Dictionaries and More
An Important Note About Dictionaries Used by the Spelling Bee Editor::
In an article from 2023,* The New York Times said that "[T]he Spelling Bee uses its own dictionary, which has been painstakingly crafted over years of trial and error by our puzzle editors from many different parent dictionaries."
The Spelling Bee editor is on record saying that he refers primarily to Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, sometimes Collins and other sources (Scrabble dictionary, news articles, etc.), but there is no reference to a custom dictionary, either in any pubished source or in discussions in the Spelling Bee forum. In July 2024, LexiConnexxions reached out to The New York Times to seek clarification, and received this helpful response from Customer Care that confirms the existence of a unique "custom dictionary" for the Spelling Bee puzzle:
“The Spelling Bee puzzle is indeed crafted using a custom dictionary that has been meticulously developed by our puzzle editors. While our editor, Mr. Ezersky, occasionally consults resources such as Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Collins, and other sources for reference, the core lexicon for the Spelling Bee has been carefully curated over the years to ensure a diverse and engaging collection of words. We understand the importance of word validity for our Bee players, and we appreciate your desire for more information.” [email from Customer Care to LexiConnexxions, July 6, 2024]
The Times' use of the word "dictionary" when they probably mean "lexicon" could cause confusion; it's unlikely that The New York Times has created an actual dictionary in the proper sense of the word. A by-product of the Spelling Bee is the list of more than 10,000 words that have appeared in the solution sets of the 2300+ Spelling Bee puzzles since May 2018; it's possible that this dynamic list is the core of the "custom dictionary," with additional words pre-approved for future puzzles.
Thanks to Customer Care for tracking this down!
* "Every Single Pangram of 2022: A recap of all the Spelling Bee puzzles from the last year." New York Times, January 3, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/crosswords/all-spelling-bee-pangrams.html Also of interest: Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky explained "the game’s answers are selected from curated lists compiled from some dictionaries and not others, and those parameters are also part of the challenge.” "By a Landslide. A Way with Words, March 13 2023, Episode 1611https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-landslide/
In an article from 2023,* The New York Times said that "[T]he Spelling Bee uses its own dictionary, which has been painstakingly crafted over years of trial and error by our puzzle editors from many different parent dictionaries."
The Spelling Bee editor is on record saying that he refers primarily to Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, sometimes Collins and other sources (Scrabble dictionary, news articles, etc.), but there is no reference to a custom dictionary, either in any pubished source or in discussions in the Spelling Bee forum. In July 2024, LexiConnexxions reached out to The New York Times to seek clarification, and received this helpful response from Customer Care that confirms the existence of a unique "custom dictionary" for the Spelling Bee puzzle:
“The Spelling Bee puzzle is indeed crafted using a custom dictionary that has been meticulously developed by our puzzle editors. While our editor, Mr. Ezersky, occasionally consults resources such as Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Collins, and other sources for reference, the core lexicon for the Spelling Bee has been carefully curated over the years to ensure a diverse and engaging collection of words. We understand the importance of word validity for our Bee players, and we appreciate your desire for more information.” [email from Customer Care to LexiConnexxions, July 6, 2024]
The Times' use of the word "dictionary" when they probably mean "lexicon" could cause confusion; it's unlikely that The New York Times has created an actual dictionary in the proper sense of the word. A by-product of the Spelling Bee is the list of more than 10,000 words that have appeared in the solution sets of the 2300+ Spelling Bee puzzles since May 2018; it's possible that this dynamic list is the core of the "custom dictionary," with additional words pre-approved for future puzzles.
Thanks to Customer Care for tracking this down!
* "Every Single Pangram of 2022: A recap of all the Spelling Bee puzzles from the last year." New York Times, January 3, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/crosswords/all-spelling-bee-pangrams.html Also of interest: Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky explained "the game’s answers are selected from curated lists compiled from some dictionaries and not others, and those parameters are also part of the challenge.” "By a Landslide. A Way with Words, March 13 2023, Episode 1611https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-landslide/
Frequently-used dictionaries and etymology sources used by Spelling Bee solvers:
Merriam-Webster abridgedhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/ Free and essential.
Merriam-Webster unabridgedhttps://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ Requires subscription
New Oxford American Dictionaryhttps://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883Requires subscription, though you can use the “Search within work” function to determine if a target word is included in NOAD. That search box is down on the lower left of the page linked above, under the sign-in form.
Collins Online English Dictionaryhttps://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/
American Heritage Dictionaryhttps://ahdictionary.com/
Merriam-Webster SCRABBLE® Dictionaryhttps://scrabble.merriam.com/
Online Etymology Dictionaryhttps://www.etymonline.com/
Language Hathttps://languagehat.com/
World Wide Wordshttps://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm
Google Trendshttps://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US&hl=en-US
Google Books Ngram Viewerhttps://books.google.com/ngrams/
Corpus of Contemporary American Englishhttps://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
Visual Thesaurushttps://www.visualthesaurus.com/
Merriam-Webster unabridgedhttps://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ Requires subscription
New Oxford American Dictionaryhttps://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883Requires subscription, though you can use the “Search within work” function to determine if a target word is included in NOAD. That search box is down on the lower left of the page linked above, under the sign-in form.
Collins Online English Dictionaryhttps://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/
American Heritage Dictionaryhttps://ahdictionary.com/
Merriam-Webster SCRABBLE® Dictionaryhttps://scrabble.merriam.com/
Online Etymology Dictionaryhttps://www.etymonline.com/
Language Hathttps://languagehat.com/
World Wide Wordshttps://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm
Google Trendshttps://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US&hl=en-US
Google Books Ngram Viewerhttps://books.google.com/ngrams/
Corpus of Contemporary American Englishhttps://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
Visual Thesaurushttps://www.visualthesaurus.com/