Dictation Practice
Listen to a sentence, type exactly what you hear, and see every correct, misspelled, missing and extra word highlighted. Choose beginner, intermediate or advanced sentences, or paste your own text, and slow the voice down as much as you need.
Last updated:
correct wrong word spelling slip missed extra
How to use the Dictation Practice
- Pick a level (beginner, intermediate or advanced) or choose My own text and paste the sentences you want to practice.
- Press Play sentence to hear it. Use Play slowly or Play in phrases if it is too fast, or adjust the speed slider.
- Type what you hear in the box. Replay as often as you like.
- Press Enter or Check answer to see your score and every word marked as correct, misspelled, wrong, missed or extra.
- Press Next sentence (or Enter again) to continue; your running accuracy is shown below.
How to get the most from dictation practice
- Listen once without typing to understand the meaning. Knowing what the sentence is about makes the words easier to catch.
- Write in chunks. Replay as many times as needed, or use Play in phrases, and type a few words at a time.
- Check, then study your mistakes. Read the highlighted sentence aloud and note the words you missed.
- Repeat the same sentence a day later. Getting it perfect the second time is how the spelling and sound patterns stick.
- Raise the speed gradually from 0.7× towards 1.0× as your accuracy passes about 90%.
Common dictation mistakes and why they happen
| Mistake | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dropped past-tense endings | walk instead of walked | The -ed ending often blends into the next word (walked to sounds like walk to). |
| Missing small words | the, a, of, to | Function words are unstressed and very short in natural speech. |
| Homophones | their / there / they're, to / too / two | Same sound, different spelling: only the meaning tells you which one. |
| Plural and third-person -s | she drink instead of she drinks | A final s before another s or z sound is hard to hear. |
| Doubled letters | begining, recomend | Spelling is not visible in the sound; these show up as spelling slips. |
Reading your results
Green words are correct. Light orange words are spelling slips: the word was recognized but spelled slightly differently, and the correct spelling is shown underneath. Red crossed-out words were replaced by a different word, dashed boxes are words you missed, and gray crossed-out words were not in the sentence at all.
Frequently asked questions
How is the dictation score calculated?
Your typed words are aligned with the original sentence using a word-level edit distance. Correct words count fully, near-miss spellings (one or two letters off) count half, and wrong, missing or extra words count zero. The score is the result divided by the number of words in the sentence (or the number you typed, if that is larger).
Why can I not hear anything?
The tool uses your browser's built-in speech synthesis. Check that your device volume is on, try another voice from the Voice menu, or use a current version of Chrome, Edge or Safari. Some browsers on Linux have no voices installed by default.
Can I practice with my own sentences?
Yes. Choose "My own text", paste a paragraph, word list or vocabulary sentences, and press Start with my text. The text is split into sentences at periods, question marks and exclamation marks. It stays in your browser.
What does Play in phrases do?
It reads the sentence in short chunks of about four words, pausing between them, the way a teacher dictates. It is useful for long sentences or when you type slowly.
Should I ignore punctuation and capital letters?
For listening practice, yes: you cannot hear commas or capitals, so they are ignored by default. Untick the options if you are practicing written conventions too, and then a missing comma or lowercase name counts as an error.
Is dictation good for learning English?
Dictation combines listening, spelling and grammar in one exercise. It quickly shows which sounds you mishear, such as word endings (-ed, -s) and short words like a, the and of, which are often reduced in natural speech.
Is my typing sent anywhere?
No. Speech is generated by your own browser and the checking happens on your device. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.