For the second year in a row, two contestants share the top spot in the National Spelling Bee — Gokul Venkatachalam, of St. Louis, Mo., and Vanya Shivashankar, of Olathe, Kan. Watch their winning moments here.
Vanya's final word was "scherenschnitte." It comes from the German for “scissor cuts.”
Gokul, who came in third last year, spelled "nunatak" for the tie. Click here for its meaning.
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Until last year, 52 years had passed with just a single winner in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
In another first, Vanya is the sister of a former winner. Her sister, Kavya, won in 2009.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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