The spelling bee is one of the most exciting academic competitions of the school year. The national spelling bee is even shown on ESPN. While the final rounds usually show words you’ve never heard of, your typical school spelling bee is much more casual than what you see on TV.
What is a Spelling Bee?
A spelling bee is a competition where contestants have to spell words one by one. When it is a contestant’s turn, they go up to the microphone and a judge will read the word they have to spell. They are eliminated if they spell the word incorrectly. If they get it right, they go on to the next round. This continues until there is only one contestant left, and that person is the winner.
How to Study for a Spelling Bee
There are many different ways to practice for a spelling bee. You can start by simply testing yourself and trying to memorize spelling for common words. There are many flashcards and exercises you can do to get better at spelling. You can also learn many rules and tricks to become a better speller. The Scripps National Spelling Bee has a free app that you can download to practice on a daily basis.
How to Host a Spelling Bee in School
To host a Spelling Bee in school, you’ll need participants, a place to host, judges, a list of words, and an audience. You should prepare word lists that match the students’ abilities, and make sure that the judges are capable of pronouncing the words correctly. Let students know that they can ask for the word to be repeated, request a definition, or hear the word used in a sentence.
On the day of the event, begin with a short practice round to show the students how the spelling bee works. Some students may feel stage freight, so try to make the environment as comforting as possible. Once everyone is ready, move into the official rounds, calling each student up to spell a word aloud while judges determine if it is correct. Students continue through progressively harder words until only one remains. When you have the final winner, congratulate them, have the audience clap, and give them their award.
Spelling Bee Word List by Grade
Words are chosen by difficulty. You don’t want words that nobody can spell correctly, but you also don’t want words that are too easy and nobody is eliminated. We’ve put together this list of spelling bee words that include grade-appropriate words at different difficulties.
Spelling Bee Words for 1st Graders
First graders are just learning how to spell, so it is best to keep these words pretty basic. Here are some spelling bee words for first graders.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| cat | apple | rainbow |
| dog | chair | window |
| sun | smile | blanket |
| hat | green | animal |
| red | water | garden |
| run | pencil | butterfly |
| mom | cookie | summer |
| dad | happy | planet |
| big | flower | breakfast |
| cup | basket | triangle |
| pig | yellow | mountain |
| tree | little | zipper |
| top | tiger | whisper |
| fish | purple | cupcake |
| bed | paper | dinosaur |
Spelling Bee Words for 2nd Graders
By the time they’re in second grade, students begin to read and write more. These spelling bee words for second graders are slightly more advanced than the list for first graders.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| apple | harvest | mammal |
| chair | painter | oxygen |
| grass | silver | gravity |
| water | chapter | rainforest |
| spoon | winter | tornado |
| clock | shelter | electric |
| river | orchard | journey |
| beach | diagram | habitat |
| horse | costume | kingdom |
| crown | sculpture | ecosystem |
| train | texture | volcano |
| cloud | captain | desert |
| music | balance | prairie |
| distance | glacier | |
| swing | surface | companion |
Spelling Bee Words for 3rd Graders
In the third grade, students begin to read books all by themselves and get a pretty good grasp of spelling. Here are some words that are appropriate for third graders.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| ladder | fraction | hydrogen |
| forest | decimal | adjective |
| candle | compass | biography |
| helmet | volume | astronomy |
| pencilcase | history | equation |
| market | journey | microscope |
| turtle | theater | expedition |
| gloves | battery | landscape |
| feather | festival | navigation |
| branch | harbor | population |
| donkey | pasture | temperature |
| bucket | capital | continent |
| saddle | character | multiplication |
| cottage | pattern | invention |
| bridge | network | resource |
Spelling Bee Words for 4th Graders
Fourth graders are expected to read and write at a pretty decent level. These words are more complex than the ones before, but should still be manageable for most 4th graders.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| valley | parallel | photosynthesis |
| meadow | electricity | evaporation |
| thunder | ecosystem | oscillation |
| lantern | industry | geography |
| harvest | material | migration |
| village | polygon | democracy |
| canyon | elevation | longitude |
| shovel | strategy | hemisphere |
| frozen | inquiry | equator |
| shelter | research | nutrient |
| chimney | decimal | civilization |
| quilt | mixture | respiration |
| anchor | boundary | planetarium |
| potion | orbit | accumulation |
| marble | citizen | conductor |
Spelling Bee Words for 5th Graders
Students are expected to read and write without any issues once they reach the fifth grade. Here are some spelling bee words for fifth graders that are more difficult, but still possible.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| orbit | equation | precipitation |
| fossil | jurassic | metabolism |
| circuit | narrative | photosphere |
| meteor | velocity | invertebrate |
| carbon | momentum | topography |
| oxygen | ecosystem | chlorophyll |
| diagram | dimension | hypothesis |
| radius | frequency | revolution |
| valve | currency | continental |
| piston | scholar | anthropology |
| copper | protein | photosensitivity |
| crystal | analysis | thermodynamics |
| prism | renewable | hydrosphere |
| compass | magnetism | classification |
| spectrum | artifact | biodiversity |
Spelling Bee Words for 6th Graders
The 6th grade is when most students begin middle school. These spelling bee words for sixth graders are more challenging.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| acorn | biology | cartography |
| apron | compass | chlorophyll |
| badge | decimal | catastrophe |
| bamboo | diagram | continuum |
| canyon | ecosystem | consequence |
| cedar | fragment | cryptology |
| comet | grammar | disposition |
| copper | harvest | epiphany |
| position | integer | hemisphere |
| dune | journal | horology |
| ember | kinetic | invocation |
| feather | latitude | luminescent |
| fiddle | mixture | metamorphic |
| gravel | notion | onomatopoeia |
| harbor | oxidant | polyphony |
Spelling Bee Words for 7th Graders
The seventh grade is when most students become teenagers and at this point many students are reading advanced chapter books. These spelling bee words for seventh graders might even be challenging for some adults.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| horizon | algebra | articulation |
| inkling | benchmark | bibliophile |
| jersey | compute | coagulation |
| kettle | context | convergence |
| lantern | duration | degeneration |
| lagoon | element | disseminate |
| maple | formula | extraneous |
| meadow | imagery | geosynchronous |
| nugget | justice | heterogeneous |
| orchard | logical | iconoclast |
| pebble | molecular | juxtaposition |
| quiver | network | lexicographer |
| ridge | pattern | photospheric |
| shelter | sequence | quantitative |
| timber | triangle | transcendent |
Spelling Bee Words for 8th Graders
Most spelling bee champions are in the 8th grade or younger. For this reason, these words are much more challenging than the others on this list. The easy words column should still be easy for most, while the difficult word column is actually difficult.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| umbrella | archive | acceleration |
| valley | bracket | annihilation |
| wagon | caliber | bioluminescent |
| yonder | chapter | circumnavigate |
| zipper | doctrine | configuration |
| anchor | enigma | demarcation |
| blossom | friction | effervescence |
| driftwood | habitat | fortuitous |
| evergreen | iteration | gravitational |
| foothill | judgment | hyperbolic |
| gopher | kinship | irreversible |
| haystack | locution | magnanimous |
| memorial | momentum | nebulosity |
| juniper | paradigm | precipitate |
| residence | synergy | subterranean |
Spelling Bee Words for 9th Graders
The 9th grade is when most students start high school. Many high schools do not have a spelling bee, but if yours does, you can use these words for freshmen.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| lighthouse | algorithm | accoutrement |
| marshland | calculus | biodegradable |
| industrial | correlate | chronological |
| overlook | deduction | deliberation |
| patchwork | exponent | disproportionate |
| quicksand | formulaic | encyclopedic |
| rivalry | geodesic | fluctuation |
| sandstone | hostility | gastronomy |
| treeline | inference | hydrodynamic |
| legend | junction | ideological |
| vineyard | mandate | kaleidoscopic |
| waterway | neuron | logarithmic |
| yearbook | paradox | metaphorical |
| beacons | qualifier | nonconformist |
| boardwalk | rotation | philanthropic |
Spelling Bee Words for 10th Graders
Sophomores are nearly adults, as they can begin to drive. These spelling bee words are words that are difficult for many adults.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| almanac | advocacy | astronomical |
| bramble | citation | biographical |
| crosswalk | distinction | conflagration |
| daybreak | emphasis | disenfranchised |
| mischief | formulate | ethnographic |
| footbridge | generate | fundamentalism |
| suspicious | hypothesis | grandiloquent |
| headwind | inversion | hyperextension |
| ironwood | juxtapose | investiture |
| jetty | linguistic | legitimacy |
| permanent | modulate | macroeconomic |
| lockbox | notation | novicehood |
| generosity | objective | particulate |
| nightfall | qualitative | propaganda |
| outskirt | simulate | telekinetic |
Spelling Bee Words for 11th Graders
This is the grade when students take tests like the SAT and ACT, which include reading and writing sections. Juniors in high school should be pretty good at spelling. Put that to the test with this list of spelling bee words for juniors!
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| prairie | advocate | autonomous |
| quarry | brutality | capricious |
| rucksack | credence | demarcative |
| disinfectant | dependency | elucidate |
| tidepool | estuary | fastidious |
| upland | fruition | grandiosity |
| discussion | gridline | hydrothermal |
| windmill | perpetual | ideogram |
| carpenter | induction | juxtaposed |
| zipline | legality | lexiconic |
| antler | moderation | misanthropic |
| bridle | notation | nomenclature |
| chisel | pinnacle | perfunctory |
| dowel | quotient | refraction |
| embers | syllabus | transmutation |
Spelling Bee Words for 12th Graders
Seniors in high school turn 18 and become adults. That being said, this is the last year before they graduate high school. The words on this list are not easy! Test your spelling skills with this list of spelling bee words.
| Easy Word | Medium Word | Difficult Word |
| sedentary | analytic | amphibious |
| fairground | barometer | centrifugal |
| gearshift | coercion | disenchantment |
| handwoven | derivative | embellishment |
| interlock | epithet | fluctuation2 |
| journeyman | facilitate | gasification |
| keepsake | galvanize | heterogeneity |
| loadstone | ideology | irreconcilable |
| mainsail | juxtaposition2 | lexicology |
| newsprint | kinetics | microanatomy |
| outlander | legislation | nonpartisan |
| pacesetter | mediation | officiation |
| questline | nominal | photosensitive |
| ridgepole | oscillation | quadrilateral |
| stronghold | prevention | thermodynamic |