The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee came down to a spell-off for the second time ever, and Bruhat Soma walked away as the 2024 champion.
Soma, 12, spelled 29 words correctly in 90 seconds the spell-off round, defeating fellow finalist Faizan Zaki, also 12, who spelled 20 words correctly in the same span. The playoff round was added to the competition in 2021 and has been used just once before, with the 2022 champion spelling 22 words correctly.
A seventh grader from St. Petersburg, Florida, Soma won the 96th edition of the contest, which first was held in 1925.
Winners cannot compete again, so Soma will retire on top with his $50,000 prize. Zaki, a sixth grader from Dallas, will have the opportunity to return to the competition next year.
MORE: Meet the finalists for 2024 National Spelling Bee
Neither Soma nor Zaki spelled a word or got a question wrong in the first 14 rounds, which alternated between spelling questions and vocabulary questions. But Soma proved quicker in the 90-second spell-off, winning 29-20.
The lightning round capped of a three-day event in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Students who were under age 15 and who had not graduated eighth grade as of Aug. 31, 2023, were eligible to compete.
The Sporting News tracked the results of the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
MORE: Watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee live on Fubo (free trial)
Scripps National Spelling Bee results
The Sporting News will update this file throughout the event.
Spellers eliminated in spell-off
- Faizan Zaki (20 words)
Spellers eliminated in Round 14 (incorrect word)
- Shrey Parikh (kanin)
- Ananya Rao Prassanna (murrina)
Spellers eliminated in Round 13 (incorrect word)
- Aditi Muthukumar (Lillooet)
Spellers eliminated in Round 12 (incorrect word)
- No spellers eliminated
Spellers eliminated in Round 11 (incorrect word)
- Kirsten Tiffany Santos (apophasis)
Spellers eliminated in Round 10 (vocabulary question)
- No spellers eliminated
Spellers eliminated in Round 9 (incorrect word)
- Rishabh Saha (desmotrope)
- YY Liang (immanent)
Spellers eliminated in Round 8 (incorrect word)
- Aliyah Alpert (omao)
- Shradha Rachamreddy (varan)
- Avi Randhawa (Abitibi)
- Vel Sethirayar (chewet)
- Aryan Khedkar (drusen)
- Sarah Fernandes (opelu)
- Harini Murali (tarentola)
- Rohith Konduri (becard)
Spellers eliminated in Round 7 (vocabulary question)
- Claire Smith (What is usury?)
- Sonia Kulkarni (What is another word for gainsay?)
- Rubina Wiedemer (What is a shellacking?)
- Vir Lagad (What is a bugbear?)
- Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya (A toady is a person who...)
Spellers eliminated in Round 6 (incorrect word)
- Nithika Rangan (tennantite)
- Ben Evans (ravison)
- Hayden Hughes (ariary)
- Sarv Dharavane (stalace)
- Alleena Villaluz (notommatid)
- Carey Chesire (sagenite)
- Zachary Rara (dalapon)
- Quint Karlsson (apar)
- Navya Dwivedi (querflöte)
- William Rausch (vargueno)
- Garrett Fry (rickettsemia)
- Leah Rini (dorippids)
- Micah Sterling (corita)
- Aishwarya Kallakuri (comino)
- Avinav Prem Anand (gener)
- Leul Geremew (kamacite)
- Connor Norton (odaller)
- Logan Edwards (bardo)
- Jayden Zheng (lennilite)
- Claire Meng (strepsinema)
- Nargiza Muzhapaer (lunumidella)
- Declan Mallady (ferredoxin)
Spellers eliminated in Round 5 (vocabulary question)
Round 5 is the word meaning round. Spellers are asked to define the given word.
- Aarav Balani (Something described as tandem...)
- Reid Shaw (Someone described as strapping has...)
- Joshua Diocares (To wean someone is to...)
- Kunal Patel (An actor's repertoire is...)
- Amritanshu Pradhan (What are tresses?)
- Ope Balogun (What is conscription?)
- Advait Nishit (What is a clunker?)
- Joey Constantine (What is a diatribe?)
- Josh Verma (What is a reprobate?)
- Tarini Nandakumar (What does it mean to interdict?)
- Cioma Egbuonu (If two things dovetail, they...)
- Tanya Kadaru (Something described as holistic is concerned with...)
- Ishika Varipilli (Something described as swanky is...)
- Oviya Amalraj (What is a klaxon?)
Spellers eliminated in Round 4 (incorrect word)
- Ayden Nguyen (aubade)
- Ryan Fan (hamartoma)
- Amaani Charan (reflet)
- Aren Lee (keratophyre)
- Carina Beltran (sembradoras)
- Aarav Mann (seatron)
- Katelyn Nguyen (ritsu)
- Oliver Halkett (desonant)
- Srikanth Satheesh Kumar (nectocalyx)
- Sarvadnya Kadam (platanist)
- Arshan Shahriar (gavial)
- Noah Rowe (anbury)
- Nicasio David (arcosolium)
- Sree Vidya Siliveri (regidor)
- Elvis Avetis (ditokous)
- Amara Chepuri (ephectic)
- Jordin Oremosu (gallifigous)
- Matthew Baber (bicitaxi)
- Abena Kwaffo (cardanol)
- Giovanni Adjei (exocortis)
- Nidhi Kulkarni (papabile)
- Dev Katira (iridochoroditis)
- Andres Robles (strobila)
- Yahya Mohammed (sanjuanito)
- Ian Leong (espanielette)
- Achyut Ethiraj (sistine)
- Miah Miller (eclogite)
- Sharanya Kar (paiche)
- Leo Furlong (brevetoxin)
- Partha Katreddy (stolon)
- Ian Gibson (symphysis)
- Aidan Pham (thyristor)
- Paranika Ethakota (plagiopatagium)
- Nayara de Silva-Ahmed (autapomorphy)
- Sanil Thorat (microphakia)
- Su Hliang (latifondo)
- Conor Keightley-Reinhardt (molokai)
- Tanoshi Inomata (tontine)
- Adarsh Venkannagari (orpharion)
- Josephine Gautier (frumenty)
- Divya Choudhary (carnauba)
- Rhys Miller (patible)
- Yupeng Chen (sphenopalatine)
- Kai Riedner (orihon)
- Jaden Go (epigone)
- Aanya Shetty (marrite)
- Cheyenne Wang (hormigo)
- Arabella Mendoza (gres)
- Olivia Rhee (glossematics)
- Kavya Jakasania (unigravida)
- Miriam Belkouchi (isostatist)
- Juliette Anderson (catoctin)
- Noah Kaplan (cothurnus)
- Victor Yang (rivel)
- Jay Nayak (mneme)
- Ryan Creary (apamin)
- Nyarah Garver (lenticellate)
- Simran Sanders (esctasiate)
- Harini Jayakumar (fifie)
- Phaneendra Bulusu (polygala)
- Angelo Aldolph (tigellate)
- Luna Gasevic (lune)
- Zach Yeager (dialypetalous)
- Kendall Mehl (nisus)
- Adora Zhang (distrait)
- Charan Garimella (salariat)
- Akshaj Somisetty (flugelhorn)
- Indigo Satko (corrida)
- Hillel Ziskind (dracunculosis)
- Jayden Jiang (rood)
- Raana Parchuri (dyotheism)
- Aadita Aiyer (philonium)
- Mariana Perez Gonzalez (nemertean)
- Elliana Pagliarini (notolix)
- Cate Angle (aneroid)
- Mallory Greene (abococket)
- Rayaan Ahmad (lacrimando)
- Alejandro Martinez (idiocyclophanous)
- Caleb Giuoco (anomodont)
- Shreeya Sivakumar (narsinga)
- Lucas Lee (rendu)
- Brooke Powell (aligreek)
- Sophia Montana (inspeximus)
- Antony Eloghary (pontil)
- Siya Sampath (Janiculum)
- Ankita Balaji (baria)
- Isaac Boyce (parthenita)
- Nethraa Muthupandiyaraja (hamelia)
How to watch Spelling Bee 2024
- Dates: Wednesday, May 29, Thursday, May 30
- Times: 8-10 p.m. ET
- Channel: Ion TV
- Stream: Ion Plus, Fubo
The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be broadcast on ION TV on Wednesday, May 29, and Thursday, May 30 from 8-10 p.m. ET. The semifinals take place on Wednesday, and the finals are on Thursday. The event can be streamed on Ion Plus or Fubo.
Fans can also watch the preliminaries on Tuesday, May 28 from 8 a.m. to 7:40 p.m. ET on Ion Plus. They can also watch the quarterfinals through Ion Plus on Wednesday, May 29 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. Both of these rounds will not be on national TV.
Spelling Bee schedule 2024
The 2024 Spelling Bee extends across three days, beginning with preliminaries on Tuesday, May 28. Quarterfinals and semifinals will take place on Wednesday, May 29 and the finals will be on Thursday, May 30.
| Round | Date | Time (ET) | Channel | Stream |
| Preliminaries | Tuesday, May 28 | 8 a.m.-7:34 p.m. | N/A | ION Plus |
| Quarterfinals | Wednesday, May 29 | 8 a.m.-1 p.m. | N/A | ION Plus |
| Semifinals | Wednesday, May 29 | 8-10 p.m. | Ion TV | ION Plus, Fubo |
| Finals | Thursday, May 30 | 8-10 p.m. | Ion TV | ION Plus, Fubo |
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