Spelling Bee Rules & Regulations
Spelling bee rules and regulations can vary according to the host, but the official rules are determined by the famous Scripps National Spelling Bee. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the Super Bowl of spelling bees lays the foundation for all serious bees across the country.
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Official Dictionary
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When it comes to spelling bees nothing is more important than making sure the spelling is proper. The official source to determine the proper spelling in a spelling bee is Webster's Third New International Dictionary. All words that are used in a spelling bee can be found in this edition of the Webster's Dictionary.
Time
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Each speller has exactly two minutes and 30 seconds to provide the proper spelling. This official time begins from the second the the announcer says the word that is to be spelled. For the first minute and 45 seconds the speller can see a green light, after which the light turns to yellow for 15 seconds. At the two minute mark the light turns red and speller also sees a timer counting down the final 30 seconds.
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Misunderstood Words
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The speller himself is held responsible any misunderstanding of a word with the following exceptions. The pronouncer must give the correct pronunciation of a word. The pronouncer must provide correct information regarding definition, the country of origin and the part of speech. The speller is also not held accountable if he spells a homonym and the pronouncer fails to distinguish the two words.
Elimination
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The speller is automatically eliminated if he misspells a word and none of the rules regarding misunderstanding applies. All the spellers that are eliminated within the same round will be considered tied for that placing in the final results. There are no eliminations in the preliminary round because Round One consists of spelling 50 words using a computer. Only 25 of the words will count toward the preliminary scores of each speller.
Pronunciation Repetition
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During a spelling bee the speller traditionally repeats the word before and after he has spelled. Spellers are encouraged to do this in order to make sure they heard the word correctly. It is entirely a misconception that a speller can be disqualified if she fails to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it.
Stopping
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A speller is allowed to stop at any point during the spelling process and begin again from the beginning. However, he is not allowed to change any letters that he began with before the point at which he stopped. If every letter in the process is not the same as it was before he stopped, the speller can be eliminated.
Final Two
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The rules change when the competition gets down to the final two. If the first speller misses a word, the second speller must correctly spell that word and then another in order to win. If the second speller spells misspells the new word, then the first speller gets the chance to correct it. If he spells it correctly he then gets a new word and if he spells that word correctly he is declared the winner.
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