5th Grade Spelling Bee Words

• 5th grade
• 50 words, 3 levels
• Free printable list

Spelling bee words for 5th grade, in three levels: 20 easy, 20 medium and 10 hard words. They range from silent-letter words like debt and salmon to classic bee words like onomatopoeia and chrysanthemum.

Spelling bees in 5th grade

In 5th grade, bees can be serious competitions, with school winners going on to regional rounds. Hard words often come from French, Greek or Latin, and the best spellers combine three skills: knowing roots and patterns, asking smart questions about the word, and staying calm under pressure.

The words

Start with the easy list and move up when your child spells most of the words without help. In a real bee, words usually get harder each round.

Easy words (20 words, Round 1)

• ancient
• captain
• villain
• mountain
• fountain
• certain
• curtain
• bargain
• muscle
• scissors
• column
• autumn
• debt
• doubt
• receipt
• wrestle
• answer
• sword
• knuckle
• salmon

Medium words (20 words, Rounds 2 and 3)

• environment
• government
• atmosphere
• experiment
• laboratory
• hypothesis
• vocabulary
• ambulance
• appreciate
• opportunity
• guarantee
• cafeteria
• committee
• occasion
• schedule
• souvenir
• yacht
• biscuit
• guitar
• beginning

Hard words (10 words, Final rounds)

• accommodate
• embarrass
• millennium
• onomatopoeia
• pneumonia
• Fahrenheit
• maneuver
• chrysanthemum
• mischievous
• questionnaire

How to study for a spelling bee

1. Five to ten words a day. Don't cram the whole list. Short daily sessions over two or three weeks work best.
2. Say, spell, write, check. Say the word, spell it out loud letter by letter, write it, then check it against the list.
3. Find the tricky part. In most hard words, only one or two letters are surprising. Point them out and make a memory trick, like those in commonly misspelled words.
4. Use the rules. Many words follow patterns: doubling, drop the e, i before e. Knowing the rule turns ten words into one idea.
5. Practice out loud. Bees are oral. Practice standing up, saying the word, spelling it clearly and saying the word again at the end.
6. Mock bee. A few days before, run a practice bee at home with the family. See how to run a home spelling bee.

Tip for 5th grade: At this level, asking for the language of origin (if allowed) helps: French words often end in -ette or -eur, and Greek words use ph, ch and y.

Five words worth extra attention

These words from the lists trip up the most spellers at this level. The tricky part is explained for each.

• accommodate: two c's and two m's: it accommodates both.
• embarrass: two r's and two s's.
• millennium: two l's and two n's.
• onomatopoeia: o-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a: say each part.
• mischievous: three syllables: mis-chie-vous. No i before -ous.

On the day of the bee

• Listen to the whole word before starting. Ask to hear it again if you're unsure.
• Ask for a sentence or definition if the bee allows it, especially for words that sound like other words.
• Picture the word written down before saying the first letter.
• Spell slowly and clearly. There's no prize for speed.
• If you're out, that's OK. Every speller misses a word eventually, even champions.

Practice quiz

Ten words from the medium and hard lists. Tap the right spelling.

1. 1.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   accommodate accomodate acommodate
   Show answer

   accommodate.

2. 2.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   embarrass embarass embaress
   Show answer

   embarrass.

3. 3.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   millennium millenium milennium
   Show answer

   millennium.

4. 4.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   onomatopoeia onomatopeia onamatopoeia
   Show answer

   onomatopoeia.

5. 5.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   pneumonia neumonia pnuemonia
   Show answer

   pneumonia.

6. 6.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   Fahrenheit Farenheit Fahrenhiet
   Show answer

   Fahrenheit.

7. 7.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   maneuver manuever manuver
   Show answer

   maneuver.

8. 8.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   chrysanthemum chrysanthemem crysanthemum
   Show answer

   chrysanthemum.

9. 9.Which spelling is right?

   🔈
   mischievous mischievious mischevous
   Show answer

   mischievous.

10. 10.Which spelling is right?

    🔈
    questionnaire questionaire questionnare
    Show answer

    questionnaire.

Printable list

The free PDF has all 50 words on one US Letter page, grouped by level, so you can call out words for a practice bee or tick off the ones your child knows.

Other grades and practice

For weekly practice through the year, see the 5th grade spelling lists. Every rule is on the spelling page, and all spelling bee lists are on the spelling bee words page.

Last reviewed: November 11, 2026

Questions parents ask