What are hearts?
How free practice works in Spelly, in a minute: what uses a heart, what never does, and what the $29 unlock changes.
The short version
A round uses one heart, and a round is up to 10 words.
❤️ Starting a round uses 1 heart, whatever the game
❤️ A round is up to 10 words. A longer list plays in parts of 10, and each part is one round: a 40-word list is 4 rounds and 4 hearts. The list remembers where your child stopped, so the next round carries on with the next part
❤️ Wrong answers are free. A child who misses every word pays the same one heart as a child who gets them all right
❤️ Left a round before answering anything? The heart comes straight back
A new free account starts with 6 hearts. The balance is the ❤️ number at the top of the app.
Hearts come back on their own. One returns every 5 hours, up to 2. And each new day your child plays, a balance under 2 is topped up to 2. So there is always practice tomorrow, and usually later today.
What never uses a heart
✅ Replaying any list your child has already finished
✅ Review rounds, which bring back the words they missed
✅ The test at the end of each list, and the world tests
✅ The Matching game
✅ Hearing every word read aloud, in every game
✅ Every word explained: its meaning and an example sentence after each answer, and a short fact
✅ Pictures, XP, coins, streaks and the creature collection
✅ A worksheet scan and an AI word list: one of each per day, free
✅ Practising a list someone shared with you, which needs no account at all
What the $29 unlock changes
Unlocking Spelly is a one-time $29 payment. No subscription, ever. It gives:
❤️ Unlimited hearts, so practice never has to stop
📸 Up to 50 worksheet scans and 50 AI word lists a month
📊 Track my class: each student's results on a list you share as a school test
There is nothing smaller to buy. Hearts are not for sale, with money or with coins. See purchases.
Common questions
What happens when the hearts run out?
Nothing is lost. One heart comes back every 5 hours, and the next day your child plays they start with at least 2. Replaying a list they have already finished, review rounds and the test at the end of a list never use a heart, so there is always something to play. To remove the limit for good, unlock Spelly once for $29: see purchases.
Does a wrong answer cost a heart?
No. A round uses one heart when it starts, and that is all. Your child can get every word wrong and the round still costs one heart.
My child opened a round by mistake. Is the heart gone?
No. Leaving a round before answering anything gives the heart back.
Can we buy more hearts?
No. Hearts are not for sale, with money or with coins. They come back on their own, or you can unlock Spelly once for $29 and hearts become unlimited.
Why does our list say "Part 2 of 5"?
A round is up to 10 words, so a longer list is played in parts of 10. Each part is one round and uses one heart, and the list remembers where your child stopped. A 50-word list is 5 parts. With Spelly unlocked, parts use no hearts.
Do hearts pile up if we skip a few days?
No. The daily top-up only lifts a balance that is under 2 back to 2. It never adds to a bigger balance.