Monday, March 09, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 129

Number of Answers: 31

Points Needed for Genius: 90

Genius requires between 14 and 27 words. You need at least a 6-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 78% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 66% of the remaining points to reach genius.

Other days with this pangram:

The button below will reveal a chart with the number of words by each letter. Red bars indicate that there is a pangram(s) starting with that letter.


How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today's score of 129 was in the 28th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on February 23, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 31 possible answers rank it in the 27th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on February 25, 2026.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 08, 2019.
The lowest number of answers was 16 on March 27, 2023.

It takes a 6-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on March 06, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.1.
For all Bees, the average word length has been 5.3.



Haven't I seen these letters before?

Hover over a letter to see its first and most recent appearance in the Bee!



Haven't I seen these words before?

The most common words in the Bee are:

  • noon 233
  • loll 216
  • toot 211
  • nana 192
  • naan 192
  • tilt 152
  • till 152
  • lilt 152
  • nene 150
  • tint 148
  • mamma 147
  • mama 147
  • onion 141
  • toon 140
  • onto 140
  • acai 139
  • acacia 139
  • anon 131
  • anal 130
  • olio 126
  • papa 124
  • dodo 123
  • baba 123
  • tact 122
  • lulu 122
  • lull 122
  • poop 119
  • booboo 118
  • boob 118
  • mitt 117
  • cocci 116
  • moon 115
  • mono 115
  • calla 114
  • call 114
  • tartar 113
  • tart 113
  • ratatat 113
  • loon 113
  • tutu 112
  • tattoo 112
  • attar 112
  • ally 110
  • allay 110
  • tatty 109
  • momma 109
  • ammo 109
  • meme 108
  • roar 107
  • peep 106


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 114,668 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,930 unique words.
Below are the distributions of the lengths of these words.



Valid dictionary words not in today's official answers

You may be wondering why these words aren't here*:

  • abaya
  • abba
  • abulia
  • alba
  • baal
  • babu
  • babul
  • baddy
  • baldy
  • bally
  • biali
  • bibb
  • biddably
  • bidi
  • bilby
  • blub
  • bubal
  • bubby
  • bubu
  • bulbil
  • bulbul
  • bulla
  • dauby
  • illaudably
  • labially
  • liblab
  • yabby

*Because the New York Times considers them obscure or offensive.

ably

adverb
  1. In an able manner; with great ability.

alibi

noun
  1. The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed
verb
  1. To provide an alibi for.
  2. To provide an excuse for.

audibly

adverb
  1. In context of possibility of being heard; in an audible manner.

baba

noun
  1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
  2. (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
  3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
  4. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
  5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
  6. A baby, child.
  7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.

baby

noun
  1. A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
  2. Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chickens for the babies of birds. See for more.
  3. Unborn young; a fetus.
  4. A person who is immature, infantile or feeble.
  5. A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
  6. The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
  7. A term of endearment used to refer to or address one's girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse.
  8. A form of address to a man or a woman considered to be attractive.
  9. A pet project or responsibility.
  10. An affectionate term for anything.
  11. A small image of an infant; a doll.
verb
  1. To coddle; to pamper somebody like an infant.
  2. To tend (something) with care; to be overly attentive to (something), fuss over.
adjective
  1. Of a child: very young; of the age when he or she would be termed a baby or infant.
  2. Of an animal: young.
  3. Intended for babies.
  4. (of vegetables, etc.) Picked when small and immature (as in baby corn, baby potatoes).

badly

adjective
  1. Ill, unwell.
adverb
  1. In a bad manner.
  2. Very much; to a great degree.

bail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
  2. Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
  3. The person providing such payment.
  4. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
  5. A person who bails water out of a boat.
  6. Custody; keeping.
verb
  1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
  2. To release a person under such guarantee.
  3. To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.
  4. To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.
  5. To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.
  6. To set free; to deliver; to release.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To exit quickly.
  2. To fail to meet a commitment.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
  2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
  3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
  4. A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.
  5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
  6. One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
  7. (furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.
verb
  1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To confine.
  2. To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
  3. To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up. (Usually with up.)

bald

noun
  1. A mountain summit or crest that lacks forest growth despite a warm climate conducive to such, as is found in many places in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
verb
  1. To become bald.
adjective
  1. Having no hair, fur or feathers.
  2. (by extension) Denuded of any hair- or fur-like covering.
  3. Of tyres: whose surface is worn away.
  4. (of a statement or account) Unembellished.
  5. (of a statement) Without evidence or support being provided.

baldly

adverb
  1. In a bald manner.

ball

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
  2. A round or ellipsoidal object.
  3. (mildly, usually in the plural) A testicle.
  4. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
  5. A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
verb
  1. To form or wind into a ball.
  2. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
  3. To have sexual intercourse with.
  4. To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
  5. (usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
  6. To play basketball.
  7. To punish by affixing a ball and chain
interjection
  1. An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A formal dance.
  2. A very enjoyable time.

ballad

noun
  1. A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
  2. A slow romantic song.
verb
  1. To make mention of in ballads.
  2. To compose or sing ballads.

baud

noun
  1. A unit of data transmission symbol rate; the number of signalling events per second.
  2. Bps (bits per second), regardless of how many bits are represented by each symbol.

bialy

noun
  1. A flat bread roll topped with onion flakes. Instead of a hole like a bagel, it has a depression in the middle.

biddy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A woman, especially an old woman; especially one regarded as fussy or mean or a gossipy busybody.
  2. An attractive girl.
  3. An Irish maidservant.
  4. (by extension) An Irishwoman.
  5. A name used in calling a hen or chicken, often as "biddy-biddy-biddy".

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (often in the plural) bitch, girl, woman, especially one that is promiscuous

bilabial

noun
  1. A speech sound articulated with both lips.
adjective
  1. Articulated with both lips.

bill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
  2. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
  3. Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
  4. A pickaxe, or mattock.
  5. The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).
verb
  1. To dig, chop, etc., with a bill.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.
  2. A beak-like projection, especially a promontory.
  3. Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.
verb
  1. To peck
  2. To stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.)
  2. A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.)
  3. A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
  4. A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
  5. A piece of paper money; a banknote.
  6. A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; an invoice.
  7. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods
  8. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document; a bill of exchange. In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
  9. A set of items presented together.
verb
  1. To advertise by a bill or public notice.
  2. To charge; to send a bill to.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The bell, or boom, of the bittern.

billy

noun
  1. A billy club.
  2. A billy goat.
  3. A good friend.
  4. A tin used by bushmen to boil tea; a billycan; a billypot.
  5. A condom (from the E-Rotic song "Willy, Use a Billy... Boy")
  6. A slubbing or roving machine.

blab

noun
  1. One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale; a gossip or gossiper.
  2. Gossip; prattle.
verb
  1. To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.

blabby

No Definition Found.

bubba

noun
  1. Brother; used as term of familiar address.
  2. A working-class white male from the southern US, stereotyped as loutish.

bubbly

noun
  1. Champagne.
adjective
  1. Full of bubbles.
  2. Cheerful, lively.
  3. Having the characteristics of bubbles.
  4. Having the characteristics of economic bubbles.

buddy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A friend or casual acquaintance.
  2. A partner for a particular activity.
  3. An informal and friendly address to a stranger; a friendly (or occasionally antagonistic) placeholder name for a person one does not know.
verb
  1. To assign a buddy, or partner, to.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Resembling a bud.

build

noun
  1. The physique of a human body; constitution or structure of a human body.
  2. Any of various versions of a software product as it is being developed for release to users.
  3. Any structure, such as a building, statue, pool or forest, created by the player.
verb
  1. To form (something) by combining materials or parts.
  2. To develop or give form to (something) according to a plan or process.
  3. To increase or strengthen (something) by adding gradually to.
  4. To establish a basis for (something).
  5. To form by combining materials or parts.
  6. To develop in magnitude or extent.
  7. To construct (software) by compiling its source code.
  8. (of source code) To be converted into software by compilation, usually with minimal human intervention.

bulb

noun
  1. Any solid object rounded at one end and tapering on the other, possibly attached to a larger object at the tapered end.
  2. A light bulb.
  3. The bulb-shaped root portion of a plant such as a tulip, from which the rest of the plant may be regrown.
  4. A bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of certain vessels to reduce turbulence.
  5. The medulla oblongata.
verb
  1. To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.

bull

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
  2. A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
  3. Any adult male bovine.
  4. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
  5. A large, strong man.
  6. An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  7. A policeman.
  8. A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
  9. (Philadelphia) A man.
  10. A man who has sex with another man's wife or girlfriend with the consent of both.
  11. A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.
adjective
  1. Large and strong, like a bull.
  2. (of large mammals) adult male
  3. Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)
  4. Stupid
noun
  1. The centre of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
  2. A shot which hits the centre of a target.
  3. The two central rings on a dartboard.
  4. A hard striped peppermint-flavoured boiled sweet.
  5. Thick glass set into the side of a ship to let in light.
  6. A hand-cancelled postmark issued by a counter clerk at a post office, typically done on a receipt for proof of mailing.
  7. The central part of a crown glass disk, with concentric ripple effect.
  8. A convex glass lens which is placed in front of a lamp to concentrate the light so as to make it more conspicuous as a signal; also the lantern itself.
  9. A £50 banknote.
  10. Any of the first postage stamps produced in Brazil from 1843.
noun
  1. The faeces of a bull.
  2. False or exaggerated statements made to impress and deceive the listener rather than inform; nonsense.
  3. A card game in which the object is to bluff about cards laid down and to determine when one's opponents are bluffing.
  4. An object of frustration and/or disgust, often caused by a perceived deception.
  5. Statements that may be true but misleading nonetheless.
  6. Statements made without any particular reference to their truth value.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To force oneself (in a particular direction).
  2. To lie, to tell untruths.
  3. To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
  4. To polish boots to a high shine.
  5. To endeavour to raise the market price of.
  6. To endeavour to raise prices in.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
  2. A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
verb
  1. (17th century) to publish in a Papal bull

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A lie.
  2. Nonsense.
verb
  1. To mock; to cheat.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. (16th century) A bubble.

bully

noun
  1. A person who is intentionally, physically, or emotionally cruel to others; especially to those who are weaker or have less power or privilege.
  2. A noisy, blustering fellow, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome; an insolent, tyrannical fellow.
  3. A hired thug.
  4. A sex worker’s minder.
  5. Bully beef.
  6. A brisk, dashing fellow.
  7. The small scrum in the Eton College field game.
  8. Various small freshwater or brackishwater fish of the family Eleotridae; sleeper goby.
  9. An (eldest) brother; a fellow workman; comrade
  10. A companion; mate (male or female).
  11. A darling, sweetheart (male or female).
  12. A standoff between two players from the opposing teams, who repeatedly hit each other's hockey sticks and then attempt to acquire the ball, as a method of resuming the game in certain circumstances.
  13. A miner's hammer.
verb
  1. To intimidate (someone) as a bully.
  2. To act aggressively towards.
adjective
  1. Very good.
  2. Jovial and blustering.
interjection
  1. (often followed by for) Well done!

daub

noun
  1. Excrement or clay used as a bonding material in construction.
  2. A soft coating of mud, plaster etc.
  3. A crude or amateurish painting.
verb
  1. To apply (something) to a surface in hasty or crude strokes.
  2. To paint (a picture, etc.) in a coarse or unskilful manner.
  3. To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal.
  4. To flatter excessively or grossly.
  5. To put on without taste; to deck gaudily.

labia

noun
  1. The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
noun
  1. A liplike structure; especially one of the two pairs of folds of skin either side of the vulva.
  2. The lip of a labiate corolla.
  3. The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.

labial

noun
  1. A consonant articulated by the lips.
  2. An organ pipe having a lip that influences its sound.
  3. Any of the scales bordering the mouth opening of a reptile.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
  2. Articulated by the lips, as the consonants b, m and w.
  3. Of an incisor or canine, on the side facing the lips. See mesial.
  4. Furnished with lips.

laudably

No Definition Found.

lullaby

noun
  1. A cradlesong, a soothing song to calm children or lull them to sleep.
verb
  1. To sing a lullaby to.