How we build our word lists
Enough detail to judge whether this site is worth using — including the parts that are not impressive.
The lists
There are 450 words in total: 50 for each of the 9 grade levels, split 20 easy, 20 medium and 10 challenging. The counts are identical by design rather than by coincidence — a fixed size makes a grade's list printable on one page and comparable with its neighbours.
Words are chosen for the vocabulary a student at that level is typically ready for, and spread across the alphabet so that no practice session is a run of words beginning with the same letter. No word appears in more than one grade.
The difficulty bands
Easy, medium and challenging are assigned by judgement, not measurement. What we weigh is length, how regular the spelling is, and how much of the word can be reconstructed from its sound. A word like essay is short but not phonetic; a word like chimney is longer and mostly is.
Treat the bands as a starting point. If the easy list is a struggle, use the grade below — the labels matter far less than finding the level where a student can succeed most of the time.
The definitions
Definitions, parts of speech, phonetic spellings and audio come from a dictionary API built on Wiktionary data. That source is thorough, which is the problem: it carries every register of English, including senses no child's spelling list should publish.
So the data is filtered before it reaches a page. Senses tagged as slang, vulgar or offensive are dropped, along with sexual, narcotic and crude meanings of otherwise ordinary words. An unsuitable example sentence is removed on its own, without discarding a definition that is perfectly sound. Where filtering leaves a word with nothing publishable, or the dictionary has no entry, the definition shown is one written for this site.
Coverage is not uniform, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise: every word has a definition and a part of speech, most have a phonetic guide and audio, roughly two thirds carry an example sentence, and synonyms and antonyms appear only where the source provides them.
What we do not claim
- Not official. These are not the Scripps National Spelling Bee word lists and this site is not affiliated with Scripps. For competition preparation, use their study material alongside ours — our guide explains where to get it.
- Not expert-reviewed. No outside education professional has vetted these lists. The site said otherwise in a few places; that was wrong and has been removed.
- Not standards-aligned. The words are pitched at a grade level, but no mapping to a published curriculum standard has been done.
- No invented evidence. There are no testimonials, no named champions endorsing the site and no statistics we cannot source. There used to be all three.
Corrections
If a word is wrong, a definition reads oddly, or something here is out of date, please write to us. Corrections to the word data are the most useful mail we get.
Questions about how this site is made
Are these the official Scripps National Spelling Bee word lists?
No. These lists are our own and this site has no affiliation with Scripps. The official study list is Words of the Champions, about 4,000 words, published by Scripps at spellingbee.com. If you are preparing for a school, regional or national bee, use ours for everyday practice and theirs for the competition itself.
Has an education professional reviewed these lists?
No. The site previously said otherwise in a few places and that was wrong; those claims have been removed. The lists are compiled and maintained by the site's author, and the honest description is careful amateur work, not credentialed review.
Where do the definitions come from?
From a dictionary API built on Wiktionary data, filtered before publication. Because that source covers every register of English, a filter removes senses unsuitable for the age group — drug, sexual and slang meanings of otherwise ordinary words. Where filtering leaves a word with nothing publishable, or the source has no entry at all, we substitute a definition written for this site.
How are words assigned to easy, medium and challenging?
By judgement, against the vocabulary a student at that grade is typically ready for: word length, how regular the spelling is, and how much of it can be worked out from sound alone. The bands are a starting point rather than a measurement — if the easy list feels hard, drop a grade, and nothing is lost.
How often is this updated?
Irregularly, when something is wrong or something is added. We deliberately do not print a 'last updated' date generated from the clock, because a date that always says today tells you nothing about whether anything changed.