Choose the letters
Start from a set, then fine-tune it by tapping letters on or off:
- A to Z: all 26 letters, each with a 1 in 26 chance.
- Vowels: A, E, I, O, and U. Y counts as a consonant here; tap it on if you want it.
- Consonants: the other 21 letters.
- Game set: 20 letters, leaving out Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z. Few English words start with those, so word games usually skip them to keep rounds playable.
Every letter on the wheel has the same chance, whatever the set. Your letters and settings are saved in this browser, so the wheel is set up the same way next time.
No repeats, round after round
Turn on No repeats and each letter comes off the wheel when you close its result, so the next spin can’t land on it again. Picked letters show with a dashed outline. Press Undo if a letter came off by mistake, and Put picked letters back to start a new game. The Results tab lists every letter picked this visit, in order.
Need several letters at once, say five for a word-building round? Spin five times with No repeats on, then read them off the Results tab.
Games and activities
- Category race. Agree on a few categories (an animal, a food, a city, a name). Spin, then everyone has a minute to write one answer per category starting with that letter. Answers nobody else wrote score a point.
- Scavenger hunt. Spin and race to find something in the room that starts with the letter.
- Story chain. Each person adds a sentence to a shared story, starting with a freshly spun letter.
- One-minute word list. Write as many words as you can that start with the letter. Good as a spelling warm-up.
- Character names. Spin twice for a pair of initials when you’re stuck naming a character.
In the classroom
- Letter sounds. Switch to lowercase to match early reading books, and to vowels when practicing short vowel sounds.
- Leave out what hasn’t been taught. Tap off the letters your class hasn’t met yet; the wheel only lands on the ones that remain.
- Big and clear. The picked letter appears very large in the result window, readable from the back of the room. Mute the spin sounds with the Sound button.
Is it random?
Yes. The letter is picked with your browser’s secure random number generator the moment you press Spin, with every letter on the wheel equally likely, and the wheel is then steered to land on it.Here’s exactly how the pick works. For numbers rather than letters, use therandom number generator.