Spelling bee words by grade, with free practice

How to practise for a spelling bee

1. Ten minutes a day beats an hour the night before. Bee Practice deals ten words a round, easiest first.
2. Hear the word before you see it. In a real bee you only hear it, so practise the same way: listen first, then spell.
3. Ask for the sentence. A bee's pronouncer will use the word in a sentence if you ask, and for homophones (peace or piece) it is the only way to know which one.
4. Spell in chunks: syllables, roots and endings (trans-port-a-tion), not one letter at a time.
5. Learn the rule and its breakers together: i before e except after c, then weird, seize and their.
6. Let the pile shrink. A word you spell right on the first try twice is done; spend the time on the rest.
7. Practise out loud with a grown-up holding the list: they say the word, you say the letters, they tick it.

For grown-ups

About the words. Our lists are Peabody's own: the weekly spelling lists Peabody wrote for 1st to 6th grade, the tricky spelling sets we chose for 7th and 8th, and the book words in our vocabulary bank, each with a meaning and a sentence. They are not the Scripps School Spelling Bee Study List. That list belongs to Scripps and is given to schools that enrol in the Scripps bee; if your child's school sent a sheet home, practise that sheet too.

Run a practice bee at home. Open any list, hold the phone, and read each word aloud, then the sentence. Your speller says the letters; you tick it. One miss and the word goes on tomorrow's pile. Each list prints on its own page. Or use pronouncer mode: the word big on your screen, Right, Missed and Skip, and cards eight to a page.

Teachers: the weekly lists, with a rule for each week and a maker for spelling tests, are on Peabody Teach.