What's on the spelling word wheel
The 12 entries cover words that trip up spellers at the elementary and middle-school level. They share common trouble spots: silent letters (through, friend), tricky vowel combinations (beautiful, because), and endings that students often guess wrong (probably, everybody, different). Spinning gives each word roughly equal odds of coming up, so no single word dominates your session.
You can swap the list to match any unit or grade level. Delete entries you haven't taught yet using the X next to each word, and add your own by typing into the entry field and pressing Enter. If you have a full class word list ready, paste it line by line into the bulk import area to replace the defaults in seconds. The wheel rebuilds immediately with whatever entries you've added.
Ways to use a spelling word wheel in class
Oral spelling warm-up
Spin at the start of a lesson, call on a volunteer to spell the word aloud, then discuss any tricky letter patterns before moving on. Because the wheel picks randomly, students stay alert — any word could come up next.
Write-and-check rounds
Spin once, every student writes the word on paper or a mini whiteboard, then reveal the correct spelling together. Turn on Remove Winner (the toggle below the wheel) so each word only comes up once per round — useful when you want to cover all 12 without repetition.
Small-group games
Put a tablet in the middle of a group and let students take turns spinning. The spinner has to spell the word; classmates check. If they get it right, they keep the word card. The bulk import feature makes it easy to load a different group's word list on the same device.
Differentiation by weight
Each entry has a numeric weight field in the editor. If certain words need extra reinforcement — say beautiful or probably — raise their weight so they appear on a larger slice and come up more often during spins. Easier words can stay at the default.
Customising the wheel for your class
The classroom hub has other wheels built for the same setting, but this one is purpose-built for spelling. Beyond swapping entries, you can pick from 16 colour palettes in the Customize panel — handy if you want the wheel to match a classroom theme or a subject colour code. The spin duration can be set to 3, 5, or 10 seconds; a longer spin builds a little anticipation before the word lands.
If you run spelling rotations across multiple groups with different word lists, you'll need to re-enter the list for each session — the wheel doesn't carry entries over between visits. The wheel generator is the fastest way to start from a blank wheel if you want to build an entirely custom set from scratch.
The winner dialog that appears after each spin shows the word clearly and includes a share button, so you can send the result to a parent chat or a class board in one tap — the shared message includes the word and the page link.