Spelling Bee Practice Tips

Spelling bee practice gives students confidence for the big competition. It also helps kids to build spelling skills from which they can benefit all year long!  

What are some of the best practice ideas for individual students? Here are the ones we like best, arranged in two categories.

Individual Spelling Bee Practice Ideas

Printable version of Spelling Bee Practice Ideas

Part 1: Strategies to use all year long

1) Read a lot of good books and expand your vocabulary. You'll learn new words and how to use them. Write down the most interesting words, and the ones with the trickiest spellings in a spelling notebook. Review it from time to time.

2) Learn your weekly spelling words. Keep a list of the words you miss on quizzes and tests in your spelling notebook.

3) Learn your best spelling bee style.  How do you prepare to spell a word aloud? Are you most successful if you

• trace it with your finger
• say it to yourself
• or picture it in your mind?

Figure this out in advance. Then once a week, have a friend or family member ask you to spell a few words aloud, spelling bee style. Get comfortable with spelling tricky words in front of other people.

4) Practice writing words on your own so that you don't always have to involve another person. Or type them into a text document on the computer.

5) Learn basic spelling strategies and rules.  Make a list of commonly-used words that are exceptions to these rules.

6) Read  How to Spell Like a Champ by Trinkle, Andrews and Kimble, three people closely associated with the Scripps National Spelling Bee. (If you can't find it at your library, check at Amazon.) The book contains lists of tricky words, spelling bee practice strategies, fun quizzes and more.

7) If you're really serious about advancing to regional, state or national competitions, you need to get a good dictionary and study it. 

Part 2: Practice ideas to use just weeks or days before the Bee

 Go to this page to read helpful, short-term practice tips. Here's just one of the tips:

3) Post spelling words everywhere: the bathroom mirror, your computer desktop, your school desk or locker. Carry a list of words you want to learn in your pocket. You can pull it out to study when you have spare minutes between other activities.

Spelling Bee Word Lists

 We have lots of spelling bee words you can study! Each spelling bee list contains 100 - 120 words, arranged generally from easiest to most difficult. 

3rd grade          4th grade         5th grade
6th grade          7th grade         8th-grade

You may also be interested in this word list featuring silent first letters, and another list of words where doubling or not doubling consonants is the key to correct spelling.

The Spelling Bee Toolboxes

Our Spelling Bee Toolbox eBooks are comprehensive resources for anyone who wants a simple way to put together a classroom, all-school or multi-school spelling bee.

Each eBook contains 600 words and sentences, rules, award certificates, organizational tips, student helps and much more.

Vocabulary Work

Remember, it's always good to build vocabulary, all year long! Check out my new collection of grade-level vocabular words. Use the blue tab at the left for the complete list of words for Kindergarten through 8th grade. Here are just two examples:

4th Grade Vocabulary Words - 200 words to help teach your students math, science, social studies and more! You'll find ten words in each of ten categories to interest your kids/students, plus 100 more! From earthworms to equations, this list is packed with fascinating words to help expand your child's vocabulary!

8th Grade Vocabulary Words - Stretch your own vocabulary as well as your students' with this giant list of 250 challenging words! Lots of extension activities and additional resources are also included. Will you discover any paraphrasable paradigms or vacuous variances?