NORTHAMPTON, MA — Whether you fancy yourself a word wizard, or just enjoy crazy costumes and jokes about grammar, it’s not too late to form a team for the annual adult spelling bee to benefit city schools.

The 15th annual Northampton Education Foundation Adult Spelling Bee will be held at 6 p.m. March 25 at JFK Middle School, when up to 40 three-person teams take part in a rigorous but playful competition to correctly spell the most words, as well as be judged for the best and most humorous costumes.

For information on how to register or sponsor a team, visit the spelling bee section of the Northampton Education Foundation’s website at www.northampton-edfoundation.org/spellingbee.

Winning words from past years include demurrage (the price paid to detain a ship or other cargo vehicle for extra time), braggadocio (a boastful person), and muliebrity (femininity). Local school boosters Betsy Green, Karen Beyel, Susan Rosen and Megan Zinn have carefully selected the words and accompanying sentences for this year’s bee.

A new character making an appearance will be Ivana Correctya, a grammar-loving comedic diva portrayed by local children’s book author Lisa Papademetriou.