Spelling App for Your Child's Own Word List (2026)

Last updated: September 2026 · Written by the Spelly team

Short answer: Yes. Several spelling apps let you put in the exact list your child brought home from school: you type or paste the words, or in some apps you take a photo of the worksheet and the app pulls the words out for you. Spelly, Spell Parrot, Spelling Test Flashcards and Squeebles Spelling Connect all accept your own words. Before you pick one, check four things: that it reads every word aloud, gives a real test where your child hears the word and types it, brings back the words they miss, and fits the days you have before the test.

A note on fairness: Spelly is our app, so we have an interest here. The checklist below is the useful part, and it works for any app. Details about other apps come from their own App Store listings, read in September 2026.

Why the school's list beats a generic list before a test

A Friday spelling test checks one thing: the words on this week's sheet. Those words are usually chosen around a pattern the class is working on, such as a vowel sound, a prefix or a set of tricky high-frequency words. A general spelling app with its own lists by grade will practice good words, but mostly not these words, so time spent there does little for Friday.

How the practice is done matters too. In a 2013 review of ten common study techniques, Dunlosky and colleagues rated two as the most useful across ages and subjects: practice testing (recalling the answer yourself rather than rereading it) and distributed practice (short sessions spread over several days rather than one long one). For spelling homework that translates plainly: hear the word, spell it without looking, and do a little on several evenings rather than all of it on Thursday night.

General lists still have a place. In a week with no list, or for a child who wants to get ahead, a list by grade is a fine choice. Our guide to helping your child with spelling covers the rest of the week.

Three ways to get the list into an app

Type it. Every app that accepts custom words takes a typed list. It is slow for a long list but never misreads a word. Worth doing slowly: one wrong letter here and your child practices the wrong spelling all week.

Paste it. If the teacher emails the list or posts it online, copy and paste is the fastest route. Some apps take one word per line, some take commas; check how it splits the words.

Photograph the worksheet. A newer option: you take a photo of the printed or handwritten sheet and the app reads the words off it. It saves the most time on a weeknight. Whatever app you use, compare the result against the sheet before your child starts, because a scan can misread a messy letter. We compare the apps that do this in detail in spelling apps that scan word lists.

What to look for once the list is in

• Every word read aloud. A spelling test is dictation. A child who can't yet read the list needs to hear the word, not see it. Some apps use a computer voice, some ask you to record your own; both work, but recording a whole list every week is real work for a parent.
• A real typed test. The closest thing to Friday is hearing a word and spelling it with nothing on screen to copy. On a phone or tablet, watch for the keyboard's autocorrect and word suggestions, which can quietly spell the word for your child.
• Missed words come back. The words your child gets wrong are the whole point of practice. A good app brings them back later, not just shows a score.
• A test date. Knowing when the test is lets practice be spread across the week, which is the distributed practice described above.
• Short rounds. A few words at a time on several evenings beats one long session. An app that makes a long list feel endless will get abandoned.

The kinds of apps that do this

Apps that take your own list fall into three rough groups. We name only apps whose public listing we read, and describe what each listing says it does.

Scan-and-drill apps. Focused tools built around the photo. Spell Parrot describes itself as "audio-first spelling practice for school lists": you photograph the list, it extracts the words, and your child hears each one; it also has a mode where the child hears a definition and spells the word. It supports UK and US English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia, and is free with in-app purchases. Spelling Test Flashcards turns a photo of a list into flashcards, lets you add words by hand, reads words with text-to-speech, and offers full or random tests plus a word search game; it comes with UK National Curriculum decks and is free with in-app purchases, including one that removes ads. Both are light and quick, which is exactly what some families want.

Custom-list apps with recorded audio. Squeebles Spelling Connect, from the UK developer KeyStageFun, lets you add your own words or phrases, build custom lists and record your own audio, alongside a large set of pre-recorded words and ready-made lists. It also lets a parent or tutor set assignments with due dates. Family, tutor and school subscriptions are sold in the app.

Game-based list practice. Apps that take your list and run it through several kinds of games, for children who need more pull to sit down and practice. Spelly is in this group.

Which kind suits you depends on your child. A child who will happily sit and spell may do best with the lightest tool. A child who resists practice may need the game layer. If your child is at school in the UK, an app with UK curriculum lists built in may matter more than it would to a US family.

Where Spelly fits, and its limits

Spelly is a spelling practice app for kids ages 6 to 12, on the web at spelly.net and as iPhone, iPad and Android apps. You type or paste your child's list, or take a photo of the printed or handwritten worksheet and Spelly turns it into a practice list in seconds. Every word is read aloud in a natural voice, so a child who can't read the list yet can still practice it.

The words go through five games: Matching (word to picture), Multiple Choice (hear it, tap the right spelling), Fill the Gap, Build It (letter tiles), and Type It, where your child hears the word and types it, like a real test. Typed answers are checked letter by letter, and Spelly's own keyboard keeps autocorrect from spelling the word for them. A missed word comes back later in the same round in an easier game, and words missed on an earlier day come back in a short review. Rounds are a few words at a time; a list longer than 30 words plays in 10-word parts and remembers where you left off.

You can set the test date, turn on practice reminders, and get a weekly email with the days practiced, words mastered and words still to practice. It works in 14 languages, with US or UK English. Teachers can share a list with a class by link or QR code, with no student accounts.

The limits, plainly. Spelly is free to start with no ads, and a one-time $29 unlock (no subscription) opens the rest. Free play runs on hearts that come back over time; wrong answers never cost a heart, but a child who wants to practice for a long stretch on the free version will reach a pause. It is aimed at ages 6 to 12, so it is not a phonics course for a preschooler learning letter sounds. And if you only want a photo-to-drill tool with no games, one of the lighter scan apps above may feel quicker.

Try Spelly free with this week's list. It runs in any browser, so you can test it on the list in your child's bag before installing anything.

A simple week with the school list

• The day the list comes home: put it into the app and check every word against the sheet.
• The evenings in between: a short round each day. Let the app bring back the misses.
• The evening before the test: one full typed test of the whole list, then a last pass over anything still missed.

If the same kinds of words keep going wrong week after week, that is worth a word with the teacher. Our article on why a child might be struggling with spelling covers what to look for.

Frequently asked questions

Can I type my child's school spelling list into an app? Yes. Any app that accepts custom words will take a typed list, and many also accept a pasted one. Spelly, Spell Parrot, Spelling Test Flashcards and Squeebles Spelling Connect all let you add your own words. Check that the app reads each word aloud once it is in, or your child will be reading the words rather than hearing them.

Can I take a photo of the spelling worksheet instead of typing it? Yes, in some apps. Spelly, Spell Parrot and Spelling Test Flashcards all describe turning a photo of a list into practice words. Whichever you use, read the result back against the sheet before your child starts, because a misread word is worse than no word.

Is practicing the school list better than a general spelling app? Before a test, yes. The test is on the words the school sent home, usually built around a pattern taught that week, so time spent on other words does not cover them. General lists by grade are useful in weeks with no list, or to get ahead.

What should a spelling app do with my child's list? Read every word aloud, give a real typed or written test where the child hears the word and spells it with no hints, bring back the words they got wrong, and ideally let you set the test date so practice is spread across the week.

Is there a free app for my child's weekly spelling list? Several are free to start. Spell Parrot and Spelling Test Flashcards are free downloads with in-app purchases, and Spelly is free to start with no ads and a one-time $29 unlock. Squeebles Spelling Connect sells family, tutor and school subscriptions in the app.

How we checked this

What we say about Spell Parrot, Spelling Test Flashcards and Squeebles Spelling Connect comes from their own App Store listings, read in September 2026. We did not install them, so these are statements about what each developer publishes, not test results. Where we do not mention a feature, it means only that we did not see it described. The research on practice testing and distributed practice is Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan and Willingham, Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques, Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Spelly is our product.

Related

Try Spelly free · Spelling apps that scan word lists · How to help your child with spelling · Spelling words by grade

Last updated: September 2026.