All 550 Spelling Bee Words

550 in total, across nine levels. Grades 1 through 7 hold 50 words each, split 20 easy, 20 medium and 10 challenging. Grade 8 and high school hold 100 each, split 40 easy, 40 medium and 20 challenging. Every word is listed on this page, and each grade has its own page with definitions, a practice quiz, flashcards and a printable PDF.

No. These are our own lists, compiled for this site, and we have no affiliation with the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The official Scripps study material is Words of the Champions, which holds about 4,000 words and is published at spellingbee.com; later competition rounds draw on Merriam-Webster Unabridged. Use ours alongside the official material rather than instead of it.

By how hard the word is to spell at that grade, not by how hard it is to read. Easy words follow patterns a student at that level has already met. Medium words add an ending, a double letter or a vowel pair that cannot be heard. Challenging words break a rule or come from another language, and are the ones worth the most practice time. The bands are ours and are not tied to any external standard.

Each grade has a free one-page printable PDF of its word list, laid out by difficulty with a checkbox beside every word. They are linked from each grade page and collected on the printables page. There is no single PDF of all nine grades in the free set — the paid all-grades kit is the version that collects everything.