Variant Spellings

The Spelling Bee lexicon includes several dozen word pairs and groupings that are variant spellings of the same word, such as BANDANA and BANDANNA. Often – not always – when one variant is present in the Bee puzzle, the other will be, too. Being aware of these variants can help you to become a good solver. 
This report lists the known variant spellings in the Spelling Bee lexicon. This list does not include masculine and feminine variants (e.g., fiancé and fiancée, doyen and doyenne), singular/plural combinations (e.g., blin and blini), or homophones (e.g., faun and fawn); or similarly-spelled words that are related, but not strictly speaking, variant spellings (e.g., the verb envelop and the noun envelope). Those examples are not spelling variants, but different words. 
These variant spellings have been verified in Merriam-Webster, NOAD, or other standard dictionaries. Many of these are not included in Merriam-Webster; of those, some (but not all) are listed in NOAD, the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Words marked with an asterisk have been used in at least one Bee puzzle, then subsequently disallowed; they are retained here for historical interest. 

Updated 2024-11-21

VARIANT SPELLINGS IN THE SPELLING BEE LEXICON

ACHOOAHCHOO*
AGEINGAGING
ALARMALARUM*
AMBIANCEAMBIENCE
AMOEBAAMEBA
AMOEBAEAMEBAE
BADDIEBADDY*
BANDANNABANDANA
BATTLEAXBATTLEAXE
KAZOOBAZOO*WAZOO
BEVELINGBEVELLING
BLAMABLEBLAMEABLE
BLEATBLAT
BLINTZEBLINTZ
BOCCEBOCCI
BOOTEEBOOTIEBOOTY
BRONCOBRONC
BUNCOBUNKO
CABALAKABBALAH
CABBIECABBY
CADDIECADDY
CAIMANCAYMAN
CANCELABLECANCELLABLE
CANCELEDCANCELLED
CANCELINGCANCELLING
CHANTEYCHANTY

CLENCHCLENCHEDCLENCHINGCLINCHCLINCHING
COIFEDCOIFFED
COLAKOLA
COLORCOLOUR*
CUTIECUTEY
DOGGYDOGGIE
DOUGHNUTDONUT
DOPEYDOPY
DOXEDDOXXEDDOXINGDOXXING
DUFFELDUFFLE
EYEINGEYING
FILLETFILET
FLAKFLACK
FLEXTIMEFLEXITIME
FOGYFOGIE*
FONTFOUNT
GAUGEGAGE
GLAMOURGLAMOR
GOODYGOODIE
GRANDDADGRANDAD
HALLO*HALLOO*HELLOHOLLA*HULLO*
HALVAHHALVA
HICCUPHICCUPEDHICCUPPEDHICCOUGHHICCOUGHING

HIPPIEHIPPY
HOOCHHOOTCH*
HURRAHHURRAYHOORAYHOORAH
IDYLLIDYL
JINNJINNIDJINNIDJINNGENIEGENII
KARATCARAT
KEBABKABOB
KETCHUPCATCHUP
KIDDIEKIDDY
KOPECKKOPEK
LEECHLEACH
LECHLETCH*
LEFTYLEFTIE
LIKABLELIKEABLE
LINAGE
LINEAGE

LIVABLELIVEABLE
LOLLYGAGLOLLYGAGGEDLOLLYGAGGINGLALLYGAGLALLYGAGGEDLALLYGAGGING
LYCHEELITCHI
LOOFAHLOOFA
LOVABLELOVEABLE
MADAMMADAME
MAMAMAMMAMOMMAMOMMYMUMMY
MANTELMANTLE

MEANIEMEANY
MEZEMEZZE
MOOLAMOOLAH
MYNAHMYNA
NUNCHUCKNUNCHUK
OMELETOMELETTE
PANTIEPANTY
PAPAWPAWPAW
PEEWEEPEWEE
PHIALVIAL
PIMENTOPIMIENTO
PINKIEPINKY
PIPETTEPIPET
PIZZAZZPIZAZZ
PLEBPLEBE
POLLACKPOLLOCK
PORNPORNO
QUEUINGQUEUEING
TECHIETECHY
TEPEETEEPEETIPI
VAXEDVAXXED
VELDVELDT
WHIZWHIZZ
YECHYECCH
YENTAYENTE