★ Focus words
Words the app has marked as due for another go, from any list your child has practised. They always come first, and they're starred wherever they appear in the pack so you can see which ones matter most.
The printed practice pack
One tap prints a week of screen-free spelling practice built from your child's own words: a look-cover-write-check sheet, a crossword or word search, a paragraph to write (older children) and Friday's test. Printing is free. Here's what's on each page, how to use it, and how the results get back into the app.
Where to find it
Sign in on the website, find your child's card on the home screen and look for the practice pack panel. Tap Print pack to open the preview: tick or untick pages, choose black and white or colour, and see which words were picked and why. Then Print sends it to your printer the usual way.
It appears for signed-in parents only. Teacher accounts don't see it: pupils' sheets come from the class dashboard instead. If you use the phone app, open spelling.live in a browser to print.
Which words go in
This week's words
The list your child is currently practising: the learning plan's list, or the most recently added one. The Friday test uses this list in list order, so you can mark it against the same numbered sheet later.
How many
The practice pages take up to 8 words (6 for younger children) so the sheet stays doable in one sitting. The Friday test takes up to 15 words, the same as the dictation test in the app. The preview shows the exact words before you print.
What's on each page
Look, cover, write, check
Each word is printed with its tricky part picked out ("look at: ght"), then a column for each day's attempt. Fold the sheet along the dotted lines like a fan so your child sees only the word and today's column, not yesterday's answer. Younger children get word cards instead of a table.
Crossword or word search
Older children get a crossword made from this week's words, using the same clues as the app. Younger children get a word search. Under the word search is a "Now cover the list" box: finding a word isn't spelling it, so the real practice is writing three words from memory afterwards.
Write a paragraph
For older children only. A short topic, writing lines, and four of their words to use. The words are on a grown-up strip at the bottom: fold it under (or cut it off) before they start, then read the words out.
Friday test
Numbered lines for the child, and a grown-up strip with the words in order, a sentence for each, and a warning where a word sounds like another (wait / weight). Say the word, read the sentence, say the word again. Fold the strip under or cut it off before you hand the sheet over.
Getting results back into the app
Mark Friday's test
After the test, tap 📷 Mark Friday's test on the child's card and photograph the sheet. The app reads what they wrote against the same numbered list, you check anything it's unsure about, and the results count toward the progress report like an in-app dictation test. This is the one step that uses credits: the same as a dictation test.
Mark the paragraph
Tap ✍ Mark the paragraph and, for each of the four words, tick right, wrong (and type what they wrote, if you like) or not used. No photo and no credits. Right and wrong answers count as unaided written practice; a word they didn't use records nothing.
What is never marked
Look-cover-write-check, the crossword and the word search all show the spelling on the page, so they record nothing. They're there to help the words stick before the test, not to measure anything.
Common questions
Does printing the pack cost credits?
No. Printing is free, and so is marking the paragraph. Only marking the Friday test from a photo uses credits, the same amount as a dictation test in the app.
Why is the app asking whether my child used the pack?
The app can't see what came out of your printer, so an hour or so after you print it asks "Did they use the pack?" on the child's card. Your answer helps us decide what to build next and changes nothing about their practice.
Can I print it again or print a different week?
Yes. Print again any time from the same panel. The words come from today's data, so a reprint later in the week may pick up newly due words, and the next week's list once you've added it.
Why does the crossword sometimes not appear?
A crossword needs words that interlock and have a clue on file. If this week's list can't make one, the preview says so and the rest of the pack prints as normal.