Beeswax Is a Wordle-Like Game for Anyone Who Misses Spelling Bees.
I love short daily word games, but Wordle doesn’t always satisfy that need. I’ve had plenty of fun with other letter-guessing games, as well as my new favorite, Minute Cryptic , and I recently discovered Beeswax , a game where you have to spell five words every day. It’s like a childhood spelling bee: you listen to someone pronounce a word and then have to spell it correctly. One mistake, and you’re out for the day.
How to play Beeswax
Please note that Beeswax is not similar to Spelling Bee , a New York Times game also about bees but involving manipulating written letters. Beeswax replicates the format of a real spelling bee. You press a button to hear a word (or play it back if needed). If you get stuck, you can use hints.
Hints don’t determine whether you win or lose, but the final text you can share will indicate how many hints you used. Hints, like in a spelling bee, are also announced. You can request a definition, a sentence containing the word, a part of speech for the word, or (my favorite when I’m stuck) the word’s language of origin.
If you misspell a word, the game ends. The correct spelling is displayed on the “Game Over” screen, but it’s hidden like a spoiler, in case you want to ponder your mistakes before revealing the answer. I’ve played a few games, and so far I’ve made two mistakes: one I thought I knew but must have been misspelling all along, and one that was new to me. I can’t say I’m disappointed: I learned a new word.
How to Win a Beeswax Contest
Normally, I’d share tips and tricks here, but the truth is, you just need to know how to spell a word or be able to guess reliably. Tips applicable to spelling bees in general are very useful here. The best advice is to simply read more to get used to more words. It’s also helpful to become fascinated with etymology, constantly looking up the meanings of words to learn where they come from and why they are the way they are. (You’ll begin to recognize roots, prefixes, suffixes, and understand how words from different linguistic origins are commonly spelled.) This is more of a lifelong hobby than a strategy for a game, so, er, good luck.
Personally, I think the word’s origin language is the most useful hint, but I’ve only played a few games so far (and never participated in a spelling bee as a child), so I can’t promise it will always be the most helpful. The 12-year-old winner of the 2017 National Spelling Bee shared some tips with Lifehacker after her win , and also recommended paying attention to word origins, so perhaps that’s a good strategy after all.
Each word comes with a two-minute timer, so you won’t be stuck thinking about it forever. This is plenty of time to simply look up the word’s meaning. And, paradoxically, this is precisely what makes the game cheat-proof: after all, “look this word up in the dictionary” isn’t the most enjoyable game, so there’s no temptation to cheat. You also don’t have to worry about running out of time: Beeswax provides access to its entire archive, even if you don’t have an account. Free accounts allow you to maintain your streak and appear on the leaderboards.