The word was "mot juste." The speller was Max Greenspan, 13, from Scottsdale, Ariz. He got all but the last letter and then paused, trying to decide whether he needed to continue. Head judge Mary Brooks rang the bell, which means that a speller has misspelled the word. But the two-minute time period that spellers are given had not expired. Max walked, dejected, to the side of the stage.

However, officials reviewed his situation and ruled that the head judge was not justified in ringing the bell. Max got a reprieve.

Spelling Bee officials said that it was only the sixth time that a speller has been reinstated since 1998. That was the year that officials removed the appeal process.

Max lived on to spell another round. However, he did bow out in the end, misspelling "pseudologist."

Greenspan was a wild-card entrant. Such competitors must win at the school level but do not have to win a regional or state spelling bee. The National Spelling Bee pays expenses for automatic qualifiers; wild-card entrants have to pay not only their travel, lodging, and other expenses, but also the $1,500 entry fee. Last year's champion, Karthik Nemmani, was a wild card, in the first year that such competitors were allowed. In this year's first round, 25 of the 44 spellers who misspelled words were wild-card entrants.

Another highlight of the first round was Bloomfield, Conn., sixth-grader Charles Fennell's asking if he could wait until the light changed color before he spelled his word. When spellers have 45 seconds left, they see a light turn yellow; when only 30 seconds are left, that light turns red. He had no trouble spelling his word, which was "koto." He later said that it was his first time at the competition and he just wanted to experience it all.

A total of 562 young spellers of ages 7 to 15 are facing off for an ultimate prize set that includes $50,000. This year's rules again allow for co-winners, if no one speller emerges in the final round. In fact, the rules don't preclude more than two winners.

The event is taking place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Officials said that the official source of the words that they put to students is the Unabridged Online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.