NYT Spelling Bee Answers and Analysis

Monday, October 12, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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ahem ↗
attempt ↗
empath ↗
empathy ↗
empty ↗
epee ↗
eyeteeth ↗
hamate ↗
hate ↗
heap ↗
heat ↗
heath ↗
heme ↗
hemp ↗
hype ↗
mate ↗
matey ↗
matte ↗
mayhem ↗
meat ↗
meaty ↗
meet ↗
meme ↗
meta ↗
mete ↗
meth ↗
pate ↗
payee ↗
peat ↗
peaty ↗
peep ↗
peppy ↗
petty ↗
tame ↗
tape ↗
tappet ↗
team ↗
teammate ↗
teat ↗
teem ↗
teepee ↗
teeth ↗
teethe ↗
temp ↗
tempeh ↗
tempt ↗
tepee ↗
thee ↗
them ↗
theme ↗
theta ↗
they ↗
thyme ↗
type ↗
yeah ↗

Words not in official answer list

Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 183

Number of Answers: 55

Points Needed for Genius: 128

Genius requires between 21 and 48 words. You need at least a 6-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 76% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 67% of the remaining points to reach genius.

Other days with this pangram:

September 13, 2023 (Center Letter: A)
August 21, 2022 (Center Letter: P)
September 27, 2021 (Center Letter: T)
August 27, 2018 (Center Letter: H)

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 183 was in the 54th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on October 11, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 55 possible answers rank it in the 83rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on October 10, 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 October 11, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 4.8.
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 251
loll 229
toot 224
nana 213
naan 213
tilt 164
till 164
nene 164
lilt 164
tint 162
mamma 162
mama 162
acai 156
acacia 156
onion 155
toon 152
onto 152
anon 141
anal 141
olio 140
tact 132
baba 132
papa 131
mitt 131
dodo 130
lulu 127
lull 127
booboo 126
boob 126
poop 124
loon 124
cocci 123
calla 122
call 122
tattoo 120
tartar 120
tart 120
ratatat 120
moon 120
mono 120
attar 119
natant 118
cancan 118
tutu 117
aria 116
momma 115
meme 115
ammo 115
ally 115
allay 115

How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 124,489 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,165 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*:

aphthae
eath
emmet
emmy
empyema
empyemata
epha
ephah
etape
etyma
haem
haet
hame
hayey
heapy
heathy
hempy
heth
hyphae
hyte
mamee
mamey
mammae
mammate
mammee
mammet
mammey
metate
metepa
pattee
tapeta
tate
tepa
teth
thae
thema
thymey
tyee
typey
tythe
yett

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

ahem

No Definition Found.

attempt

No Definition Found.

empathy

No Definition Found.

empty

No Definition Found.

epee

No Definition Found.

eyeteeth

No Definition Found.

hamate

No Definition Found.

hate

No Definition Found.

heap

No Definition Found.

heat

No Definition Found.

heath

No Definition Found.

heme

No Definition Found.

hemp

No Definition Found.

hype

No Definition Found.

mate

No Definition Found.

matey

No Definition Found.

matte

No Definition Found.

mayhem

No Definition Found.

meat

No Definition Found.

meaty

No Definition Found.

meet

Etymology 1

noun

A sports competition, especially for track and field (a track meet) or swimming (a swim meet).
A gathering of riders, horses and hounds for foxhunting; a field meet for hunting.
A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross.
A meeting.
The greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧.
An act of French kissing someone.

verb

To make contact (with) while in proximity.
(Of groups) To come together.
To make physical or perceptual contact.
To satisfy; to comply with.
To balance or come out correct.
To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.

Etymology 2

adjective

Suitable; right; proper.

meme

No Definition Found.

meta

No Definition Found.

mete

No Definition Found.

meth

No Definition Found.

pate

No Definition Found.

payee

No Definition Found.

peat

No Definition Found.

peaty

No Definition Found.

peep

No Definition Found.

peppy

No Definition Found.

petty

No Definition Found.

tame

No Definition Found.

tape

No Definition Found.

tappet

No Definition Found.

team

No Definition Found.

teammate

No Definition Found.

teat

No Definition Found.

teem

No Definition Found.

teepee

No Definition Found.

teeth

No Definition Found.

teethe

No Definition Found.

temp

No Definition Found.

tempeh

No Definition Found.

tempt

verb

To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
To attract; to allure.
To provoke something; to court.

tepee

No Definition Found.

thee

No Definition Found.

them

No Definition Found.

theme

No Definition Found.

theta

No Definition Found.

they

No Definition Found.

thyme

No Definition Found.

type

No Definition Found.

yeah

No Definition Found.

empath

No Definition Found.