🧭 Spelling Bee directory
The bees, the dictionaries and the free places spellers use. Where to find a bee to enter, where to check a word, and where to learn where it comes from.
Grown-ups: these places are on other websites. Hold the button for two seconds to turn the names into links.
Spelling bees
- Scripps National Spelling Beespellingbee.com
The national bee in the US, for students through eighth grade. Schools enroll and run their own bees first; the site explains how.
Dictionaries and word origins
When the pronouncer gives a definition or a language of origin, this is where it comes from.
- Merriam-Webstermerriam-webster.comFree
A free online dictionary with pronunciations you can hear, definitions and word origins.
- Britannica Dictionarybritannica.comFree
Simple definitions and example sentences written for people learning English (it was Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary until it moved here).
- Online Etymology Dictionaryetymonline.comFree
Where words come from: the language of origin and how a word changed over time. Good for roots study.
- Wiktionaryen.wiktionary.orgFree
A free dictionary anyone can edit, with pronunciations and the history of many words.
Practise on Peabody
- Bee Practicepeabody.kidsFree
Hear a word, build it from letter tiles, and see straight away if it is right; tricky words are kept on the device.
- Sight word checklistpeabody.kidsFree
For the youngest spellers: the high-frequency words to know by heart, with a checklist.