Spelling Wheel: Spin a Word to Spell

Spelling wheel with 20 tricky words for grades 3 to 5, from “because” to “necessary”. Spin a word for a class spelling bee, a quiz or practice at home.

Spelling bees
Whiteboard quiz
Home practice

On this wheel

because
friend
believe
beautiful
different
favorite
enough
thought
answer
island
library
calendar

Why use a spelling wheel

Twenty words that children often misspell are on the wheel, such as “friend”, “Wednesday” and “separate”. Spin one, say it aloud, and the speller writes it or spells it out letter by letter.

Run a class spelling bee
Spin a word for each speller in turn and hide the words already given, so no one gets the same word twice.
Everyone writes the same word
Spin, read the word aloud, and the whole class writes it on mini whiteboards before you show the answer.
Practise the hard words at home
Parents can spin a few words a night and hide the ones their child spells right.

This wheel wears the Wheel-ementary theme: crayons on a chalkboard, push pins and a gold-star arrow. Your own copy keeps it, or pick another wheel theme.

How to use the spelling wheel

Click the wheel to spin it.
Wait for it to slow down and stop on a random entry. The winner pops up on screen.
Click “Hide & Respin” to take the winner out and spin again, so nothing is picked twice.
Click “Create your own spelling word picker” to save your own copy, change the entries, and share or embed it.

All 20 entries on the spelling wheel

because
friend
believe
beautiful
different
favorite
enough
thought
answer
island
library
calendar
February
Wednesday
neighbor
science
separate
necessary
rhythm
knowledge

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use this week’s spelling list?

Yes. Click “Create your own spelling word picker” to save a copy, then paste in your class’s words, one per line.

Which word on the wheel is the hardest?

“Rhythm” trips up many spellers, as it has no a, e, i, o or u. “Necessary” is next: one c and two s’s.

Is the wheel really random?

Yes. Every entry has a slice of the same size, and where the wheel stops is picked with your browser’s cryptographically secure random number generator (crypto.getRandomValues), so nobody can predict or rig the result.

Can I change the entries on this wheel?

Yes. Click “Create your own spelling word picker” to save your own copy. You can then add, remove or rename entries, change the theme and spin settings, and share or embed your wheel.