Can you spell these winning National Spelling Bee words? Test yourself with this interactive quiz

Nbcwashington · May 28, 2025 · 1123 words · By NBC Staff

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What to know about Can you spell these winning National Spelling Bee words? Test yourself with this interactive quiz

This is where the spelling of the winning word in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee gets tricky.

Claims checked 16

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

This is where the spelling of the winning word in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee gets tricky.

Why it matters

Stream NBC4 newscasts for free right here, right now.

Common ground

Below is your chance to spell it correctly, along with other past words used to crown champion spellers, ahead of the National Spelling Bee that kicked off May 27.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Can you spell these winning National Spelling Bee words? Test yourself with this interactive quiz?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Scripps had planned to scale back the program in 2020, however, it was scrapped altogether ahead of the 2021 competition?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/national-spelling-bee-…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

schedule Pending 6

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

verified Verified 1

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Claim 1: “Scripps had planned to scale back the program in 2020, however, it was scrapped altogether ahead of the 2021 competition.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this specific claim regarding the scaling back or scrapping of the program in 2020/2021.

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Claim 2: “the word bee is an alteration of a word that meant "voluntary help given by neighbors toward the accomplishment of a particular task," and comes from the Middle English word bene.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the etymology of 'bee' (as a gathering) coming from Middle English 'bene' or 'bean' meaning neighborly help.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is the forms of the English language that were spoken in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century, roughly coinciding with the High and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chance…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English_literature

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Middle English phonology is necessarily somewhat speculative since it is preserved only as a written language. Nevertheless, there is a very large text corpus of Middle English. The dialects of Middle…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English_phonology

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service took over the event and has run it since”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that the Scripps Howard News Service took over sponsorship of the event in 1941.

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web search NEUTRAL — The 10th National Spelling Bee was held at the National Museum in Washington, D.C., on May 29, 1934. Scripps-Howard would not sponsor the Bee until 1941.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Scripps_National_Spelling…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2002 · Scripps Howard assumed sponsorship of the program in 1941, but did not hold spelling bees during the World War II years of 1943, 1944 and 1945.
https://scripps.com/press-releases/352-scripps-howard-nation…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2025 · In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service took over the event and has run it since with the help of local sponsors, the majority of which are ...
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/na…

verified

Claim 4: “The National Spelling Bee first started in 1925 when nine newspapers joined together to host a spelling bee.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim contains irrelevant results about Silver ETFs and a comedy show. While Wikipedia mentions the bee began in 1925, the specific detail about 'nine newspapers joining together' is not present in the provided evidence snippets.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Montgomery's_Guy_Mont-Spel…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripps_National_Spelling_Bee

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_bee

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “If two or more spellers tie for first place, the cash prize for each will be $50,000.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 6: “This year's Spelling Bee will air on the Scripps-owned network ION and stream on Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More and spellingbee.com.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 7: “in 2019, more than half of the 562 spellers in the bee were wild cards”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this specific claim regarding the number of wild cards in 2019.

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Claim 8: “Second place: $25,000; Third place: $15,000; Fourth place: $10,000; Fifth place: $5,000; Sixth place: $2,500”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 9: “The semifinals will air on Wednesday, May 28, at 8 p.m. ET and the finals will take place on Thursday, May 29, also at 8 p.m. ET.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 10: “The four-day competition in Maryland features 243 spellers for the 100th anniversary of the spelling bee.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that the 100th anniversary Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland featured 243 spellers.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The competitio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scripps_National_Spell…

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 11: “The preliminaries began at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 27, and the quarterfinals, start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 28”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “That year, only nine were in the championship, having the honor of meeting President Calvin Coolidge before going head-to-head.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that in 1925, nine finalists met President Calvin Coolidge before the competition.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Nine finalists (six girls and three boys) competed in Washington, where they met President Calvin Coolidge before the competition. ... The nine contestants in the ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Scripps_National_Spelling_…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 2, 2026 ... [3] Competition Nine finalists (six girls and three boys) competed in Washington, where they met President Calvin Coolidge before the ...
https://www.facebook.com/scrippsnationalspellingbee/posts/at…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 17, 2024 ... 99 years ago today – on June 17, 1925 – the first-ever National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. Frank Neuhauser of Louisville won the ...
https://www.facebook.com/scrippsnationalspellingbee/posts/99…

verified

Claim 13: “Before it became commonly called "spelling bees," it went by Trials in Spelling, Spelling School, Spelling Match, Spelling-Fight and Spelling Combat, according to Webster's.”

VERIFIED

Merriam-Webster explicitly lists these historical names (Trials in Spelling, Spelling School, Spelling Match, etc.) as terms used before 'spelling bee' became common.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The English Phonotypic Alphabet (EPA) is a phonetic alphabet developed by Sir Isaac Pitman and Alexander John Ellis, originally as an English language spelling reform. Although never gaining wide acce…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Phonotypic_Alphabet

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Isaac James Pitman, KBE (14 August 1901 – 1 September 1985) was a publisher, senior civil servant, politician, and educationalist with a lifelong passion for etymology, orthography, and pedagogy. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pitman

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author. He has been called the "Father…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 14: “the champion of the Scripps competition will win $52,500 in cash prizes and $400 worth of Encyclopedia Britannica works.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 15: “Merriam-Webster — which has been involved with the competition since 1957”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web sources, including a direct statement from Merriam-Webster, confirm their involvement with the competition since 1957.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held at the Gaylord National, in Oxon Hill, Maryland (also D.C) from May 27 to May 31, 2012, and was broadcast live on ESPN3. The championship finals occurre…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/85th_Scripps_National_Spelling…

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 16: “The 2018 and 2019 bees had a wild-card program designed as an alternative pathway to the bee for spellers in tough regions.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the implementation of a wild-card program starting in 2018 to provide alternative pathways for spellers.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The program raised concerns this year that some spellers were getting in merely because they are able to pay their way. Some wild-card spellers were ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Scripps_National_Spelling…

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web search NEUTRAL — Dec 10, 2019 · ... national stage.” The wild-card program began with the 2018 bee in a bid to give opportunities to kids who live in highly competitive regions ...
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2019/1210/Scripps-reforms-Nati…

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 3, 2026 · ... the Scripps National Spelling Bee! Wild-card entry wins Scripps National Spelling Bee. Khushboo Sangit Rawlley and 192 others. 193 reactions ...
https://www.facebook.com/scrippsnationalspellingbee/posts/ha…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.