But once you've seen the musical "Putnam County Spelling Bee", there's a lot of humor in the spelling bee. Especially in the "use it in a sentence" examples, which actually give you very little about the word (and aren't that far from the stated definition).
For example, the sentence for "basenji" (the dog breed) is something like "My, what a lovely basenji your dog is". Which tells you nothing. Or, as the "Putnam County Spelling Bee" sentence for halal went: "At the jihab picnic, all the food was halal."
If you get a chance to see "Putnam County Spelling Bee", go. It's a blast.
ETA: This also gave me the idea for a "Science Fiction Spelling Bee" session at a future con. I think it could be a lot of fun.