Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON - What does it all mean? That's the question facing spelling whizzes across the country, who learned Tuesday that they will have to know the definitions of some of the those tough words they have been memorizing in the dictionary. For the first time, multiple-choice vocabulary tests will be added to the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. "Changes are not a surprise, but these changes are massive," said Mirle Shivashankar, whose daughter, Vanya, 11, is among the favorites after finishing tied for 10th last year.

Last year, one misspelled word separated Eric Lee from victory. After beating 33 challengers in a regional spelling bee, he made one mistake and lost the top prize. Yesterday, after a tense duel with a sharp opponent, Eric won the 1990 South Jersey and Delaware Regional Spelling Bee. He received a set of encyclopedias and a trip to Washington, where he will compete in the Scripps- Howard National Spelling Bee in June. Eric, 12, a student at Beck Middle School in Cherry Hill, battled with Geeta Pai, 13, of Hockessin, Del., for 15 words - a faceoff that contest officials said was unprecedented - before the contest was settled.

Frank Neuhauser, 97, who in 1925 won the first national spelling bee with the word gladiolus , and went on to become a patent lawyer, died March 11 at his home in Silver Spring, Md. He was 11 years old when he won the championship. His prizes included $500 in gold and a trip to the White House to meet President Calvin Coolidge. Mr. Neuhauser said he prepared for the contest by copying words from a dictionary into a blank book and having his father quiz him each night. After winning, he returned home to a parade and crowds with bouquets of gladioluses.

An obscure word taken from the buffalo-hunting days of the Old West knocked out the final Pennsylvania contestant in last night's Scripps National Spelling Bee, aired on national TV. The title went instead to Sameer Mishra, a 13-year-old eighth grader from West Lafayette, Ind., who successfully spelled guerdon, a word meaning "something that has been earned or gained. " The dozen finalists, ages 12 to 14, included three spellers from California, two from Illinois, one each from Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas and Arkansas - and one from Pennsylvania, Jahnavi Iyer, 14, of Enola, near Harrisburg.

Amy Dimak, 13, appeared startled at first. Then, when she realized she was the last of 226 schoolchildren still standing, she broke into a big smile as she was declared winner yesterday of the 63d annual National Spelling Bee in Washington. Her lone opponent, Eric Enders, a seventh grader from El Paso, Texas, faltered on douanier, a customs agent. Amy, of Seattle's St. Mark's School, correctly spelled it and then fibranne, a fabric, to win. She will get $5,000 in cash, a trophy cup and gifts from the bee sponsor, Encylopaedia Britannica.

Saul Naumann teaches religion, with a specialty in Jewish mysticism. His 11-year-old daughter, Eliza, practices it. She connects with the divine via spelling bees, where words are made manifest to her in ways that Moses might find familiar. Bee Season is lit by human sunbeam Flora Cross as Eliza, whose deep-welled eyes suggest she can see the infinite. The story is a sixth-grader's quest for God and family connection amidst the most fractured of clans. When this girl with the rosebud mouth forms the letters of a word, it just might be The Word.

Suyun Hong, an eighth grader at the Academy of Notre Dame in Villanova, was the 34th champion in the Delaware County Times Spelling Bee. She bested 47 other candidates after 18 rounds by correctly spelling the word unhygienic. Hong will represent the county in the National Spelling Bee scheduled for May 30 through June 3 in Washington, D.C., where she will compete with more than 230 contestants from around the nation. A distinguished honors student, Hong won an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington for the competition, a copy of Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary,the New Encyclopedia Britannica and a $50 U.S. Savings Bond.