Word Builder

Word Builder is a phonics app where students drag and arrange sounds into boxes to form words. It's a great hands-on tool for practising word building, phonics patterns, and spelling — with prompts and filters to guide students at every level.

How do I access Word Builder?

Via The Hive

You can access Word Builder in three ways:

• Through Teach Mode — open Word Builder directly from the bottom bar of Teach Mode.

• From the Apps library — browse or search for Word Builder in the Apps library.

• In your slide deck — search for Word Builder in the apps panel on the right and tap it to drop it onto your slide. From there, you can move and resize it however you like.

Via Wordabase

Word Builder is also available as a free online tool through Wordabase.

Note that some features are only available in the full Hive version.

How do I use Word Builder?

Choosing your sounds

Select the sounds you want to make available for word building. You can choose individual sounds or select all at once. The sounds you set will stay saved even after you close the app.

Building a word

Drag sounds from the sound bank into the boxes to form a word. Use the + and − buttons to add or remove sound boxes — note that changing the number of boxes will clear any sounds currently placed.

Heart words

Turn on Heart words to highlight high frequency words that contain tricky spellings or patterns that may not have been taught yet.

Settings

Open the settings panel to customise the activity:

• Enable heart words — turn on to highlight high frequency words that contain tricky spellings or patterns that may not have been taught yet.
• Placed sounds are coloured — turn on so that each sound disc keeps its colour when dragged into a box, making it easier to see individual sounds within the word.
• Number of boxes — use the + and − buttons to set how many sound boxes appear.
• Customise graphemes — tap to choose which sounds are available in the sound bank. Select individual sounds or turn on whole groups at once. Your selections will stay saved even after you close the app.

Hive-only features

The following features are available when using Word Builder through The Hive.

Word and image prompts

Turn on word or image prompts to give students a target to build. Tap Edit filters to choose which words appear, filtering by phonics component or sound pattern.

Hide/reveal the word

Tap the eye icon to hide or reveal the target word — useful for modelling or checking work without giving the answer away straight away.

Note: Text and word prompts are only available through the app, not in slide decks.

Tips

• You can add Word Builder to your favourite apps via the Teach Mode or through the App library. Click on this icon if you're adding it through the App library.

• You can connect Word Builder to specific subjects in your timetable (read more about timetable connections here). If you're connecting it through the App library, click this icon.

• You can also access a free version of Word Builder at mrslearningbee.com/wordabase/online-tools/word-builder, or explore all of our free Wordabase tools at mrslearningbee.com/wordabase/online-tools.