Prefixes & suffixes
Word beginnings and endings - dis-, -ful, -ely, changing y to i.
Spelling patterns
spelling.live doesn't just mark a word right or wrong. It recognises the pattern behind each mistake - and shows you which patterns keep tripping your child up, in plain English.
Every mistake, sorted by pattern
When a word is misspelled - in practice, in a Paper practice sheet, or in a Dictation test - the app compares what your child wrote with the correct spelling and works out why it went wrong. It sorts the mistake into one of the 18 spelling patterns from the KS1 & KS2 curriculum (National Curriculum English Appendix 1), rather than leaving you with a bare list of missed words.
Silent & double letters
The letters you can't hear, and knowing when a letter doubles.
Homophones
Sound-alikes like their / there / they're and practice / practise.
Long vowels & the schwa
Vowel sounds spelled several ways, and the lazy "uh" in unstressed syllables.
…and more - plurals, apostrophes, exception words, letter-sound confusions, and word families. The label is the same everywhere the pattern appears, with a plain-English explanation of the rule.
Where you'll see it
The Patterns view
In the app, each pattern opens up to show the actual words that tripped your child up, what they wrote, and when - so you can target the rule, not just re-drill the word.
Your weekly report
The progress-report email highlights the top patterns for the period, ranked by how many different words each one spans - so you can see the theme, not just the misses.
How results reach the report
A quick note on how photographed practice lines up with the rest of the app:
Matched to the real word
When the app reads a photo, it matches each answer to the word your child was actually set - inferring the intended word for a crossed misspelling - so results attach to the right target.
When the app reads a photo, it matches each answer to the word your child was actually set - inferring the intended word for a crossed misspelling - so results attach to the right target.
No duplicate words
Words are matched by their normalised spelling, so re-photographing a word your child already has never creates a duplicate. Only the correct target is ever stored as a word - never the misspelling.
Words are matched by their normalised spelling, so re-photographing a word your child already has never creates a duplicate. Only the correct target is ever stored as a word - never the misspelling.
Counts where it should
Paper practice and dictation results count towards the accuracy report and tricky-word ranking. Spelling games are recorded and visible too, but kept out of the accuracy tallies - popping the wrong balloon under time pressure isn't the same as a dictation miss.
Paper practice and dictation results count towards the accuracy report and tricky-word ranking. Spelling games are recorded and visible too, but kept out of the accuracy tallies - popping the wrong balloon under time pressure isn't the same as a dictation miss.