OXON HILL, Md. (AP) - When Snigdha Nandipati's father realized she had a special talent, he began entering her in spelling bees in the third grade.

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Soon she was winning them, and Thursday night the 14-year-old girl from San Diego captured the biggest prize of them all: the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

A coin collector and Sherlock Holmes fan, Snigdha aced the word "guetapens," a French-derived word that means an ambush or a trap, to outlast eight other finalists and claim the trophy along with more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

Second place went to Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Fla., who misspelled "schwarmerei" - which means excessive, unbridled enthusiasm.