UnScramble It! is a spelling game for ESL and EFL students to work on vocabulary and spelling and still have fun. The students should be paired up and given one Unscramble It! game board. The students draw 3 or more scrambled words from the draw pile and the game begins when one student has successfully unscrambled one of the words. That student places the word on the game board horizontally using the start square at any position in the word. The second player then can build off of any letter on the board.

This game will definitely bring life and excitement into those boring but necessary spelling practice lessons. 98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed!

The Unscramble It! game board

The Unscramble It! game board difficult version

After unscrambling and writing the word in on the grid, the students then take another scrambled word from the pile and continue to work on them.

Scoring for this ESL spelling game is on the game board. The word should be written down on the scoring list with all point values for the letters added up and entered in as the students go.

Words can be placed up and down or side to side. Not diagonally. Extended value squares can only be used one time (double letter score, double word score and triple letter score.) The rest of the rules feel free to make up as you go along.

The game continues until all words have been used or time is up.

I have made a blank sheet for you to use to type your scrambled words in. Save the file with a different name and use it again and again. Unscramble It! cards You will have to jumble all the words up yourself. It shouldn't take long and with this sheet you can print out as many as you need and you can save them for future use.

This game can be used by teachers of any language as well as ESL and EFL teachers. You can also have the students use the word in a sentence for smaller classes. For larger classes have the students write out a sentence and go around and check (I award 2 to 5 more points for the sentences the students make.) Having the students write out the sentences as they go, also keeps them active between turns.

Variation: The game can be played with out unscrambling words but this keeps students focused on learning what they're currently studying. I have let the students use any word they can think of in turns. This worked OK for a while but then students began trying to find words with a lot of 'z's and 'q's and was pretty much a waste of everyone's time. I now only use it as you see above.