lesson
The voice is whatever your browser and device provide, so its accent will vary — on one machine it is British, on another American. Check it before class if accent matters for your exam target, and be ready to say the word yourself instead; your own voice is a perfectly good substitute and gives you control over speed. With A1 and A2 learners, read the word yourself, slowly, and let them see your mouth. With B1 and B2, use the voice at normal speed and allow only one replay. Online, share your screen with sound on so the student hears it directly rather than through your microphone — or simply say each word yourself, which is more reliable on a poor connection.
Frequently asked questions
What levels does Spelling Bee work for?
Roughly A1 to B2, set by the word list rather than the game. A beginner list is short, phonetically regular words; a B2 list can include the spelling traps that catch out even confident students — silent letters, doubled consonants, and the endings English refuses to be consistent about.
Do I have to pay to use it?
The first round is free on this page so you can hear how it works. Playing it with your own word list — saving lists and playing unlimited rounds — is part of a Tuton subscription, starting on the Starter plan. The free games on the games hub stay free and unlimited with no account at all.
Why isn't this one free like the others?
Because a spelling test on somebody else's words is not much use. What makes it worth a lesson slot is that the list is your student's vocabulary, which means an account to save lists in. The games that work fine with stock content are the ones that stay free.
What voice reads the words out?
Your browser's own built-in speech voice, on your own device — nothing is downloaded and nothing is sent anywhere. That does mean the accent depends on the device: it may be British on one machine and American on another. If accent matters for your student's exam, check it before the lesson, or simply read the words aloud yourself instead.
Can I just say the words myself?
Yes, and often you should. Reading the words yourself lets you control the speed, repeat naturally, and match the accent your student is working towards. The built-in voice is there so the game works when you are not in the room — for homework, or when you want to keep your own voice out of it.
How do I use it in a live lesson?
Open it from Resources inside the lesson and share your screen with sound on, so the word reaches your student directly. They spell it aloud, you type it in, and you read the letter-by-letter check together. Building the list from the words they misspelled last week makes it revision rather than a test.
More games
The free ones need no signup; open one and play.
Share your screen and sound, they spell
Open it from Resources and share your screen with sound: the word is read aloud, your student spells it and you type it in. Your own word list makes the game; this one is on Starter.
Free to start · No credit card · Your student never pays
Your sentences, not a stock deck
Type your student's own words, errors or target structures into a set once. It saves to your account and the game plays your material instead of a generic list.
The game isn't the whole lesson
Open it from Resources inside the room your video, lesson notes, the Space whiteboard and 700+ ready-to-teach lessons already live in — so a warm-up is two clicks from the work it's warming up.
What came up gets kept
Add a word that comes up and it becomes a flashcard your student keeps practising between lessons — and the post-lesson AI report writes up what you covered.