For those of you kicking off a new school year over the next few weeks: welcome back!
Whether you spent the summer resting, planning, or a little of both, a fresh year is a great time to get your students spelling again. And if you've been away from Spelling Test Buddy for a bit, a lot has changed. Over the past year we shipped more than we ever have: new games, personalized learning, better audio, and a handful of quiet time-savers. All of it is pointed at the same goal: better spelling outcomes for your students, and less busywork for you.
Here's what's new since last fall, so your students come back to the best version of Spelling Test Buddy yet.
📋 Adaptive Learning: a personalized program for every student
Our biggest launch of the year. Adaptive Learning uses spaced repetition - the same technique behind Anki, Duolingo, and XtraMath - to give each student a personalized daily program. Words they've missed come first, words due for review come next, and new words fill in from there, so each student practices right at the edge of their "forgetting curve" instead of drilling words they already know.
You pick the word lists and a few settings; the system handles the personalization for you. It's a great fit for sight/Dolch/Fry words, tier 2 vocabulary, IEP goals, and ESL learners.
🔊 Better audio, so students hear the right word
- Homographs are now supported. For 162 common US English homographs (like lead, wind, and read), you can pick the exact pronunciation you're teaching, so the audio matches the meaning. (See how it works, or read our primer on homonyms, homophones, and homographs.)
- A new, clearer US English voice now reads the most commonly used 20,000 words. It's more natural for students to hear and spell.
⏱️ Time-savers built from your feedback
- "Available From" dates — schedule assignments to open exactly when you want them to.
- Most misspelled words — see the toughest words across each list so you know what to reteach.
- Student report of all tests — print a PDF or CSV of a student's results, perfect for parent/teacher conferences.
- Simple Assignment Mode — if the full toolset feels like a lot, this streamlines assigning practice, tests, and games to your whole class.
- Assign a whole folder of word lists in one tap — set up an entire unit at once.
📝 New worksheets in Worksheet Creator
- Roll and Read and Read, Sort, Write — UFLI-inspired worksheets you can generate from a word list in about a minute.
- Morphology Word Matrix with Word Hunt — help students build words from a base and its affixes.
🎮 Five new games to make practice something students look forward to
Practice sticks when it's fun. We added five new games in the past year, and students play them straight from their Upcoming Assignments. No extra setup for you.
- Spelling Blast — a block puzzle game in the style of Block Blast! and Tetris. Players tap one of three blocks to pick it up, then tap the 8x8 grid to put it down.
- Tug of War — a silly monkey tug-of-war that's a hit with younger students.
- Word Breaker — a fast-paced, Arkanoid-style block breaker where every few hits, students spell another word.
- Spell & Sink — a Battleship-style strategy game where students spell to reload their cannons and command the high seas.
- Crossword Bee — a crossword puzzle where students listen to audio clues and fill in the grid.
🧹 Coming back? Clear out last year's students in seconds
Starting fresh with a new class? You don't have to remove students one by one. From your Profile page, you have two quick options:
- Delete All Students — clears out every student, along with their test results and assignments, so you can start the year with a clean roster.
- Delete All Assignments — removes just the assignments while keeping your students, their test results, and groups intact.
👉 See Reset for a new school year for the full details.
New here, or coming back? Here's the 1-minute start
- Create a Word List (type it, paste it, or snap a photo of your list).
- Add your Students and share their unique Student Codes.
- Assign the list, and send your students the Assignment Link. That's it.
Want to try the paid plan again this year?
If your free trial expired and you were moved to the Free plan, I'd like to give you two more weeks of the paid Standard/Teacher plan so you can put all of this to work with your class. Just send me a note and I'll set it up.
Could Spelling Test Buddy help your whole school or district?
We have a School and District version, too. You can send a pre-written email to your admin to introduce it. And I'm always happy to answer their questions!
We support quotes, POs, invoices, and payment by check. Your admin team can learn more here.
Here's to a great year ahead. I hope it's your students' best year of spelling yet!
-Jason
Creator of Spelling Test Buddy