spelling bee

American  

noun

1. a spelling competition won by the individual or team spelling the greatest number of words correctly; spelldown.

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spelling bee British  

noun

1. a contest in which players are required to spell words according to orthographic conventions

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Etymology

Origin of spelling bee

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

A lot of them had excelled in school: We talked to a boy that had just won a spelling bee, for example.

From Slate • Mar. 20, 2026

In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle corrected a 12-year-old spelling bee contestant on camera, incorrectly instructing him to add the letter “e” onto the end of the word “potato.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

On the other side sits Ainsley, who would lose a grade-school spelling bee to a bag of hair extensions yet manages to get into college as a cheerleading squad walk-on.

From Salon • Nov. 16, 2025

“That’s what the spelling bee is about. It’s not about knowing as many words as you can.”

From Seattle Times • May 28, 2024

Tamika pointed at her nose, slowly sounding out the word—“SIH-lee-uh”—as if she were onstage for a spelling bee.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas