--- description: Eight spellers were crowned "co-champions" at the conclusion of the bee, but the remaining 554 contestants all spelled words wrong. title: Here's Every Word That Stumped Spellers During the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta11a62019a9caaef/69894aa022fb85db75e2856e/2019-scripps-spelling-bee-words.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Every Word That Stumped Spellers During the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee by [Alex Rees](/author/alex-rees/) ## Alex Rees Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 31, 2019 6:10 PM CUT by [Alex Rees](/author/alex-rees/) ## Alex Rees Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 31, 2019 6:10 PM CUT A record-breaking number of spellers — 562 — competed their hearts and minds out during this week’s 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. And a record-breaking number beat the bee, with [eight contestants crowned “co-champions”](http://time.com/5598461/scripps-spelling-bee-2019-eight-winners/ "undefined") at the conclusion of Thursday night’s finale. For the rest though, a word (or words) got the better of them. Whether their elimination was _controversial_ or _incontrovertible_ (both knockout words in round No. 3), whether it left them feeling _dubitative, stolid,_ or even, say, _inured_ (round No. 3 again), these unlucky competitors made a typo, and got dinged for it — literally dinged, that is, thanks to the bee’s iconic bell used to denote a wrong answer. Here is a comprehensive list of all the words that cost a speller their place in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee: ## Round 2: Malachite; placidly; sorghum; Andes; hedebo; courlan; parochialism; Valparaiso; Herculean; horripilation; perambulate; irrision; adonize; cilia; olid; scrofulous; privet; comity; kanzu; parturition; pishposh; satiate; perforation; ritenuto; parietal; cannellini; subsultory; vervain; coruscated; huipil; Barbizon; connoisseur; chambray; crinoline; Pulitzer; noology; kurgan; saccade; dubonnet; stereognosis; fussbudget; placoderm; annus mirabilis; griseous; metopscopy; dilatory. ## Round 3: Occlude; cloying; marginalia; palliatory; accretionary; tropophye; Chaplinesque; pseudologist; taffeta; duologue; symptomatology; postern; contumely; Rooseveltian; deceit; cortisol; kalamata; nodule; elegize; quintessence; parvanimity; aquaflorium; disillusion; effluent; coffering; gyro; aminence; decedent; autostrada; moniker; covenant; Tallahassee; bronchoscope; dubitative; verdurous; salvageable; conceptualize; inconsequentia; vestibule; dissimilitude; sanative; wroth; modem; emollience; seder; ossuary; allocation; solipsistic; Seoul; prosody; protrusile; erelong; deleteriously; vagaries; celebutante; unanimity; panache; auspicate; mythomania; transilient; controversial; wisteria; carabiner; stewardship; pallium; bankruptcy; thyroidectomy; primitive; revelty; seism; yuzu; stolid; regalian; telenovela; junket; trough; Richter; gracility; atrophy; Knickerbocker; odeon; discrete; mores; incendiary; maxim; candor; obsolescence; sojourner; florescence; metaphysicize; abacus; philia; aggressor; sedge; sibilatory; pyramidoidal; fatuously; equitable; malediction; plethora; phloem; supposititious; won ton; chimera; antechamber; expediently; piscary; destructible; concision; knoll; imposture; stannum; lunette; maundy; lexis; porcine; putrescible; meerkat; predecessor; rubeola; invigilate; monopsony; accede; pixelated; contravene; meliorist; quadrennium; grandiloquent; pinion; protervity; penury; impermissible; moray; shallot; vermillion; phlegmatic; surficial; fluviatic; incontrovertible; antiquary; tendon; interrogatory; subglottal; stemma; stymie; inured; upholstery; somesthetic. Note: after round three, the field of remaining spellers was culled dramatically — down to a field of just 50 — based on the scoring of an on-paper test. For the elite finalists competing from round four onwards, the words thrown at them are almost all too much for Spellcheck, which likely says it all: ## Round 4: Ergodic; Hanseatic; cyclamen; doraphobia; nuchal; postil; abrazo; pelargic; praseodymium; pilosebaceous. ## Round 5: lychnoscope; kula; mouton; eschalot; terebinthinate; diaeresis. ## Round 6: Ferreiro; lomatine; koftgari; bullace; gharial. ## Round 7: Ixodid; diallage; theileriasis; pteryla.  Nithika Rangan of Sacramento, California, correctly spells the word 'jonquil,' which is a type of flower, during the second round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center May 28, 2019 in National Harbor, Maryland. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images ## Round 8: Ascidium; palatschinken; bodieron; scaevola; Wundtian; Marrucinian; coelogyne; yertchuk; Pallottine. ## Round 10: Cuirassier; flaser. ## Round 11: Hieracium. ## Round 12: Jalap; chama. ## Round 13: Ischiocerite.  Elliott Husseman of Poway, California, tries to spell his word during round three of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center May 28, 2019 in National Harbor, Maryland. Alex Wong—Getty Images ## Round 14: Rassenkreis. ## Round 15: Tettigoniid. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/"},"headline":"Here's Every Word That Stumped Spellers During the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee","datePublished":"2019-05-31T18:10:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:35.389Z","description":"How many could you have gotten right?","url":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/","keywords":["Education","spelling bee","onetime","T100 2019 Pioneers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta11a62019a9caaef/69894aa022fb85db75e2856e/2019-scripps-spelling-bee-words.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rees","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rees/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta11a62019a9caaef/69894aa022fb85db75e2856e/2019-scripps-spelling-bee-words.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Wrong Words at the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee","caption":"Wrong Words at the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee","creditText":"The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/","name":"Here's Every Word That Stumped Spellers During the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"How many could you have gotten right?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5598691/scripps-national-spelling-bee-2019-losing-words/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```