Made for the next small step
We believe practice should be easy to start and useful to return to. Free Spell Bee brings listening, word clues, spelling recall, and missed-word review into one simple space.
Students can explore at their own pace. Parents and teachers can use the guides to start a conversation about preparation and participation.
About our word bank
The bank contains 10,000 independent US English practice words. The original teaching entries and additional learner-oriented starter definitions are written for this site. Expanded definitions and usage examples are drawn from WordNet 3.0. Pronunciation references come from CMUdict.
Expanded entries are source-validated and automatically screened, but they have not all received individual human editorial review. Usage examples may be phrases rather than complete sentences. Difficulty bands use word length, syllable count, and source frequency; they are practice estimates, not grade levels or the official One Bee, Two Bee, and Three Bee categories.
Origin references now cover 7,863 entries. The original 60 origin summaries remain; the added language and formation links come from Wiktionary contributors through David Roher’s etymology-db (CC BY-SA 3.0). These are source-derived study references: multiple histories or components may be listed, and they have not all been individually reviewed or matched to a modern competition dictionary. The default collection selects words with origin information. The full bank can include entries without an origin reference.
Official study material
This is not a republication of Scripps’ list. For official preparation, use the 450-word school list and 4,000-word Words of the Champions, and the free official Word Club app. The word browser lets you shuffle a fresh selection and listen to pronunciations directly on the page.
Your grade path in Spell Quest
Each of Grades 1–8 has a versioned path of 1,000 distinct words: 100 ten-word levels, ten chapter checkpoints, and a 20-word final challenge. First study the words with their meanings and pronunciation; then spell them from memory. Repair every mistake before the step is complete. Progress saves after each card and answer. The review queue revisits earlier words over time.
The original path begins with a curated starter lesson. The newer path orders the same words by a provisional combination of word frequency, length, and syllables, so that its estimated challenge grows more steadily. Existing learners can keep their original path or choose the new one. Grade labels are editorial starting recommendations, not validated grade norms, official Scripps assignments, or a promise of competition readiness. Paths overlap intentionally. An educator has not individually calibrated every word to every grade.
Original strategy lessons cover sound patterns, vowels, syllables, word families, meanings, affixes, origins and retrieval practice. Their approach is informed by word-analysis guidance. The path ordering uses wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer, whose frequency snapshot reflects usage through approximately 2021. Attribution and license. This independently designed course is not a standards-certified curriculum.
Finishing a course means completing its practice requirements. It is distinct from long-term retention: continue spaced reviews and spoken practice. Choose or continue a grade path. For quick rounds, timed practice, elimination and missed-word review, use Just Practice.
American English recordings
Word audio is generated ahead of time with the open Kokoro model’s American English af_heart voice and played as a saved recording. Generation uses CMU phoneme references where available, with two documented overrides for the original collection. We do not use device speech as an automatic fallback. An additional 762 recordings cover CMU-listed pronunciation variants for 685 words. These variants are reference pronunciations, not a claim that every variant is accepted by a particular competition. The recordings are AI-generated, not human recordings; individual pronunciation listening review is still in progress.
WordNet license · CMUdict license · Kokoro license · Origin reference attribution
Independent by design
Spell Bee Practice is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Our guides link to official sources, and your organizer’s current documents take priority over any summary here.
Just Practice and Spell Quest use typed answers and simplified personal challenges. Add spoken practice with another person when preparing for an oral competition.
A small win every day
Tap the main speaker to begin. We prepare your session silently and prefer unpracticed words over earlier sessions. Review mode deliberately returns to missed words. Once a selection is exhausted, earlier words can return. This history stays in your browser and is reset when you clear site data.
Earn 10 XP for a correct answer and 2 XP for trying a word, work toward a five-word daily goal, and unlock milestones as your practice grows. Your progress, rather than a separate points account, determines these rewards.
Your learning stays close
Your session history, review queue, and plan checklists stay in this browser. Export a backup to move them to another device. Read how local progress works before clearing browser data.
Questions or feedback? Visit our contact page.