Geographical Names
Vocabulary Word: Ebullient
Phrased and Hyphenated Words
Eponyms
Latin and Greek Plurals
Latin and Greek Roots
Homonyms
SpellPundit Students’ Winning Streak Continues: Summer 2018
SpellPundit students’ winning streak continues! As you may know, at the 2018 Scripps Nationals, four of the top five spellers were SpellPundit Students.
2018 Scripps Spelling Bee: Karthik Nemmani (1st place), Naysa Modi (2nd place), Jashun Paluru (3rd place) and Navneet Murali (5th place) all used SpellPundit study materials.
SpellPundit students continued to win major spelling competitions this summer.
South Asian Spelling Bee (SASB)
Another SpellPundit student, Sohum Sukhatankar, won the South Asian Spelling Bee in Edison, NJ and took home a cash prize of $3,000. Sohum extensively used SpellPundit resources to prepare for this competition.
Other SASB Regional Champions and 1st Runner-Ups (Maya Jadhav, Rishik Ghandhasri, Vayun Krishna, Christopher Serrao, Srivarun Hathwar, Rohan Raja, and Nitya Kathiravan) also used SpellPundit resources to prepare for this competition.
North South Foundation (NSF)
Most of the top 10 Spelling and Vocabulary Bee ranks were achieved by SpellPundit students.
NSF Senior Spelling Bee (SSB):
NSF Junior Spelling Bee (JSB):
NSF Intermediate Vocabulary Bee (IVB):
NSF Junior Vocabulary Bee (JVB):
North America Spelling Bee Champion Challenge (NASCC)
Most of the top spellers at the North America Spelling Champion Challenge were SpellPundit students! In both the East Coast (held in Towson, MA) and West Coast (held in Riverside, CA) competitions, both the winner and runner up were SpellPundit students. These spellers acknowledge that SpellPundit resources have been invaluable in preparing for the bees!
2018 NASCC Spelling Bee East Coast: Paul Hamrick (1st place), Ashrita Gandhari (2nd place)
2018 NASCC Spelling Bee West Coast: Cameron Keith (1st place), Aisha Randhawa (2nd place)
The NASCC champions received $2,000 prize money and an all-expenses-paid trip to Beijing, China!
Differences Between the Merriam-Webster Print and Online Dictionaries
In 2017, the Scripps National Spelling Bee transitioned from the print version of the Merriam-Webster Third New International dictionary (which is also the CD ROM version) to the online Unabridged dictionary (unabridged.merriam-webster.com).
This blog post will discuss the differences between these two versions of the dictionaries so you are familiar with the changes.
Pronunciation of Words
There are some slight differences in pronunciation between the two versions of the dictionary. Some examples are:
| Word | Print/CD Dictionary | Online Dictionary |
| mattock | mad.ǝk, -atǝk | ˈmatək, -atək |
| tare | ta(a)](ǝ)r, ‘te], ]ǝ | ˈter |
| flair | fla(a)](ǝ)r, ‘fle], ]ǝ | ˈfler |
| square | skwa(a)](ǝ)r, -we], ]ǝ | ˈskwer |
| aerolithology | a(ǝ)(͵)rōli’thälǝjē | ¦er-ə-li-¦thä-lə-jē |
| airbus | a(a)(ǝ)r͵bǝs | ˈer-ˌbəs |
| revert | rə̇’vǝr]t, rē’-, -vӛ], -vǝi], usu ]t+V | ri-ˈvərt |
| redress | rə̇’dres, rē’- | ri-ˈdres |
| steer | sti(ǝ)r, -iǝ | ˈstir |
| board | bō(ǝ)rd, -ȯ(ǝ)rd, -ōǝd, -ȯ(ǝ)d | ˈbȯrd |
| forth | fō(ǝ)rth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)rth, ‘fōǝth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)th | ˈfȯrth |
| coarse | kō(ǝ)rs, -ȯ(ǝ)rs, -ōǝs, -ȯ(ǝ)s | ˈkȯrs |
| panda | pandǝ, ‘paan- | ˈpan-də |
| forth | fō(ǝ)rth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)rth, ‘fōǝth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)th | ˈfȯrth |
| answer | an(t)sǝ(r), ‘aan-, ‘ain-, ‘ån- | ˈan(t)-sər |
Note: While the print dictionary has the diacritical symbol /d./, the online dictionary has replace this with /t/.
Some words have different alternative pronunciations between the two dictionaries. Here are some of these words:
| Word | Print/CD Dictionary | Online Dictionary |
| jacana | jakənə | jə-ˈkä-nə, ˌzhä-sə-ˈnäⁿ |
| chelator | kē͵lātǝ(r) | ˈkē-ˌlā-tər; kē-ˈlā-tər also chē- |
| sleazy | slēzē, -zi | ˈslē-zē also ˈslā- |
| archenteron | (‘)ärk.’entǝ͵rän | (ˈ)är-ˈken-tə-ˌrän, -rən |
| raptore | rap͵tō(ǝ)r | ˈrap-tər, -ˌtȯr |
| Aristotelian | ¦arə̇stǝ¦tēlyǝn, ¦a͵ris-, -lēǝn also ¦er- or ǝ¦ris- or a¦ris- | ¦a-rə-stə-¦tēl-yən |
| ctenophore | tenǝ͵fō(ǝ)r | ˈte-nə-ˌfȯr |
| om | ȯm | ˈōm, ˈȯm |
| flotsam | flätsǝm -lōt- | ˈflät-səm |
| luxe | lǝks | ˈlu̇ks, ˈləks, ˈlüks |
| leopoldville | ˈlē-ə-ˌpōld-ˌvil | ˈlē-ə-ˌpōld-ˌvil, ˈlā- |
| crevalle | krǝ’valē, -lǝ, -lā | kri-ˈva-lē |
| aminophylline | ǝ͵mēnō’fi͵lēn, |amǝ͵nō’-; ͵amǝ’näfǝ͵- | ˌa-mə-ˈnä-fə-lən |
| leipzig | līpsi]g, -sē] | ˈlīp-sig, -sik |
Spelling
Some words are spelled differently between both dictionaries, such as:
| Print/CD Dictionary | Online Dictionary |
| amizilia | amazilia |
| bogsha | bogshah |
| vilnyus | vilnius |
New Online Words
The online dictionary has a lot of new words that the print dictionary did not have. Scripps has asked a lot of these new online words in their bees, such as xylorimba, turducken, mizuna, and Beringia. In fact, a few of these new words were asked at the National Spelling Bee in 2017, such as arribada, clafouti, Bruneian, and bucatini.
SpellPundit is one of the only study resources that has completely incorporated all the spelling/pronunciation changes in the online dictionary. Our New Online Words Module has with over 4000 words for spellers to learn these words and test themselves.
2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee Primetime Finals Words Analysis
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).
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
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
There were a few homonyms (such as aalii and telyn) asked at this year’s Bee, which are in the new SpellPundit Homonyms module.
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)
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!