Spelling Bee 2

Front

What is a Spelling Bee?

Back

A Spelling Bee is a competition in which participants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty.

Front

Define 'Phonetics'.

Back

Phonetics is the study of the sounds of human speech, focusing on how sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.

Front

What does 'etymology' mean?

Back

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how their meanings have changed throughout history.

Front

Explain the term 'homophone'.

Back

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings, such as 'to', 'two', and 'too'.

Front

What is a 'syllable'?

Back

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the building blocks of words.

Front

Define 'vowel'.

Back

A vowel is a speech sound in many languages that is produced without any significant constriction of the airflow in the vocal tract, typically represented by the letters A, E, I, O, U.

Front

What is a 'consonant'?

Back

A consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, represented by letters such as B, C, D, F, etc.

Front

What does 'orthography' refer to?

Back

Orthography is the conventional spelling system of a language, including rules about how letters are used to represent sounds.

Front

Explain the concept of 'silent letters'.

Back

Silent letters are letters in a word that are not pronounced, such as the 'k' in 'knight' or the 'b' in 'doubt'.

Front

What is a 'dictionary'?

Back

A dictionary is a reference book that lists words in alphabetical order, providing definitions, pronunciations, and other information.