Free spelling practice with your own words, and how to make your own

A spelling game built around this week's list

You'll describe the game to a free AI assistant, paste what it writes into a file, and open it in your browser. Then add words read out loud, letter-by-letter feedback, a tricky-words round and look-cover-write-check, one step at a time. Your child can choose the colours and the rewards.

• A box to type or paste this week's spelling list, saved on your device
• Each word read aloud by the device's built-in voice, with an optional sentence and a slow version
• Instant feedback that shows which letters were right and which need fixing
• A copy-it-correctly step after a mistake, then a tricky-words round at the end
• A look, cover, write, check mode, as many UK schools teach it

Good for: parents helping with weekly spelling homework, teachers and teaching assistants setting practice for the board or class tablets, home-educating families, and children who'd rather type than write the words out five times.

What you need

Build it in five steps

Step 1 gives you a simple version that works, and each step after it adds more. The tool at the top of this page is roughly what you'll have once you've done every step. Yours will look a bit different, because the AI writes its own version each time.

1. Ask for the spelling game

   Copy this prompt into your AI assistant:

   Copy this promptCopy

   I don't know how to code. Please make me a spelling practice game for my child that runs in a web browser.
   
   Requirements:
   - ONE single HTML file (HTML, CSS and JavaScript together), no external libraries, no internet needed. I will save it and double-click it.
   - A box where I type this week's spelling words, one on each line. Save the list in localStorage.
   - A Start button. The game goes through the words one at a time.
   - For each word, show it in big letters for 4 seconds, then hide it, and let my child type it from memory.
   - A Check button (Enter works too). If it's right, say "Brilliant!" in green and move on. If it's wrong, show the right spelling.
   - Turn off spellcheck, autocorrect and autocapitalise on the answer box, so the browser doesn't fix the spelling for them.
   - Show a score, and at the end show how many they got right.
   - A friendly design: a dark background, big text and bright colours.
   
   Please give me the complete file in one code block, then tell me in simple steps how to save and open it.

   Copy the code, paste it into your text editor, and save it as spelling.html. Double-click it, type a few words, and press Start.

2. Read the words out loud

   Spelling tests are read out, so practice should be too. Browsers have a built-in voice for this.

   Copy this promptCopy

   That works, thank you. Please add a "Listen and spell" mode, and a button to switch between it and the look-and-hide mode:
   - Read each word out loud with the Web Speech API (speechSynthesis).
   - Only use voices where localService is true, so the words are spoken by the device itself and never sent to an online service. Prefer a British English voice if there is one.
   - Voices can load a moment after the page, so listen for the voiceschanged event.
   - A "Hear it again" button and a "Say it slowly" button (a slower rate).
   - If I write a line like "answer - I know the answer", read the word, then the sentence, then the word again, but only test the word.
   - If the device has no built-in voice, hide the listening mode and explain why.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

   Always ask for the complete file. Replace everything in spelling.html, save, and refresh the tab (F5 or Cmd+R).

3. Show which letters were wrong

   "Wrong" on its own doesn't help. Showing exactly where it went wrong does.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please make the feedback more helpful when a word is wrong:
   - Show what they typed, crossed out, and then the right spelling.
   - In the right spelling, colour each letter green if their letter in the same place matched, and highlight it in yellow if it didn't.
   - Then ask them to type the word correctly to carry on. This copy doesn't count towards the score, but it helps the word stick.
   - A "Hint" button that tells them the first letter and how many letters there are.
   - A "Skip" button.
   - A soft happy sound for right and a low "uh-oh" for wrong, made with the Web Audio API, with a button to turn sounds off.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

4. Add stars and a tricky-words round

   Children love a reward, and the words they got wrong are the ones worth practising again.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please add rewards and a second chance:
   - A streak counter for words right in a row.
   - At the end, show up to three stars: three for 90% or more, two for 70%, one for 40%.
   - List the words they got wrong, and add a "Practise the tricky ones" button that starts a new round with only those words.
   - An option to mix the words up or keep them in the order I typed them.
   - Remember the best score in localStorage.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

5. Make it work on tablets and the board

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please make it work well on a tablet, a phone and the classroom board:
   - On narrow screens, put the word list and settings under the game, and make sure nothing scrolls sideways.
   - Make the answer box and buttons big enough for small fingers.
   - Keep the focus in the answer box after each word, so they can keep typing without tapping.
   - A "Look, cover, write, check" choice of how long the word shows: 3, 5 or 8 seconds.
   - If the list is empty when they press Start, explain what to do instead of doing nothing.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

Quick fixes

Twist it into something else

A list of words and a check button can teach almost anything. Change the first prompt to make:

This week's words, read in a voice they know

Spelling apps often come with fixed lists, accounts, adverts or a subscription, and many send what children type to a server. Yours uses this week's list from school, runs without the internet, and keeps everything on your device. You can change the rewards, the colours and the sounds, add their friends' names as bonus words, or turn it into a French vocab test next term. Making it together is also a good chance to talk about how the words are built.

Questions people ask

What to build next