Tips and Tricks for Spelling Bee

The spelling bee is one of the popular ways to determine one’s knowledge when it comes to spelling English words, as well as to test one’s vocabulary. It started as a competition in schools in the United States and evolved into an event held locally, nationally, and even internationally.

With changing times, a lot of word games have become available online. This makes it easy for everyone to practice their spelling from the comfort of their home. However, the concept of the games is a bit different from a typical contest.

What is Spelling Bee?

A spelling bee is where players attempt to form words from a set of seven unique letters. It can be compared to an online Boggle, but without the little lettered dice arranged in a grid and the timer.

As you create words, the puzzle praises you with such compliments as “good” or “awesome” and increases your score, earning you higher ranks as you go on. The more words you find, the more points you receive.

What are the Rules?

The rules in a spelling bee are pretty simple. You will be given a honeycomb shape with seven unique letters. Players must use the provided letters and form words comprising four letters or more. Each term must contain the central letter. However, you cannot input certain words, such as proper nouns, those with hyphens, profanity, and made-up words.

For a four-letter word, you will receive 1 point, and for longer terms, you will earn 1 point for each letter that makes up that word. You can get more points if you figure out the pangram, which consists of all seven letters (can be used more than once). Such a word gives you additional seven points.

In the New York Times version, the honeycomb is updated everyday, and you’re given new letters. You have 24 hours to think of as many words as you can.

Tips and Tricks to Remember

• 1. Always use the shuffle button
  

  The spelling bee has a shuffle feature that allows you to mix the letters many times. Rearranging the letters in the hive can help you spot words that you missed at an earlier stage of the game. So when you can't make out words from a particular arrangement, feel free to click the shuffle button. You can see it between the delete and enter buttons.

• 2. Remember that using letters multiple times is allowed
  

  Unlike most word games, Spelling Bee lets players use the letters more than once. This makes the game more fun and helps you collect more points. As you look at the honeycomb, check if there are letters frequently doubled up in words and see if you can use them to form a couple of terms.

• 3. Don’t forget the pangram
  

  As described above, a pangram comprises all seven letters in the hive. This can test how vast your vocabulary is. Once you have figured out what the seven-letter word is, you can move on to finding the remaining shorter terms.

• 4. Always include the center letter
  

  Every hive has a center with a letter in it. Remember that the central letter has to be in every word you form. So even if you can come up with a term using only the letters on the sides, it will end up being rejected because of the absence of the center letter.

• 5. Look for affixes
  

  Some words are the product of combining a root word (or base word) and an affix. An affix is a letter or a set of letters that is added to a word to create a new meaning. Affixes have two common types: prefixes and suffixes. A prefix is put at the start of a root/base word, and a suffix is placed at the end. A few examples are un-, im-, -ion, -ing, and -ful.

  Always keep an eye out for affixes in your hive and see if you can add them to the words you have already found to create new terms. For instance, if six of the seven letters given to you are YMBEDO, you can form the words BODY and EMBODY. You get to have 1 point for BODY and six points for EMBODY.

• 6. Familiarize yourself with common letter combinations
  

  Learning to recognize frequent letter combinations will also make it easy to make words using the given letters in the honeycomb. It's a good idea to make a list of those combinations, along with the long terms they can create. For example, O-U-G-H can be found in BROUGHT, THROUGH, TOUGH, etc., and T-C-H can be seen in CATCH, BATCH, MATCH, and more.

• 7. Watch out for plurals without S
  

  In the spelling bee, the letter S has been excluded since it would make it easy for players to solve the puzzle. Still, other forms of plurals do exist in the game.

  Be on the lookout for irregular plural nouns, which are nouns that do not need an -s or an -es to become plural since they have another way to do so. Children, people, curricula, formulae, policemen, nuclei, syllabi, and geese are just a few examples. It would be nice to review the terms whose plural doesn't end in -s or -es once again.

• 8. Start however you like
  

  There's no rule on how you should start playing the spelling bee. You can start looking for the shorter words before moving on to the longer ones, or you can do the other way around, or you can look for short and long words alternately. It's all up to you how you want to play. All that matters is that you find all terms, including the pangram.

  Sometimes, however, you can easily make the seven-letter word out of the hive at first look. Opening with a seven-point word is an achievement.

• 9. Search for compound words
  

  Aside from letter combinations and irregular plural nouns, you should also look for compound words. Sometimes, you may find shorter words without the center letter but might be part of a compound word, and that compound word includes the center letter.

• 10. Focus on the individual letters
  

  There will be times when you will get stuck and unable to come up with new terms after entering a couple of words that popped into your mind immediately. One of your ways out is to start putting your focus on each letter.

  You can start with the central letter or the first letter on the sides and go clockwise or counterclockwise. With each letter, try to find all the words beginning with that letter using a dictionary or any other source and see if there's one or more of them in the hive. It may take a long time, but you might find it fun and challenging.

• 11. Stare at the letters
  

  According to The New York Times, one “weird” trick could also help you when you’re stuck playing the spelling bee. And it is staring at the letters. It’s similar to viewing those 3-D posters; it takes some time to see the big picture, and once you do, you can’t help but see it.

• 12. Take a break from time to time
  

  One of the best parts of the spelling bee is that there's no time limit to finding all the words, including the pangram. This means you can put it down and let your brain rest for some time. It's better not to wear your mind out, or else you won't be able to finish it. Once you regain your energy, you can return to the game and continue looking for words until you complete them.

• 13. Learn from your mistakes
  

  Learning from your mistakes is one of the best ways to improve yourself in playing the spelling bee. Visit the game scheduled on the previous day and list the words you missed. Try to remember them so you can spot them in your next puzzle without going through trouble.

• 14. Remember unfamiliar words
  

  When going back to your previous day’s game, make sure to also check for words that are unfamiliar to you. Certain oddball words show up repeatedly, so it’s better to pay attention to them as well.

• 15. Play with someone
  

  While the spelling bee can be played alone, it’s always more exciting when you share it with someone. Two heads are better than one after all. Invite your friend or a family member and take turns in solving the word puzzle or you can solve it separately and compare your scores with each other. You can also choose who goes first and let that person find as many words as they can before the other person takes over.

Learning how to play the Spelling Bee game is easy, but it takes a lot of practice to find all the words in the hive. It also requires patience since it can take up too much of your time, especially if you’re a newbie. But there's no need to hurry, and it's okay if you missed some words; it's not a contest anyway.

With the tips and tricks above, you are sure to have a good game. Put them into practice, and you will get better over time. Also, enjoy the process of learning and the game, and don’t let your mistakes stop you from improving.

References:

The New York Times