Is There a Spelling Practice App for Hebrew or Arabic?

Last updated: September 2026 · Written by the Spelly team

Short answer: Yes. Spelly is a spelling practice app that works in Hebrew and in Arabic: they are two of the 14 languages it runs in, the app lays itself out right to left for both, every word is read aloud in a natural voice, and your child can practice the exact list their school sent home. It is free to start. The thing to check before you rely on any app for these languages, ours included, is whether the words your child needs display the way their school writes them, especially if the list uses vowel marks (niqqud in Hebrew, harakat in Arabic).

A note on fairness: Spelly is our app, so we have an interest here. Most of this page is about what makes Hebrew and Arabic spelling different and what to look for in any app, and that part holds whichever one you choose. The linguistic points are sourced at the end.

Why Hebrew and Arabic spelling is its own problem

A spelling app built around English can be translated into Hebrew or Arabic and still get the practice wrong, because the difficulties are different. Four things matter.

The script runs right to left. Both Hebrew and Arabic are written from right to left. For a practice app that means more than flipping the text: letter tiles, blanks and typed answers all have to run in the direction your child writes, or the app is quietly teaching the wrong habit.

Letters change shape. In Hebrew, five letters take a different form at the end of a word, so מ becomes ם and כ becomes ך. Arabic goes further: the form of a letter changes with its position in the word (initial, medial or final), and many letters share the same basic shape and differ only in their dots, like ب ت ث. A child can know the right letter and still write the wrong form of it.

Vowel marks come and go. Hebrew and Arabic are usually written without their short vowels. The vowels exist as small marks above or below the letters: niqqud in Hebrew (שָׁלוֹם rather than שלום) and harakat in Arabic (كَتَبَ rather than كتب). Children learning to read Hebrew start with the pointed script and move to the unpointed version by fourth grade. Arabic follows a similar path: vowelized text is the norm in books for young learners, and unvowelized text is introduced around fourth grade. So a first grader's list may be fully marked and a fifth grader's usually is not, and the practice should match whichever one your child is tested on.

Some letters sound the same. In Modern Hebrew, several consonants that were once pronounced differently have merged, so one sound can be spelled with more than one letter: /t/ can be ט or ת. Hearing the word does not settle which one it takes. Researchers point to knowing the word's structure, its root and its prefixes and suffixes, as what decides it. In Arabic the extra layer is the gap between the spoken dialect at home and Modern Standard Arabic, which differ in sounds, vocabulary and grammar. A child is often spelling a word in a form they do not say that way at the dinner table.

The practical upshot is the same for both languages: general drills only go so far, and practicing the actual words, in the actual form the teacher will mark, does most of the work. Our guide on how to help your child with spelling covers the day-to-day routine, and it applies to any language.

What to look for in an app for Hebrew or Arabic

Hebrew or Arabic as a practice language, not only a menu language. An app can translate its buttons and still only practice English words. Check that the words themselves can be in Hebrew or Arabic.
A real right-to-left layout. The whole screen should read from the right: the word, the letter tiles, the gaps to fill. Right-to-left text dropped into a left-to-right screen is confusing for a child who is still settling the direction.
Every word spoken aloud. A spelling test is dictation. Your child should hear the word and write it, not copy it. With letters that sound alike, hearing the word and then seeing the correct spelling, again and again, is how the right letter sticks.
Your child's own school list. The school chooses the words, and a ready-made list will not match them. Look for a way to type, paste or photograph the list that came home.
Vowel marks shown the way the school writes them. If the list is pointed or vowelized, add a few words and check that the marks display as they appear on the sheet. If the school writes without them, check that the app is not adding them.
A keyboard that does not give the answer away. If your child types answers on a phone or tablet, look at which keyboard appears and make sure it is not suggesting or correcting the word for them.

Bilingual families practicing the home language

A common situation: the child goes to an English-speaking school, and Hebrew or Arabic is the language of home, of a weekend or afternoon school, or of grandparents. The home language then gets a fraction of the practice time, and spelling can be the first thing to slip, because a child can speak a language comfortably long before they can write it.

A few things help. Keep each language in its own list rather than mixing them. Practice a little of each, often, rather than one long session a week. Let the parent who speaks the language say each word once when the list is new, so the child hears it the way the family says it as well as the way the app does. Our longer guide to spelling in two languages for bilingual and ESL families goes into what carries over between languages and what has to be learned separately.

Where Spelly fits

Spelly is a spelling practice app for ages 6 to 12, on the web at spelly.net and as an iPhone, iPad and Android app. It runs in 14 languages, Hebrew and Arabic among them, and in both of those the app reads right to left. Our help guide on practicing in another language shows how to set it up.

Your child's own list. Type or paste the words, or take a photo of the printed or handwritten worksheet and Spelly turns it into a practice list. There are also AI-made lists on any topic and ready-made lists by grade.
Every word read aloud in a natural voice, so a child who is not yet reading the list fluently can still practice it.
Five games: Matching (word to picture), Multiple Choice (hear it, tap the right spelling), Fill the Gap (fill in the missing letters), Build It (tap letter tiles to build the word) and Type It (hear it and type it, like a real test). Typed answers are checked letter by letter.
Missed words come back: later in the same round in an easier game, and in a short review on a later day.
Price: free to start, no ads, and a one-time $29 unlock with no subscription.

The honest limits. We are not making any claim on this page about how niqqud or harakat display in each of Spelly's games. Before you rely on it for a test, add a handful of the words your child needs and check that they appear the way the school writes them. If you photograph a worksheet, read through the list it produces before your child starts. And Spelly is list practice, not a course: it is not the tool for teaching a child the Hebrew or Arabic alphabet from the beginning.

If that fits what you need, try Spelly free with this week's list.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a spelling app that works in Hebrew? Yes. Spelly supports Hebrew as a practice language, lays the app out right to left, reads each word aloud and lets you add your child's own school list. Check that the words display the way your child's school writes them, particularly if the list uses niqqud.

Is there a spelling app for Arabic? Yes. Spelly supports Arabic in the same way: a right-to-left layout, every word read aloud, and your child's own list. If the list uses harakat, add a few words first and check that they display as you expect.

Should my child practice Hebrew spelling with or without niqqud? Follow the school. Children usually learn to read Hebrew with niqqud and move to unpointed text by fourth grade, so a younger child's list may include vowel marks and an older child's usually will not. Practice the words in the form they will be tested in.

Why does my child mix up Hebrew letters that sound the same? Because in Modern Hebrew several letters now stand for the same sound, for example ט and ת for /t/. Hearing the word does not tell you which letter it takes; knowing the word does. That is why practicing the specific words on the list helps more than general drills.

Can a bilingual child practice English and Hebrew or Arabic in the same app? In Spelly, yes. It runs in 14 languages, so a child can practice an English list for school and a Hebrew or Arabic list for home. Keep them as separate lists and practice a little of each rather than one long mixed session.

Is Spelly free? It is free to start, with no ads, and there is a one-time $29 unlock rather than a subscription.

How we checked this

The points about direction, final letters and vowel marks come from the Unicode Standard's chapter on Middle Eastern scripts. The move from pointed to unpointed Hebrew is described in Rotem-Yinon and Shaul in the journal Dyslexia, and the Hebrew letters that share a sound in Schiff, Rosenstock and Ravid in Frontiers in Psychology. The Arabic letter forms, dots, vowelized texts for young learners and the gap between spoken and standard Arabic come from Ghandour and colleagues in Frontiers in Psychology. All were read in September 2026. School practice varies by country and school, so treat the grade levels as typical rather than fixed. Spelly is our product, and we have said plainly where to check it before relying on it.

Try Spelly free · Practice in another language · Spelling in two languages · Spelling apps that scan word lists

Last updated: September 2026.