NYT Spelling Bee Answers and Analysis

Wednesday, October 07, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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aboard ↗
abroad ↗
adobo ↗
afar ↗
afford ↗
afro ↗
alfalfa ↗
aloof ↗
arbor ↗
ardor ↗
baba ↗
bald ↗
ball ↗
ballad ↗
baobab ↗
barb ↗
bard ↗
barf ↗
blab ↗
boar ↗
board ↗
boba ↗
bola ↗
bollard ↗
brad ↗
broad ↗
dollar ↗
doodad ↗
dorado ↗
drab ↗
fall ↗
falloff ↗
farad ↗
farro ↗
flab ↗
floorboard ↗
flora ↗
floral ↗
foal ↗
fora ↗
labor ↗
lard ↗
load ↗
loaf ↗
loofa ↗
oddball ↗
offal ↗
offload ↗
oral ↗
radar ↗
road ↗
roar ↗
rollbar ↗

Words not in official answer list

Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 202

Number of Answers: 53

Points Needed for Genius: 141

Genius requires between 22 and 46 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:

May 07, 2024 (Center Letter: B)
October 27, 2022 (Center Letter: F)
June 14, 2021 (Center Letter: L)
September 24, 2019 (Center Letter: D)

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 202 was in the 63rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on October 06, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 53 possible answers rank it in the 80th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on October 06, 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 September 26, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.0.
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 212
naan 212
tilt 164
till 164
lilt 164
nene 163
tint 162
mamma 162
mama 162
onion 155
acai 155
acacia 155
toon 152
onto 152
anon 141
anal 141
olio 140
tact 131
papa 131
mitt 131
baba 131
dodo 130
lulu 127
lull 127
booboo 125
boob 125
poop 124
loon 124
cocci 122
calla 122
call 122
tattoo 120
tartar 120
tart 120
ratatat 120
moon 120
mono 120
attar 119
natant 118
tutu 117
cancan 117
aria 116
momma 115
ammo 115
ally 115
allay 115
meme 114

How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 124,223 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,156 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*:

abba
abfarad
abolla
aboral
alar
alba
aldol
alfa
allobar
allod
araroba
arroba
baal
baboo
babool
baff
balboa
barbal
blaff
boffola
bolar
bora
boral
dada
dado
daff
darb
darbar
dobla
dobra
draff
fado
faff
falbala
fallal
fallboard
fard
farfal
farl
faro
forbad
labara
labra
labrador
labral
lall
larboard
lobar
loral
offa
olla
orad
orra
raff
robalo

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

aboard

No Definition Found.

abroad

noun

Countries or lands abroad.

adverb

Beyond the bounds of a country; in foreign countries.
At large; widely; broadly; over a wide space.
Without a certain confine; outside the house; away from one's abode.
Before the public at large; throughout society or the world; here and there; moving without restriction.
Not on target; astray; in error; confused; dazed.
Played elsewhere than one's home grounds.

preposition

Throughout, over.

adobo

No Definition Found.

afar

No Definition Found.

afford

No Definition Found.

afro

No Definition Found.

alfalfa

No Definition Found.

aloof

No Definition Found.

arbor

No Definition Found.

ardor

No Definition Found.

baba

No Definition Found.

bald

No Definition Found.

ball

Etymology 1

noun

A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
A round or ellipsoidal object.
(mildly, usually in the plural) A testicle.
A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.

verb

To form or wind into a ball.
To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
To have sexual intercourse with.
To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
(usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
To play basketball.
To punish by affixing a ball and chain

interjection

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

A formal dance.
A very enjoyable time.

ballad

No Definition Found.

baobab

No Definition Found.

barb

No Definition Found.

bard

No Definition Found.

barf

No Definition Found.

blab

No Definition Found.

boar

No Definition Found.

board

No Definition Found.

bola

No Definition Found.

bollard

No Definition Found.

brad

No Definition Found.

broad

No Definition Found.

dollar

No Definition Found.

doodad

No Definition Found.

dorado

No Definition Found.

drab

No Definition Found.

fall

No Definition Found.

falloff

No Definition Found.

farad

No Definition Found.

flab

No Definition Found.

floorboard

No Definition Found.

flora

No Definition Found.

floral

No Definition Found.

foal

No Definition Found.

fora

No Definition Found.

labor

No Definition Found.

lard

No Definition Found.

load

No Definition Found.

loaf

No Definition Found.

loofa

No Definition Found.

oddball

No Definition Found.

offal

No Definition Found.

offload

No Definition Found.

oral

No Definition Found.

radar

No Definition Found.

road

No Definition Found.

roar

No Definition Found.

boba

No Definition Found.

rollbar

No Definition Found.

farro

No Definition Found.