Looking for a Spelling Shed Alternative? What to Compare (UK, 2026)

Spelling Shed (by EdShed) is the spelling app most UK primary schools know, and for good reason: lots of games, the National Curriculum lists, and a class setup teachers are used to. If your child's school sets homework on it, that is usually the best place to do that homework.

But plenty of parents search for a Spelling Shed alternative anyway. Usually it's one of four reasons:

1. The words don't match. The school sends home its own list on a Friday, and it isn't the one in the app.
2. The test is written, the practice is typed. Children spend the week tapping letter tiles, then sit a test with a pencil.
3. You can't see what's going wrong. A score tells you that a word was missed, not why.
4. Games take over. For some children the game becomes the point and the spelling becomes the obstacle.

If one of those is why you're here, here's what to compare, and where Spelling.Live fits. Everything below was checked in September 2026. Apps change, so confirm on each site before you subscribe.

1. Can it practise your school's list?

Spelling Shed has curriculum lists and teacher-set lists, and a parent can type in their own words. Spelling.Live does both too, and adds a shortcut: photograph the list that came home and it becomes a ready-to-practise list in a few seconds. (How photo import works.)

If your school uses the National Curriculum lists directly, every app on this page has them. See our free Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 lists.

2. Does your child ever write the word?

This is the biggest structural difference. Spelling Shed, like most spelling apps, is built around typing and letter tiles. Spelling.Live lets a child answer four ways - Pick it, Type it, Say it and Write it - and when they write, with a finger or stylus, the handwriting is read and checked. You can also print a practice sheet, let your child write on paper, and have the sheet marked from a photo.

Why it matters: the Friday test is handwritten. Practising only by typing practises a narrower skill than the one being tested. (More on handwriting vs typing.)

3. Does it tell you why a word went wrong?

Right-or-wrong is useful, but it doesn't tell you what to do next. Spelling.Live reads each mistake and names the pattern behind it - the /shun/ sound spelled -sion instead of -tion, a missing double letter, the y-to-i rule - so a parent can see that four "different" wrong words are really one rule. (How that works.)

4. What happens when your child gets stuck?

Rather than showing the answer or moving on, Spelling.Live's Aid Ladder brings help in a step at a time: another look at the word, then the tricky part highlighted, then key letters. The child still does the spelling themselves. Missed words come back on a spaced schedule until they stick.

5. Games: reward, not the main event

Spelling.Live has arcade games too, but they are earned with coins from practice and never count towards the progress report, so the report measures spelling rather than game speed. There's also a calm games setting that hides timers and streaks for children who find them stressful. (Why we built games this way.)

Quick comparison

* As of September 2026. Every "not that we found" is a snapshot, not a permanent gap.

So which should you choose?

• Your school sets Spelling Shed homework? Keep Spelling Shed for that.
• You want to practise the actual Friday list, with handwriting and paper tests at home? Try Spelling.Live - many families use both.
• You want a gentle game around curriculum lists only? SpellCast is worth a look; we compare it in Spelling.Live vs SpellCast.

For a wider look, see the best spelling apps for kids in the UK, judged on what research says actually improves spelling.