How to Play Spellhive
Spellhive is a spelling bee game for kids. Pick a word list, press Start a bee, and the game says the first word out loud, then says it in a sentence, then says the word again, the way a real spelling bee pronouncer does. Type the spelling in the answer box and press Submit or Enter. Capital letters and extra spaces at the start or end never matter, but apostrophes and hyphens do: “they’re” needs its apostrophe and “twenty-one” needs its hyphen.
Stuck? Press Hear it or Slower as often as you like, and ask for the Sentence or the Definition: all free. First letter costs 3 honey, once per word, and is free when your jar is empty, so nobody is ever stuck. If you miss a word, the game shows how it is spelled with green letter tiles, and the same word comes back a couple of words later for a second try.
Bee Rounds: Beat Three Rival Bees
Every bee has three rounds. In Round 1 you and three cartoon rival bees each spell a few words, and the bee with the fewest right buzzes off. Three bees go into the Semi-final, and the last two meet in the Final. A tie never knocks you out. If the Final is tied, the bee with more right words in the whole bee wins. If that is tied too, a perfect bee (every word right first time, no First letter) wins, and otherwise a Sudden buzz word decides it. Each rival spells its own word after you, and its chance of getting it right is fixed by the league, so hurrying does not help: take your time and listen.
There are four leagues: Meadow, Garden, Orchard and Royal. The rivals get better in each one: Buzzy, Daisy and Pip in the Meadow, up to Duchess, Sir Stinger and Marigold in the Royal League. Win two bees in a league to open the next. Win two bees in the Royal League to become the Spelling Bee Champion and earn the Royal Crown.
Grade Lists From Kindergarten to 8th Grade
Spellhive comes with 360 spelling words in 36 weekly lists: four weeks for each grade from Kindergarten to 8th grade. Kindergarten and 1st grade start with sight words like “the”, “said” and “where”. Later weeks cover long vowels, vowel teams, silent letters, prefixes and suffixes, sound-alike words such as “their” and “they’re”, Greek word parts, science and history words, and the famous spelling demons like “necessary”, “rhythm” and “accommodate”. Every built-in word has a short definition written for kids and a sentence that uses it. Each week earns a medal: bronze for reaching the Semi-final, silver for the Final and gold for winning.
Your Own Spelling List, Saved and Shared by QR Code
Parents and teachers can type this week’s spelling words in Lists, then New list: one word per line, and optionally a definition and a sentence after a bar, like island | land with water all around it | The pirates sailed to an island. Choose the grade, and the list is named for you, such as “My 4th Grade · Week 4”, which you can change. Your lists carry a small custom badge, so they never get mixed up with the built-in weeks. Lists are saved in the browser on that device with no time limit, until the browser’s site data is cleared, and you can keep up to 40 of them.
To get the list onto a child’s phone or tablet, press Share. On phones, tablets and Chromebooks this opens the device’s own share menu, so you can text the link straight away, and the card also shows a QR code and a Copy link button. Opening the link or scanning the code opens Spellhive with “Load this list?”, and Load saves it on that device too. The words travel inside the link itself, after the # sign, which browsers never send to a website, so nothing is uploaded or stored on a server. Custom lists are for practice, so they never go on the leaderboard.
Definitions Without the Internet
For your own words, Spellhive uses the definition you typed. If you did not type one, it looks the word up in a dictionary of about 9,000 words that comes with the game. About 850 of them, the built-in words, the Dolch sight words and other words young children often spell, have definitions written for kids. The rest come from Princeton’s free WordNet dictionary, chosen from the most-used everyday words; those are short but written for adults, so a typed definition is still best for young children. No definition ever contains the word or a word that starts the same way, and if the word is not in the dictionary, the Definition button simply hides. Definitions and sentences on screen never show the word itself: it is replaced with a blank.
Your Hive, Costumes and Decorations
Every right word earns honey: 10, plus 5 more with no hints, and extra for winning a round or a bee. Your hive in the meadow fills one honeycomb cell for every 25 honey you earn and grows ring by ring, up to 91 cells. Spend honey in the Shop on nine costumes for your bee, such as a Party Hat, a Wizard Hat or a Superhero Cape, and ten decorations for the meadow, from Sunflowers and a Pond to Fairy Lights and a Rainbow. Spending honey never shrinks the hive. There are 20 awards to collect, from First Word to Gold Grade.
No Voice? Reading Mode
Spellhive speaks with your device’s own built-in voice, so there are no downloads. Some tablets, including some Kindle Fire models, have no reading voice. Then Spellhive switches to Reading mode on its own: it shows the definition and the sentence with the word blanked out, how many letters it has, and the word’s letters as scrambled tiles you can tap to type. You can also choose Reading mode in Settings.
Tips for Spelling Bee Success
- Listen to the sentence: it tells sound-alike words apart, like “piece” and “peace”.
- Say the word slowly in your head and spell it one sound at a time before you type.
- Use Review on the hive: it brings back the words you missed, on the days they are due.
- A word moves up a level each time you spell it right with no hints, and it counts as mastered after three clean spellings spread over at least two different days.
- On a phone, the stage shrinks while the keyboard is open, so the answer box and Submit stay in view.
What Makes Spellhive Different
Most spelling games online either show you the word to copy, or are letter puzzles like the New York Times Spelling Bee, which is about finding words, not spelling words you hear. Spellhive is a real spoken spelling bee with rivals and knockout rounds, and it works with the exact list a child brings home from school. Classroom tools such as Spelling City and Spellzone also take custom lists; Spellhive needs no account or sign-in, runs in any browser, and keeps the list on the device.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a bee work in Spellhive?
You and three rival bees spell words in three rounds: Round 1, the Semi-final and the Final. After each of your words, each rival spells its own word. At the end of Round 1 and the Semi-final the bee with the fewest right words is knocked out, and a tie never knocks you out. The Final is between two bees. If it is tied, the bee with more right words in the whole bee wins. If that is tied too, you win if you spelled every word right first time with no First letter; otherwise a Sudden buzz word decides it. A bee uses up to 12 words of your list, chosen so the words you find hardest come up first.
What happens when I spell a word wrong?
Nothing harsh. A soft sound plays, the right spelling is shown as green letter tiles, and you press Got it to go on. The word comes back two words later for a second try, marked Second try. A second try earns honey but does not count toward the round score, so the knockout stays fair. Missed words also go on the Words to practise list in Awards and come back in Review on later days.
How do I make my own spelling list?
On the hive, open Lists and press New list. Pick the grade, check the name (it fills in like My 4th Grade · Week 4, and you can change it), then type the words, one per line. You can add a definition and a sentence after a bar: island | land with water all around it | The pirates sailed to an island. A list needs 3 to 60 words, and a word can have letters, apostrophes, hyphens and single spaces. Press Save list, then Choose it and Start a bee.
How long is my list saved, and is it only on this device?
It is saved in this browser on this device, with no time limit. It stays until the browser’s site data is cleared, for example by clearing history or using a private window. It is not on your other devices and nothing is uploaded. To put it on another phone, tablet or Chromebook, use Share and open the link there.
How do I share a list with a QR code or a text message?
Press Share on the list. Where the device has a share menu (most phones, tablets, Chromebooks and Safari), it opens so you can send the link by text message or email. The Share card also shows a QR code and a Copy link button. For a long list with definitions, the QR code carries the words only so it stays easy to scan, and the link carries everything. Scanning the code or opening the link starts Spellhive with a question, Load this list?, and Load saves it on that device under the same name. The whole list is inside the link, after the # sign, which is never sent to a server.
Where do the definitions come from without an internet search?
The 360 built-in words have definitions and sentences written for kids. For your own words, Spellhive uses the definition you typed, and if there is none it looks the word up in a dictionary of about 9,000 words that comes with the game. About 850 common kid words, including the Dolch sight words, have definitions written for kids; the rest come from the free Princeton WordNet dictionary and are short but grown-up, so typing your own is best for young children. If a word is not in it, the Definition button is hidden. Nothing is sent to an AI service, so it costs nothing to use.
What if my tablet has no voice?
Spellhive uses the device’s built-in reading voice. If there is none, as on some Kindle Fire tablets, it switches to Reading mode: it shows the definition and the sentence with the word replaced by a blank, the number of letters, and the letters as scrambled tiles you can tap. A list word with no definition or sentence still works, as an unscramble. You can also turn on Reading mode in Settings, and set the speaking speed to Slow, Normal or Quick.
What are the leagues, and how do I become champion?
There are four leagues: Meadow, Garden, Orchard and Royal. In the Meadow League the rivals get about half their words right; in the Royal League they get most of them, and long words are a little harder for them too. Win two bees in a league to open the next one. Win two bees in the Royal League to become the Spelling Bee Champion, which gives your bee the Royal Crown. You can play any league you have opened with any list.
What do honey, hints and the shop do?
A right word earns 10 honey, plus 5 if you used no hint. Winning a round earns 15, winning a bee 40, and a perfect bee 30 more. Honey fills your hive, one cell per 25 honey, up to 91 cells. First letter costs 3 honey, once per word, and is free if your jar is empty; Hear it, Slower, Sentence and Definition are always free. In the Shop you can buy nine costumes and ten meadow decorations. The Royal Crown cannot be bought.
How does the leaderboard score work, and is it safe for kids?
Your score is the best bee score on each built-in weekly list, added up. A bee pays 100 points for each word right, 50 more for each one with no hints, 100 for reaching the Semi-final, 200 for reaching the Final, 400 for winning and 100 for a perfect win; a bee with no words right scores nothing. Your own lists never go on the board. When your total grows, the board asks which grade you are in and a nickname, so never type a real name. Spellhive never asks for a name anywhere else and your lists never leave the device.
Is my progress saved, and does it work on a Chromebook or iPad?
Yes. Honey, the hive, costumes, medals, awards and your lists are saved in the browser after every word. If you leave in the middle of a bee, Continue picks it up at the same word with the same scores. Spellhive is drawn in 2D with large text and buttons, so it runs on school Chromebooks, iPads, Android tablets and phones, and the answer box turns off autocorrect so the keyboard cannot fix a spelling for you.
