Drag magnets freely. Build any sentence you like!

🧲 FRIDGE DOOR
Word Bank — drag tiles to the fridge

How to play Word Magnets

A board of magnetic word tiles is displayed, each tile containing a word or punctuation mark. Drag the tiles across the board to arrange them into correct sentences or phrases. There are no right or wrong positions forced by the system — you have full creative freedom to build any sentence you choose.

This open-ended format makes Word Magnets different from other exercises: instead of selecting a single correct answer, you are constructing language from scratch. Practise grammar rules, word order, and sentence variety by building multiple different sentences from the same set of tiles.

Why Word Magnets improves your English

Generative language practice — producing rather than recognising — is one of the highest-order language skills and the most transferable to real-world communication. Every sentence you build in Word Magnets strengthens your ability to spontaneously produce grammatically correct English in conversation and writing.

The tactile drag-and-drop interface provides kinesthetic memory encoding that complements visual and auditory learning. Moving tiles with your hands — even virtually — activates motor cortex involvement in the learning process, creating a more embodied and memorable experience than clicking or typing alone.

Grammar tip: Challenge yourself to build every possible sentence from the available tiles. For example, can you make both an affirmative and a negative sentence? A question and a statement? Each variation reinforces a different grammatical structure while using the same vocabulary set.

Sentence patterns to practise with Word Magnets

  • Basic SVO sentences: subject + verb + object for A1-A2 learners.
  • Questions: invert auxiliary and subject to form yes/no and wh- questions.
  • Negatives: add "not" or "don't/doesn't" to create negative forms.
  • Complex sentences: use conjunctions (because, although, when) to join two clauses.
  • Passive voice: rearrange tiles to transform active sentences into the passive.

Tips for Word Magnets success

  • Start with the verb: Find the main verb tile first — it determines the sentence structure.
  • Think in chunks: Move common collocations (e.g., "is interested in") together as a unit.
  • Build variety: After making one correct sentence, try to rearrange the same tiles into a different valid sentence.
  • Speak your sentences aloud: Saying what you build adds an auditory check — wrong sentences often sound wrong.

Related exercises

  • Unjumble — rearrange scrambled words to form one specific correct sentence.
  • Sequence — arrange events or steps in the correct order.
  • Complete the Sentence — fill in the blank in a given sentence.
  • Dialogue Ordering — arrange conversation lines in the correct sequential order.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you play Word Magnets?
Word Magnets has two modes. In Free Play mode, drag colourful word tiles from the bank onto the virtual fridge door and arrange them into any sentence you like. In Challenge mode, a target sentence is shown and you click tiles from the shuffled bank to build it in the correct word order, then press Check to verify your answer.
How many challenge sentences are included?
Word Magnets includes 18 challenge sentences covering a wide range of grammar structures: present continuous, present perfect with "never," past continuous, modal verbs, going-to future, can-questions, simple past, gerunds after "practise," future with "will," second conditional, comparatives, first conditional, passive voice, wish constructions, past perfect, fronted negation with inversion, and the too + adjective + infinitive pattern.
What grammar structures does Word Magnets cover?
The challenge set deliberately spans structures from B1 to C1: passive voice (simple past passive), first and second conditionals, past perfect for sequencing events, inversion after fronted "not only," and the too + adjective + infinitive construction. Grammar hints are displayed below each target sentence to support learners who are unsure of the structure.
Why does sentence building develop productive grammar?
Productive grammar — grammar you can use to generate new sentences — is built through output practice, not just recognition. When you physically arrange word tiles into a sentence, you activate the same mental processes needed for speaking and writing: selecting the correct words, ordering them according to grammatical rules, and reviewing the result. This is fundamentally different from choosing between multiple-choice options.
How does the game check whether your sentence is correct?
In Challenge mode, clicking the Check button compares the exact sequence of tiles in your answer zone against the target sentence word by word. If they match perfectly, you score 20 points, hear a success sound, and see a confetti animation. If the order is wrong, you receive an error message and can rearrange tiles and try again — there is no penalty for reattempts.
What CEFR levels is Word Magnets suitable for?
Free Play mode is suitable from A1 upward as learners can build simple sentences with basic tiles. The challenge sentences range from B1 (past continuous, going-to future) through B2 (passive voice, conditionals) to C1 (inversion after fronted negation, past perfect with time clauses). Select challenges that match your current study level — grammar hints are provided for each one.
How many word tiles are in each challenge sentence?
Challenge sentences typically contain 7–11 tiles including punctuation marks. For example, "She is studying English every day." has 7 tiles, while "By the time he arrived the film had already started." has 11 tiles. More complex sentences at C1 level use more tiles with more potential for incorrect orderings, making them significantly harder.
Does drag and drop work on mobile phones?
In Challenge mode, tiles are clicked rather than dragged — click a tile in the bank to move it to your answer zone, and click it in the answer zone to return it to the bank. This click-based interface works well on all touch devices. In Free Play mode, touch-and-drag is supported for repositioning tiles on the fridge surface.
What tips help with complex sentence structures?
Start with the main verb and subject — they anchor the sentence. For passive structures, look for "was/were + past participle + by." For conditionals, find the "if" tile first to establish the clause boundary. For inversion patterns (Not only...), the auxiliary verb must immediately follow the fronted phrase. Reading the grammar hint carefully before building gives you the structural template to fill in.
Which exercises are most closely related to Word Magnets?
Unjumble presents scrambled words for one specific target sentence — it is more constrained than Word Magnets but good for focused word-order practice. Complete the Sentence and Cloze Dropdown require filling in missing words rather than full sentence construction. Dialogue Ordering practices sequencing conversation lines. For learners moving from recognition to production, Word Magnets followed by a writing exercise makes an effective combined grammar session.
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