Words mastered
Correct consistently across multiple sessions.
Tracking progress
The app tracks two related things: spelling progress (whether each word is known) and, when handwriting analysis is on for your child, writing progress (how letters and joins are forming over time).
Spelling progress
This is what you see around word lists, tests, and difficult-word flags - it is separate from handwriting formation scoring.
What gets tracked
Which words were answered correctly on the first attempt
Which words needed more than one attempt
Which words were answered incorrectly
This builds a picture over time of each word's difficulty for your child specifically - not just a general difficulty rating.
Difficult words
After any session, you can mark specific words as difficult. These words are flagged in the list and brought back at the start of the next session, before other words.
Mark difficult words immediately after a home test or school test while the result is fresh.
Smart word ordering
Every practice session and the Dictation test automatically bring a child's hardest and most overdue words to the front of the list, using how they've actually done on each word before - not a general difficulty rating. A word gone wrong or newly relapsed comes back roughly every 3 weeks until it sticks. This runs in the background; there's nothing to switch on.
Suggest from progress
On the Add spellings screen, tap 🧠 Suggest from progress to build a new list from your child's own history: their overdue/hardest words, plus AI-generated new words that target their most common misspelling pattern - each one shown with the reason it was picked. Deselect any you don't want, then save. Free unless new words need generating, which costs 1 credit.
Word reports
Words in progress
Getting better - keep practising.
Words to revisit
Still incorrect or inconsistent - bring these back next session.
Use the report to decide whether to move on to new words or continue drilling the current list.
Progress report emails
If you opt in, Spelling.Live emails you a summary of your child's practice every week or month - written in plain English, delivered to your inbox, with no need to log in.
What's in each report
Sessions and active days - how many times they practised and how many different days they
showed up
Words practised and accuracy - total attempts with an overall percentage correct
Tricky words - the specific words they missed most, so you know exactly where to focus
Practice modes - a breakdown of accuracy across Pick It, Voice, and Write It modes
Bonus games - whether they played the spelling race game and how many sessions that covered
New word lists - any lists you added during the period
AI Spelling Coach usage - whether they asked the coach for help on specific words
Practice modes explained
Not all spelling practice is equally challenging. The mode breakdown tells you a lot about how your child is working:
Pick It (multiple choice)
Your child selects the correct spelling from four options. Builds recognition - the lowest cognitive load of the three modes.
Voice (say it aloud)
Your child says the word aloud and the app checks the spelling. Recall from memory - harder than picking from a list.
Write It (handwriting)
Your child writes the word by hand; AI vision checks letter formation in real time. The closest to a real spelling test.
A child who scores 95% on Pick It but 60% on Write It is recognising words they can't yet produce from memory - exactly the gap that matters on a Friday morning spelling test. Seeing the mode breakdown helps you spot this and nudge them towards more writing practice.
The AI-written summary
At the top of each report is a short paragraph written fresh by the same AI that powers the spelling coach. It reads the stats for that period, notices what changed, and writes a warm, specific summary. A strong week sounds different from a quiet one - tricky words get woven in naturally, and the tone adjusts to what actually happened rather than using a fixed template.
Weekly or monthly
Every Friday
Covers the past seven days. Best if you want a regular check-in and like staying close to what your child is working on.
First of each month
Covers the past four weeks. Useful if you prefer a less frequent overview - for example, to review how a whole school term is going.
How to turn reports on
Go to your account settings (tap the menu icon, then Account)
Under Progress reports, choose Weekly or Monthly
The first report arrives on the next Friday (weekly) or first of the month (monthly) after your child has
had at least one practice session in that window
You can switch frequency or unsubscribe at any time. Every report email has an unsubscribe link in the footer.
Sending reports to more than one person
In the same Progress reports section of your account settings, you can add extra addresses to receive reports - a co-parent, a class teacher, or anyone else who should stay in the loop. Since each child's report is its own email, you can choose whether a recipient gets every child's report or just one child's - useful if, say, a teacher only teaches one of your children. Each person you add can unsubscribe themselves at any time without affecting you or anyone else on the list.
If you signed in with Sign in with Apple and chose to hide your email, your account email is a private Apple relay address rather than your real inbox - you'll see a prompt in this section to add your real address as an extra recipient, so your reports keep reaching you even if Apple's forwarding is ever turned off.
Writing and letter formation reports
When letter formation analysis is enabled for your child and they write in Handwrite it mode (with cloud sync), each attempt can be assessed for how the letters were formed, not only whether the spelling was right. That data feeds two parent-facing reports, depending on age band.
Many Early profiles (Year 1–2) have this on by default; Fluent profiles often start with it off - the setting on your child's profile controls how much formation feedback is saved for the reports below.
Early years: Formation Report
Opens from the child's home or profile menu as Formation Report (/formation-report). You get:
- Grids of upper- and lowercase letters with a simple green / amber / red style summary of how often formation looked confident
- A chronological list of recent checks, with short tips (stroke order, start position, reversals, sizing, and similar)
- Thumbnails of what was written, where stored, so you can see the same image the coach saw
Fluent: Writing Report
Opens as Writing Report (/fluent-writing-report). It is tuned for older writers and includes:
- A fluency score out of 100 and the latest focus word
- A writing profile chart (radar-style axes such as size, joins, spacing, and shape)
- Strengths and areas to develop in plain language, plus recent word checks with short notes and a small image of the writing when one was saved
Streaks and consistency
The app tracks daily practice streaks. Consistent short sessions build stronger retention than occasional long ones - the streak indicator is a useful nudge for children who respond to visual progress cues.