This is a list of 5 free Windows software that will help its users to learn spelling English words with the help of visual and audio hints. The listed software test the users by playing the pronunciation of a word, which users have to identify and type in the space provided. A few also show images and videos to identify the word. The software listed here mainly help primary and middle school children. However, words and word lists can be added to a few of these software to personalize the difficulty level and uniqueness of the random words.
I’ve provided this list specifically for people who’d rather take spelling tests offline and save their progress. It’s true that you’ll find a large selection of online spelling bee games, but I feel they don’t have a large repository of words that users can learn. Morover, users can set really tough words like ‘Boutonniere’ if they’re serious about spelling bee contests.
If you still think you’ll go with the online to test your spelling, make sure you try out this list of these 5 free spelling websites to teach spelling to kids.
Let’s check out what we have in the list!
ABC Kids Genius
ABC Kids Genius is an old free software specially for lower primary school children to help them learn spellings, alphabets and numbers. It is the only spelling software in this list where videos of words are available. There are two databases of words in this software where each database can have 998 words. This makes it a total of 1996 words that can be added. Users can add a video and an image associated with every word that can be added in the database. Click on Create in the main menu to make words, add pictures and videos to them. Click on Spelling to start the quiz. Children will be given a picture clue of the word according to which they have to spell it out. When they do, a video of that particular word will be played. ABC Kids Genius is way more customizable than others in this list. However, it falls short in the number of words that it can accommodate.
Spelling Bee
Spelling Bee from gamestolearnenglish.com is a free spelling bee flash game for primary children. The game menu provides users with 2 game modes and a Review mode. Children can flip through images in Review mode to learn the spelling of a word based on its sound and picture. I tested both of the playable modes but I couldn’t make out any difference between the two. I guess the Slow mode is supposed to be slower in speed. The main game can be started by clicking ‘Play’, after which children will be provided categories of words. These categories include animals, food, body parts, jobs, etc.
Choosing a category will open the game screen where 60 rounds of different words will be laid out. Users will have to use the mouse to choose the letters instead of typing in with a keyboard. The word can be played back by clicking the speaker icon. The game is a time trial where the elapsed time matters along with the score. Additionally, the game will end if the main countdown ends. This game feels slow and it’s an excellent educational game for 1st and 2nd graders.
Spellarama
Spellarama is another old software like ABC Kids Genius that provides two exciting games for children to learn English spellings. These games are supported by advertisements. However, I couldn’t see a single hint of an advertisement in the game. One game is Solitaire-Mania where words are spelt by making a solitaire Build. This game was successful in distracting me from my work. Giving a classic Windows twist to education was a really good idea.
The other one is a board game which is not just focused on spellings, but also grammar. I believe grammar is important if you want learn complex spelling where suffixes and prefixes are used. The board game can be played between 5 players where the stops are a mixture of spelling and grammar questions. Spelling questions ask you to type the word based on the audio playback, like all the software in this list.
Speak N Spell
Speak N Spell is a free tool to help users learn spelling English words. It’s one of the simplest and smallest software in this list which is also easy to use. By Default, Speak N Spell has 47,555 words in its database that users can spell out. Click on New Word to spell out a word from the database. You can click Say it again to repeat the word’s pronunciation. The level of difficulty can be changed from the bottom.
I always keep the level of difficulty on hardest as the word’s dictation sounds really confusing when small words are used (a big drawback with Speak N Spell). To add more words, users can click Word Maintenance in the menu. Here they can choose a text file with a list of words not added in the main database. Click on Load file to do that.
SpellTime
SpellTime is another free application like Speak N Spell where users can test their spelling skills. This application helps you learn, practice and test your spelling capabilities. Click on Learn at the top of its interface if you just want to learn the spelling of a word with an audio hint. Practice mode will help you spell a word if you want to test yourself casually. The Test mode will only have an audio reference to the word and it will span over 15 rounds of words. The best part of SpellTime is its admin feature where teachers can set a list of words dedicated to a specific class in a spelling test. More words can be added here as well.
Final Words
I had a really hard time looking for free downloadable spelling software that would work on most of the Windows versions other than 8, 8.1 and 10. I came across a lot of trial applications and spywares to bring you these 5 entries. I think the most useful software out of these is ABC Kids Genius as it allows you to add 1996 words along with videos and pictures. Even though its aimed for primary kids, users can personalize it according to their own level. However, don’t forget to check out the other entries too!
