Every year after the Scripps National Spelling Bee, we test the winning and finalist words against Microsoft Word’s spell checker to see how many get the dreaded red squiggly line. In 2026, Word had its worst performance ever, recognizing just 4 out of 21 words correctly for US, UK, and Australian English. A group of talented teenagers left Microsoft’s dictionary looking seriously lame.
Here’s a selection of the last round words from the 2026 Bee, as you can see Word would not have even reached the finals!
Microsoft Word gave the same spelling responses in US, UK and Australian English.
The 2026 Scripps Spelling Bee was made a lot harder than past contests because the spelling ability of the contestants has improved so much over the years. Alas, Microsoft’s dictionary hasn’t kept up because Word’s 2026 result is the worst ever.
Microsoft Word’s score: 4 out of 21
Here’s how Word ‘scored’ vs. the Spelling Bee champs in 2025, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 , 2014 and 2013.
Our purpose isn’t to make fun of Word (that’s a little bonus ). It does show that Word’s online dictionary isn’t the ‘last word’ (pun intended) on what’s a legitimate or correctly spelled word.
Just because there’s a red squiggly line doesn’t mean the word is wrong.
2025 Spelling Bee champs vs Microsoft Word
How Microsoft Word Was Beaten by a 14-Year-Old
More Changes for Word’s Spelling and Grammar
