19 Akeelah and the Bee Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: doubt

She spelled it knowingly (without a doubt), but quietly and shyly at first, before being told to speak up. At this point, she didn't want to do the spelling bee, but was given the choice of the bee or detention for all her absences from school.

Answer: 100%

When Ms. Cross asked Akeelah how much she studied for the test, everyone assumed that she got it all or mostly wrong, but she received the highest mark in the class, 100%.

Answer: fanciful

This word moved her on to district. She didn't feel too excited that she won.

FYI, "bizarre" is a (sort of) synonym for "fanciful"; a "bazaar" is a kind of store.

Answer: flight attendant

Georgia "had it all planned out" that Akeelah's brother would be the pilot, and she would be the flight attendant. But after a plane trip, Georgia was sure she wanted to be the pilot instead!

Answer: synecdoche

Specifically, a synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole or vice versa (such as "four new wheels" for "a new car"). Unfortunately, Akeelah missed this word at the district bee; she spelled it sinecdokey, after she was taught to spell it how it sounded.

Answer: doubt

Akeelah won the bee at her school and went on to the district bee.

Answer: carmagnole

A carmagnole is a lively dance that was popular during the French Revolution. When the student struggled with the spelling, his mother told him that there was a G. This naturally got him disqualified, and Akeelah had another chance.

Answer: Dylan

Dylan got first, Javier second, and Akeelah placed third. Akeelah liked Javier, and she sort of liked Dylan, but he was her main competition. When her mom took Akeelah out to scold her for lying and forging her dad's signature, Javier tried to stall so that Akeelah wouldn't be disqualified if she didn't get back to the bee in time.

Answer: pastiche

This word moved her on to regionals, although her mother had other plans for her.

Answer: pulchritude

At the beginning of the movie, Akeelah already knew how to spell 'pulchritude', so she was able to spell it easily at the bee. Each letter of the word was shown being said by a different person, like her dad, mom, her spelling coach, etc.

Answer: Beverly Hills

Thinking the district bee was to be held at Akeelah's school, her Mom was kind of shocked it was to be held so far away. Unfortunately, she couldn't come and see it since she was working that day.

Answer: argillaceous

Dr. Larabee had previously told Akeelah to stay focused on the word, and helped her develop the "mnemonic" (could you have spelled that?) of jumping rope. When Akeelah received this word at nationals, she did just that; she pretended to jump rope as she spelled the word.

Answer: Denise

Denise was nine years old when she died of some kind of illness. Akeelah could empathize with Dr. Larabee (her spelling coach) because she had also lost someone special, her father.

Answer: xanthosis

Akeelah remembered Dylan telling her it started with an X, but nevertheless spelled it zanthosis, trying to give the competition to Dylan in order to please his father. Dylan, not wanting to win unless Akeelah tried her best, also threw the word, spelling it xanthoses. Afterwards, he asked the judges for some water. This was also the winning word from the [real] national spelling bee in 1995.

Answer: Kiana

Kiana went with Akeelah to the district bee since their Mom couldn't make it. While there, Kiana saw the mother of a participant tell her son that there was a "g" in 'carmagnole'. Because of this, the boy was disqualified and Akeelah had another chance to correctly spell 'pastiche'. After doing so, she became one of the top ten at the district bee.

Answer: logorrhea

Coincidentally, this was also the winning word from the [real] national spelling bee in 1999.

Answer: fuchsia

Akeelah was excited because she was so close to getting a high score, but had to stop playing to go and eat. She was surprised to see her brother, Devon, who was back home after having been gone awhile.

Answer: pulchritude

As she was spelling, each character said one letter. This word was also given to her by Dr. Larabee after she had won at school level. She missed it, spelling it pulcritude, and was given a consolation prize of laughter and taunting from her peers.

Answer: can of pop

Akeelah felt sorry that Dylan couldn't join them, and gave his Dad a can of pop for Dylan. Dylan was kind of surprised that they would invite him, since he was their competition. This happened the day before the national spelling bee.