It was an exciting Bee! Congratulations to the 2018 National Spelling Bee Champion Karthik Nemmani and runner-up Naysa Modi, who are both SpellPundit students.

This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals finished with 60 words. Every one of these words is in SpellPundit Spelling Modules Levels 1 through 4 or the New Online Words module (please refer to https://test.spellpundit.net/spellshakti/how-to-spelling/ for detailed descriptions about all the different SpellPundit modules).

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Many of the words in the final rounds of the spelling bee are in the SpellPundit Level 3 Spelling module. A few examples are:

Cabalassou: a large armadillo

Paillasson: coarsely woven natural or synthetic straw used for hats

Bewusstseinslage: a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components

Shamir: a very hard precious stone believed to have been used in building Solomon’s temple

Gelinotte: a European woodland grouse related to the American ruffed grouse

Bundestag: an assembly of representatives of a federation

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The following are word asked in the National Spelling Bee finals that are in the SpellPundit New Online Words Module:

Mnemosyne: the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus

Loratadine: a long-acting, nonsedating antihistamine drug taken orally to relieve symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria

Pareidolia:  the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful, image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

Ankyloglossia: limited normal movement of the tongue chiefly due to an abnormally shortened frenulum :  tongue-tie

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There were a few homonyms (such as aalii and telyn) asked at this year’s Bee, which are in the new SpellPundit Homonyms module.

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There were a few words based on roots, which are found in the SpellPundit Roots Modules:

Succiniferous: bearing amber

succin- (amber) + -iferous (bearing or producing or yielding)

Lophophytosis: a contagious skin disease found in birds that is caused by a fungus occurring in man on hairy surfaces that become covered with yellowish crusts

lopho- (crest, tuft, or comb) + phyt- (plant) + -osis (abnormal or diseased condition)

Ecchymosis: the escape of blood into the tissues from ruptured blood vessels

ec- (out) + chym- (juice) + -osis (abnormal or diseased condition)

Pseudepigrapha: spurious words purporting to emanate from biblical characters

pseud- (false) + epi- (upon) + graph (to write)

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Overall, there was an interesting mix of words asked at this year’s National Spelling Bee. SpellPundit’s modules can help you learn all the words you need to know to become a primetime finalist, and even bring home the trophy!