- Build short wordsSpelling
- Change one soundSpelling
- Two letters, one soundSpelling
- Suffixes: –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –lySpelling
- Contractions with apostrophesSpelling
- Plural pairsSpelling
- Un-word workshopSpelling
- Homophone cluesSpelling
- Prefix workshopSpelling
- Plural possession pairsSpelling
- Spelling endings studioSpelling
- Homophone editorSpelling
For parents and teachers
These english games bring together related learning across Years 1 to 6. Start with a familiar skill, then try the next challenge when your child is ready. A school may teach these ideas in a different order; use the curriculum statements below to choose a suitable game.
The quoted headings and statements come from the National Curriculum in England. Every game links to learning guidance. Free printables are offered where available. Talk through a question together before playing independently, and use the printable to return to a tricky idea away from the screen.
Key Stage 1
Year 1: Word train
Writing – transcription (spelling): “words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught”
Word train practises spelling a spoken word. Children listen to a familiar word, say it slowly and choose a grapheme tile for each sound. Each normal game draws six words from a pool of 14 familiar short words, including cat, map, sit, dog, sun and hen. Each has three sounds represented by three single letters.
This is listening and spelling practice, rather than a test of reading an unfamiliar printed word. Choose it once your child has learned the correspondences in the words through their school phonics programme.
The voice is AI-generated British English (OpenAI marin), saved as static audio. No microphone, account or live speech request is used. If a pronunciation is unfamiliar in your accent, say the word yourself and discuss it together.
Play Word train · Free printable
Year 1: Sound swap
Writing – transcription (spelling): “words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught”
Sound swap explores how changing one sound changes a word. Children begin with a printed word, listen to a new word and replace just the highlighted tile. Each normal game draws six changes from a pool of ten. Examples include cat to cap, cap to cup, cup to pup and dog to log. Pick first, middle or last sound for a focused practice session.
The task practises noticing phonemes and choosing their spellings. It is useful after children can read and spell the starting words with familiar correspondences. The highlighted position supports the task, so success does not show independent sound segmentation.
The voice is AI-generated British English (OpenAI marin), saved as static audio. No microphone, account or live speech request is used. If a pronunciation is unfamiliar in your accent, say the word yourself and discuss it together.
Play Sound swap · Free printable
Year 1: Digraph detective
Writing – transcription (spelling): “words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught”
Digraph detective practises two letters representing one sound. Children hear words such as ship, fish, chin, chop, moth and ring, then fill a missing sound tile using sh, ch, th or ng. Each normal game draws six words from a pool of twelve. Choose a particular digraph for a focused three-word practice session. Each digraph occupies one sound position.
These are selected familiar examples, not every possible pronunciation of these letter groups. Use the game after the relevant correspondences have been taught. Whole-word audio supports spelling; it does not provide isolated pure phonemes or test the full phonics screening content.
The voice is AI-generated British English (OpenAI marin), saved as static audio. No microphone, account or live speech request is used. If a pronunciation is unfamiliar in your accent, say the word yourself and discuss it together.
Play Digraph detective · Free printable
Year 2: Suffixes: –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
Writing – transcription (spelling): “add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly”
A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word to make a new word. In Year 2, children learn five very common suffixes: –ment, –ness, –ful, –less and –ly. Adding one changes what the word means or how it is used in a sentence. Enjoy becomes enjoyment, kind becomes kindness, hope becomes hopeful or hopeless, and quick becomes quickly.
The good news is that all five suffixes start with a consonant letter, so most of the time they are simply added straight on to the root word with no change at all: care + ful = careful, sad + ness = sadness. The main thing to learn is the exception. When a root word ends in a consonant followed by y, and the root word has more than one syllable, the y changes to i: happy + ness = happiness, penny + less = penniless. Learning that one rule, plus a few special words such as argument, lets children spell hundreds of longer words correctly.
Play Suffixes: –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly · Free printable
Year 2: Contractions with apostrophes
Writing – transcription (spelling): “learning to spell more words with contracted forms”
A contraction is a short way of writing two words as one. Some letters are left out, and an apostrophe shows where they used to be. Do not becomes don't, I am becomes I'm and they are becomes they're. Children hear contractions all the time in speech, so learning to spell them helps their writing sound natural.
In Year 2 the National Curriculum asks pupils to learn to spell more words with contracted forms. The key idea is that the apostrophe is not decoration: it sits exactly where the missing letter or letters would be. In can't, the apostrophe replaces the letters no from cannot. In it's, it replaces the i from is. Once children understand this, they can work out the spelling of a contraction for themselves rather than memorising each one.
More practice across the years
Year 1: Plural pairs
The selected nouns form regular plurals with s or es. Compare the complete words and connect the changed ending to more than one item. This is a limited set of examples, not a rule that every plural uses these endings. Write an example in a short sentence, and discuss irregular plurals separately when they arise in reading.
Year 1: Un-word workshop
The prefix un can express not, as in unhappy, or reverse an action, as in untie. Read each completed word and explain what changed in its meaning. The spelling task preserves the root while adding the prefix. Use the finished words in useful spoken sentences and then try writing one independently, rather than treating the prefix as a separate word.
Year 2: Homophone clues
These familiar homophones sound alike but have different spellings and meanings. Read the whole sentence before choosing, then explain the intended meaning. Matching the printed form supports recognition; spelling independently also needs recall and checking. After playing, cover the forms and write a short example for one pair, using the school’s teaching sequence for new spellings.
Year 3: Prefix workshop
Year 3 spelling develops knowledge of prefixes and how they combine with roots. Prefix workshop includes dis, mis, re, in, un and pre in a selected set of words. Notice that adding mis to spell keeps both adjacent s letters in misspell. Read each finished word aloud and connect the spelling to a meaningful example rather than treating the prefix as a decoration. Write agree and disagree in two short sentences. Explain what changed in meaning, then mark the letters added at the beginning. Compare mis plus spell with misspell and inspect the join carefully. Later, cover the models and write the words from memory, checking the root and prefix separately rather than assuming that a familiar sound guarantees the spelling.
Year 4: Plural possession pairs
Year 4 spelling includes apostrophes for plural possession. Plural possession pairs distinguishes regular plurals ending in s from irregular plurals such as children, men and women. The owner needs to be identified before the apostrophe is placed. The prepared prompts explicitly name more than one owner so that the plural meaning is clear, rather than relying on a guess from a picture. Compare the girls’ coats with the children’s books. Girls is already a plural ending in s, so the apostrophe follows that s. Children is plural without a final s, so possession adds apostrophe plus s. Write a short sentence for each example and explain who owns the objects. Avoid using the apostrophe merely because a word is plural.
Year 5: Spelling endings studio
Year 5 spelling develops knowledge of word endings and the relationships between spelling, meaning and word families. Spelling endings studio includes selected words with tious, cious, cial and tial patterns. Matching a meaning to a written form supports recognition, but accurate independent spelling also needs recall and checking. Look closely at each ending rather than relying only on how it sounds in speech. Compare ambitious with spacious and notice that similar-sounding endings can use different letter patterns. Use each in a meaningful sentence, then cover the written forms and try spelling them. Uncover the models and inspect the exact ending. Avoid inventing a rule that every word with the same final sound must share the spelling shown in one example.
Year 6: Homophone editor
Year 6 spelling includes distinguishing words that can be confused because their pronunciations or forms are related. Homophone editor uses sentence contexts to separate advice and advise, device and devise, practice and practise, and affect and effect. The examples follow British-English noun and verb spelling conventions where relevant. Choosing a form should depend on meaning and grammar, rather than on which spelling looks more familiar. Compare Daily practice helps with We practise daily. In these British-English examples, the noun uses c and the verb uses s. Read the complete sentence and explain the job of the missing word before selecting it. Later, write an original example for each form, cover the model and check the spelling from memory in a meaningful context.