UpOnly Learning presents
The Words You Find
Solve the case, one letter at a time Grades K–8
Free spelling and vocabulary games for kids, kindergarten to 8th grade
Find the words from your grade to solve the mystery.
Students are the detective. Each word from their grade powers the flashlight: read the hint, find the letters and the flashlight reveals the next clue of the mystery. After the last clue, they check their notebook and decide who did it. Friendly cases, from missing cookies to a comet in the night sky.
- No ads
- No account needed
- Grades K–8
- English, Spanish and Portuguese
- Computer, tablet or phone
Make your detective and start a case
UpOnly Learning presentsThe Words You FindYour detective
On a case your hero wears the detective outfit: a tan trench coat, a deerstalker hat and a magnifying glass.
Why it works: linking a word's spelling, sound and meaning helps students remember it. See the research
How a case works
You're the detective
Each student plays as their own hero in a tan trench coat and a detective hat, with a magnifying glass and a flashlight. The notebook fills up with every clue they find.
Cases with 11 clues each
The Missing Cookies, The Lost Zoo Map, The Silent Bell, The Moving Garden Gnome, The Secret Treehouse Code, The Missing Trophy, The Muddy Footprints, The Message in a Bottle, The Library Ghost, The Runaway Robot and The Missing Star. Nothing scary, and every case has a happy ending.
The Missing Cookies is free
The whole first case, all 11 clues, is free with every feature. Members solve every case.
One word, one clue
Blanks, a clue and a picture
The word shows as blanks with a kid-friendly clue. Easy gives the first letter. On Easy and Medium, a picture shows too when one matches the word. Hard gives the clue only. Clues can be read aloud.
The flashlight and the battery
A right letter fills every place it appears. A wrong letter dims the flashlight and drains one of six battery segments, from green to yellow to red. If the battery runs out, new batteries give a fresh try at the same word.
Found it
The word is read aloud, shown in an example sentence and added to the detective's notebook. Stars come from the battery left: a full battery earns 3.
Words from the student's grade
Lesson vocabulary and spelling patterns
The words come from the student's grade: our lessons' vocabulary first, then that grade's spelling patterns, from short words like cat and sun in kindergarten to academic words like hypothesis in middle school.
Easy, Medium, Hard
Inside a grade, the level comes from word length, tricky spellings, how familiar the word is and how much help is given. The game suggests a new level after a streak or a tough patch, but never changes it by itself.
Spanish and Portuguese, written natively
Each language has its own word lists and its own grade progression. A plain key also fills accented letters, so a fills á and ã, n fills ñ and c fills ç.
Stars, streaks and reward points
Stars
Up to 3 stars per clue, from the battery left. Speed never counts.
Reward points for members
Members earn reward points for each clue solved, a bonus for closing a case and another for a full battery on every clue. Guessing letters fast earns nothing.
Progress that follows the student
With a signed-in account, each student's cases and notebook are saved to the account. Without one, they stay on this device.
