Orton-Gillingham spelling practice online, free
Orton-Gillingham is a way of teaching, not a worksheet. A trained tutor introduces one phonics rule at a time, in order, through sight, sound and movement. LexiKey is the practice part of that: words grouped by the same rules, spoken aloud and typed until they stick. It does not replace the lesson. It fills the days between lessons.
What Orton-Gillingham looks like in the word list
1,114 words are grouped into 108 phonics patterns. On the practice screen they are gathered under headings a tutor will recognize:
- Short vowels: cat, bed, sip
- Magic E: rate, bite, hope
- Digraphs: ship, chat, patch
- Blends: stop, trip, sand
- Vowel teams: rain, beach, seed
- R-controlled: car, bird, fort
- Diphthongs: coin, cloud, town
- Silent letters: knee, wrist, ghost
- Double letters: letter, ballot, sudden
- Tricky rules: receive, giant, once
- Compound words: sunset, backpack
- Longer words: wonderful, remember
A session stays inside one pattern. The point is the same as in a lesson: learn the rule through a run of words that share it, rather than memorizing each word on its own.
The three principles, and how far software gets
- Multisensory. The student sees the word, hears it in a recorded voice (British or American) and types it. Dictation mode hides the word so they type from the sound alone. The tactile parts of a lesson, tracing letters or tapping out sounds, cannot be done on a keyboard and LexiKey does not pretend to.
- Systematic and sequential. A placement test finds which patterns are already secure, and practice starts at the first one that is not. Patterns run from short-vowel words upwards.
- Practised to mastery. A word typed correctly after a long pause is not mastered. It returns in later sessions until it is right three times running, then retires. Errors and hesitations are both tracked, locally, as the student types.
What it does not do
- It does not teach the rule. The screen names the pattern and shows the words; it does not explain why "hope" has an e and "hop" does not. That is the tutor's job, or the parent's.
- It is not aligned to any named published program and makes no claim to be accredited Orton-Gillingham instruction.
- It does not cover reading or comprehension. Spelling only, through typing.
If you are a tutor
Pick the pattern that matches this week's lesson and set ten minutes a day as homework. The student does not need an account to start; a free one saves which words keep coming back, which is the list worth looking at before the next session.
There is no tutor dashboard yet. Progress lives in the student's own account. If you would use a view across your students, the teacher page has a place to say so.
Questions people ask
- Is LexiKey an Orton-Gillingham program?
- No. Orton-Gillingham is a way of teaching, delivered by a trained person. LexiKey is the practice that sits alongside it: 1,114 words grouped into 108 phonics patterns in the order an Orton-Gillingham tutor would introduce them. It drills a rule; it does not explain one.
- Can I use it for Orton-Gillingham practice at home without a tutor?
- Yes, and it is free. The placement test finds the right starting pattern and each session covers one rule. What you will not get is someone explaining why 'hope' has an e and 'hop' does not, so if a child is stuck on a rule rather than on the words, that is the moment to find a teacher.
- Which phonics patterns does it cover?
- Short vowels, magic e, digraphs, blends, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, diphthongs, silent letters, double letters, compound words, longer multisyllable words and a set of tricky rules such as 'receive' and 'giant'. Those headings cover 108 finer groups underneath.
- Does it follow a particular published Orton-Gillingham scope and sequence?
- No. It is not affiliated with or aligned to any named program. The groups follow the common Orton-Gillingham progression from short-vowel words upwards, and a tutor can pick whichever pattern matches the current lesson.
- Is it multisensory?
- The student sees the word, hears it spoken by a recorded voice, and types it. Dictation mode removes the visual so the student types from hearing alone. It cannot do the tactile parts of a lesson, such as tracing letters in sand.