# Spelling bee words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098 "2015-03-16T07:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/1 "2015-03-16T07:02:42Z")
Here’s a sampling of late-round words from the Colorado state spelling bee (courtesy of the Denver Post): sympatric vinyl isotope sinecure homophony peristaltic umbrageous nautical fuliginous guttiferous Now then. Which word are YOU (or your kid) gonna get? “guttiferous”? or “vinyl”? The kid who got “vinyl” muffed it. Um…he really shouldn’t have been in a late round IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/2 "2015-03-16T15:46:10Z")
Dang, I was all ready for Bee words such as: honey wax sting buzz apiary hive drone I don’t think I would make it to the late round either. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/3 "2015-03-16T15:49:51Z")
Beagle. B-E-A-G-E-L. Beagle. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/4 "2015-03-16T16:15:25Z")
When I was in 8th grade, I got dinged on “justification”. I left out one of the "I"s in the middle. :o ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/5 "2015-03-16T16:58:26Z")
In fifth grade, I messed up and spelled “vicinity” V-I-N-C-I-N-I-T-Y. All was not lost, however. One day we played Spelling Kickball, in which you had to spell a word correctly to get a chance at kicking. As someone who tried to pretend I had asthma to avoid taking Phys Ed, I felt a great deal of vindication at being the only student who could spell “aspirin” and then kick the ball directly at the clique queen, have her bobble it, and make a single. Sometimes life is fair! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/6 "2015-03-16T18:27:28Z")
I can’t spell \*long words out loud; I get lost in the middle. Writing them down is not a problem. \*Long meaning more than say 7 letters. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/7 "2015-03-16T18:27:57Z")
Fail. Could never spell A-TROS-FO-PEE. I’m 61, I should know better by now. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/8 "2015-03-16T18:32:59Z")
I once spent many work-hours constructing a word list for a conservation-themed spelling bee. Which was summarily cancelled. Just one of the reasons my ex-workplace is my ex. It was a great list. It had example sentences, hyperlinks to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) definitions, was seeded and sorted by suitability for student age, cross-referenced with ability/round… I hope someone, somewhere, gets a chance to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/9 "2015-03-16T18:40:40Z")
> [@funky\_little\_lee](#): > > In fifth grade, I messed up and spelled “vicinity” V-I-N-C-I-N-I-T-Y. > > All was not lost, however. One day we played Spelling Kickball, in which you had to spell a word correctly to get a chance at kicking. As someone who tried to pretend I had asthma to avoid taking Phys Ed, I felt a great deal of vindication at being the only student who could spell “aspirin” and then kick the ball directly at the clique queen, have her bobble it, and make a single. Sometimes life is fair! Just to show how my language and speeling skills exude me… I parsed this as **Vince in NYC** at first glance. I used to play bass ket ball with him and Cheryl Crow on 59th. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/10 "2015-03-16T18:43:09Z")
I was a pretty good speller when I was a kid. Won my school’s spelling bee in both 6th and 8th grade (different schools). At districts I choked on “lariat” (thought it was spelled with an “o” like “chariot”) in 6th grade but two years later I WON districts and went to the regional spelling where, had I done well enough, I would’ve won a trip to Washington, D.C.! Alas, it wasn’t to be. At regionals there was a _written_ spelling challenge, first. If you did well enough on the written you’d get to proceed to the verbal (I don’t remember how many kids got to advance to the verbal spelling round). Problem was that I had to use the restroom and I refused to ask to be allowed to do so while the exam was going on (even though we’d been told that that was okay). Not saying I would’ve done well enough to advance to the verbal round, necessarily, but having that bodily function on my mind certainly didn’t help me! Oh, well. All water under the bridge, now. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/11 "2015-03-16T19:03:49Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Here’s a sampling of late-round words from the Colorado state spelling bee (courtesy of the Denver Post): > > sympatric > vinyl > isotope > sinecure > homophony > peristaltic > umbrageous > nautical > fuliginous > guttiferous > > Now then. Which word are YOU (or your kid) gonna get? “guttiferous”? or “vinyl”? > > The kid who got “vinyl” muffed it. Um…he really shouldn’t have been in a late round IMO. **umbrageous** — love this word!!! I need to make it my new user-name. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/12 "2015-03-16T19:13:42Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Here’s a sampling of late-round words from the Colorado state spelling bee (courtesy of the Denver Post): > > sympatric > vinyl > isotope > sinecure > homophony > peristaltic > umbrageous > nautical > fuliginous > guttiferous > > Now then. Which word are YOU (or your kid) gonna get? “guttiferous”? or “vinyl”? > > The kid who got “vinyl” muffed it. Um…he really shouldn’t have been in a late round IMO. If the above were spoken to me and I had to spell them out? I probably would have gotten 3, maybe 4 of them correct. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/13 "2015-03-16T20:34:35Z")
Of the listed words, “guttiferous” and “fuliginous” might give me pause, the former because I might waffle over whether or not the “t” is doubled and the latter because I might conflate it with “fulminous” and leave out the “i”. If the words were pronounced clearly enough, I’d probably be okay. Oddly enough, despite being rather spelling-obsessed child, I only recall ever participating in one spelling bee, and that one was just at the classroom level. Apparently, schools in my area just didn’t go in for spelling bees. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/14 "2015-03-16T20:59:21Z")
Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all those words. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/15 "2015-03-16T23:01:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Beagle. B-E-A-G-E-L. Beagle. Missile: M-I-S-S-L-E. Missile. This from the daughter of a USAF ordnance guy . . . ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/16 "2015-03-17T17:27:49Z")
Spelling Bees = at or near the top of my How Is This Still A Thing? list (along with Daylight Saving Time, beauty pageants, and standardized testing). ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-bee-words/715098/17 "2015-03-17T18:04:58Z")
Try this one on: stavekonkurrence 😃