Right Spelling: an orthographic choice test online

Two spellings of one word appear, one above the other, such as rhythm and rythm. Both sound the same, so only your memory for how the word looks can tell you which is right. 40 pairs, and no time limit.

Start Right Spelling

40 pairs · about 3 min · tap, click or arrow keys

After the last pair you see how many spellings you got right, and a free account keeps the result.

Which one is spelled correctly? rhythm rythm
rhythm or rythm?Both sound the same · one is right

How it works

4 practice pairs with feedback, then 40 scored pairs with none. Nothing on screen is timed, and the run takes about 3 minutes for most people.

  1. 1 · First

    4 practice words

    A wrong practice answer is followed by the correct spelling. If fewer than half are right, the 4 come round once more. They are not scored.

  2. 2 · Each pair

    Two spellings, stacked

    One is the real spelling, the other a misspelling that sounds identical. The correct one is on top in half of the pairs and underneath in the rest, in a fixed order.

  3. 3 · Your answer

    Tap, click or arrow

    Choose the spelling you trust: tap it, click it, or press the Up arrow for the top one and the Down arrow for the bottom one. A 300 ms blank comes before the next pair.

  4. 4 · Your score

    Spellings known

    The main score is the number correct out of 40. A second count keeps only the correct answers given within 5 seconds.

The English pairs were written for this check and sorted by how hard adults are expected to find them: 10 easy, 18 medium and 12 hard. A few trip up almost everyone, so a perfect 40 is rare, and one missed hard word says little.

The Spanish version takes its pairs from OrthoKnow-SP, an open set of 80 spelling pairs that 27,185 native Spanish-speaking adults answered, 87.5% of them on a phone (Duñabeitia, 2025). It uses 2 forms of 38 pairs matched on how often people chose correctly, without pairs that differ only by a written accent. In both languages Form A and Form B keep a fixed order, and a retake on the same device swaps to the other form.

Choosing between a word and a sound-alike misspelling is the orthographic choice task described by Olson, Forsberg, Wise and Rack (1994), used to separate memory for spellings from the ability to sound words out.

What it measures

Because the two spellings sound alike, sounding out gives no help. The task asks how exactly you have stored the letters of words you already know.

Memory for spellings

  • Orthographic knowledge: the stored form of a familiar word, letter for letter.
  • Silent letters, double letters and unusual vowels, the places where English spelling and sound part ways.
  • Reading experience, since most spellings are learned by meeting a word many times in print.

The decision

  • Comparing two near-identical strings and spotting the letter that differs.
  • Trusting a sense of what looks right, then committing without checking.
  • Speed, recorded but never forced; the within 5 seconds count shows how much was instant recognition.

Spelling often stays shaky after reading has improved. Callens, Tops and Brysbaert (2012) tested students entering higher education and found spelling among the tasks that most separated students with a dyslexia diagnosis from their classmates. Recognising a spelling is easier than writing one from memory, so this task looks at a milder form of the same skill.

Sounds Like a Word asks the opposite question: there the strings are new and only their sound helps. Here the sound is identical and only the stored spelling helps. Read the two results side by side rather than one alone. In Spanish, where spelling follows sound closely, Suárez-Coalla and Cuetos (2015) found that reading difficulties persist in adults with dyslexia and show most clearly in speed. That is one reason the within 5 seconds count sits next to the main score.

A test, not a diagnosis.

40 spelling choices describe one attempt. They cannot diagnose dyslexia or rule it out.

What you get

Your result appears as soon as the last pair is answered.

On the result screen

  • How many correct spellings you picked out of 40, the main score, where higher is better.
  • Your accuracy as a percentage and your median time on correct answers.
  • A note that the words run from everyday ones to a few that catch out many good readers, and that no comparison group exists yet.
  • Full data for clinicians: correct within 5 s, median time on all answers, the form and the device type, plus a CSV file of every answer.

When you keep it

  • A free account holds the numbers so you can open them wherever you sign in.
  • Read inside the dyslexia check together with Word or Not, Sounds Like a Word and a few questions about reading.
  • Continue leads back to the tests hub.

How this version is scored

Each answer is kept with the two spellings, which one sat on top, your choice and the time it took.

Correct
You chose the real spelling. A misspelling scores nothing, and nothing is taken off.
Number correct
The primary score: out of 40 in English and out of 38 in Spanish. Higher is better.
Correct within 5 s
Correct answers given in under 5 seconds. OrthoKnow-SP scored its Spanish data this way, so this count lines up with that study.
Response time
Measured from the first frame that shows the pair to your tap or key press. The median uses correct answers between 300 and 20,000 ms.
Clear reading
Fewer than 60% correct, near the 50% a coin toss would give, marks the attempt as not giving a clear reading.

Hard items on purpose. A spelling task where everyone scores full marks cannot tell good spellers apart. The hard pairs leave room at the top, so expect to miss a few.

Phones and computers. Phones add a small delay to each tap, which matters for the 5 second count. Compare attempts made on the same kind of device.

No percentile yet. Percentiles arrive once 300 qualifying people per language and device type have taken this version. Until then raw numbers are shown, and provisional cut-offs are used only inside the dyslexia check.

Before you start

Take your time: on the main score, a careful pace costs nothing here.

For a cleaner attempt

  • Go with what looks right to you; do not write the word out or search for it.
  • Read both spellings to the end, because the difference is often one letter in the middle.
  • Pick a quiet moment with about 3 minutes to spare.
  • Keep to the same device for any later attempt.

Interpret cautiously when

  • You learned to spell mostly in another language.
  • You looked a word up, asked someone or had a spell checker open.
  • You read very little in English from day to day.
  • You were tired, rushed or interrupted.

Questions

What is an orthographic choice task?

It shows a word next to a misspelling that sounds the same and asks which one is correct. Since the sound gives nothing away, the answer depends on memory for the word's letters, which researchers call orthographic knowledge.

Is this a spelling test?

In part. It checks whether you recognise the correct spelling, which is easier than producing it from memory. Someone who chooses well here can still find writing words hard, so think of it as spelling knowledge measured by recognition.

Why are some words so hard?

The hard pairs are there on purpose, so the task does not top out. Many good readers miss a few of them. Misses spread over easy and medium words say more than a miss on a hard one.

Does Right Spelling diagnose dyslexia?

No. Many things shape spelling, from schooling to how much you read. Only a qualified professional can diagnose dyslexia, after a full assessment. Right Spelling is one of the 3 tasks in the dyslexia check, which is a check, not a diagnosis.

Can I do it on my phone?

Yes. The 2 spellings are stacked so they fit an upright phone, and each one is a large tap target. Most of the adults who answered the Spanish item set did so on a phone.

Sources

By Cristian Dominguez Rein-Loring, Creative Technology Lead · Updated October 20, 2026