SpellStar uses memory science to help children learn and retain spellings over months and years, not just until Friday's test. Aligned to the Australian Curriculum, Years 3 to 10.
No subscriptions, no ads, no in-app purchases. Just a beautifully simple app that does one thing really well.
A quick diagnostic finds the right starting level, so your child isn't bored by easy words or overwhelmed by hard ones.
Words come back at just the right time, based on how well your child knows each one. The algorithm learns as they learn.
1256 words aligned to the Australian Curriculum v9.0, with Australian English spellings throughout: colour, practise, organisation.
Independent: the app speaks the word, your child types. Parent: you read, they spell, you tap correct or incorrect.
Letter-by-letter comparison on mistakes, pattern hints for tricky features, and in-session retries. Encouraging, never punishing.
23 achievements across six categories, plus daily streaks. Rewards effort and consistency, not perfection.
Each session takes about 10 minutes. Short, focused, and effective.
The app speaks the word aloud in an Australian English voice. Your child sees the definition and can hear it used in a sentence.
They type the spelling. No multiple choice, no letter tiles. Real spelling, the way they'll need to do it in class.
Instant feedback shows what went right and what went wrong. Missed words come back later in the session for another try.
The algorithm schedules each word for review at the optimal moment. Over weeks, spellings move from fragile to permanent.
1256 words across Years 3 to 10, mapped to the English content descriptors in version 9.0.
High-frequency words, common letter patterns and phoneme-grapheme relationships.
Multisyllabic words, more complex letter patterns and grammatical morphemes.
Prefixes, suffixes and spelling generalisations including technical vocabulary.
Word origins, spelling rules and generalisations to spell new and technical words.
Complex morphology, academic vocabulary and subject-specific terminology.
Etymological complexity, multi-morpheme words and discipline-specific vocabulary.
Advanced academic and analytical vocabulary across English, Humanities and Science.
High-level academic and formal vocabulary in preparation for senior secondary.
SpellStar isn't just another flashcard app. It's built on decades of memory research.
We forget new information in a predictable pattern. Without review, most of what we learn fades within days. But reviewing at just the right moment, when the memory is about to fade, makes it dramatically stronger each time.
SpellStar uses FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler), refined using data from hundreds of millions of reviews. It's the same algorithm behind Anki, the world's most popular flashcard system. It models how memory actually works, not just right-or-wrong scores.
Not all mistakes are equal. Spelling "acheive" instead of "achieve" is a near miss, not a complete failure. The algorithm responds proportionally to how close your child was, so one small error doesn't reset everything.
A rolling window of recent attempts judges accuracy, so early mistakes when a word is brand new don't permanently drag down its score. A single bad day doesn't define a word forever.
SpellStar works well as a daily independent literacy activity. Each session takes 10-15 minutes, making it ideal for morning routines, literacy rotations, or homework. The placement test automatically differentiates for each student. No weekly word lists to prepare, no tracking spreadsheets to maintain.
The algorithm ensures each student reviews words at individually optimised intervals based on their own performance, rather than a one-size-fits-all weekly cycle. Research consistently shows this produces significantly better long-term retention.
By design. SpellStar starts with three new words per day until 15 words are in the system, then increases to five. This gentle ramp prevents your child from being overwhelmed with reviews in the first week. Within a fortnight, sessions will be fuller as review words accumulate alongside new ones.
Yes. Use the Words tab to add custom words with definitions and example sentences. Custom words follow the same spaced repetition schedule as curriculum words.
With consistent daily practice, most words reach mastery in three to six weeks. Words that are particularly tricky may take longer, and that's perfectly normal. The algorithm keeps scheduling them at appropriate intervals.
SpellStar will welcome them back and prioritise overdue words. The algorithm accounts for the time elapsed and adjusts accordingly. Their streak will reset, but word progress is never lost.
No. All words, progress data, and text-to-speech work completely offline. Data is stored locally on the device.
Yes. No subscriptions, no ads, no in-app purchases. We built SpellStar for our own kids and thought other families might find it useful too.
Download SpellStar and take the placement test. Your child could be practising in under a minute.
Download for iOSFree. No account required. Works offline.