NYT Spelling Bee Answers and Analysis

Thursday, September 03, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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cent ↗
cite ↗
client ↗
clientele ↗
eclectic ↗
elect ↗
electee ↗
elicit ↗
elite ↗
entente ↗
entice ↗
entitle ↗
illicit ↗
incite ↗
inlet ↗
intel ↗
intellect ↗
intent ↗
kente ↗
kettle ↗
kilt ↗
kinetic ↗
kite ↗
kitten ↗
knelt ↗
knit ↗
lenient ↗
lent ↗
lentil ↗
licit ↗
lilt ↗
linnet ↗
lint ↗
lintel ↗
lite ↗
little ↗
littleneck ↗
necktie ↗
netlike ↗
nettle ↗
nineteen ↗
nite ↗
teen ↗
telekinetic ↗
tell ↗
tenet ↗
tent ↗
tick ↗
ticket ↗
tickle ↗
tiki ↗
tile ↗
till ↗
tilt ↗
tinct ↗
tine ↗
tinkle ↗
tint ↗
title ↗
tittle ↗

Words not in official answer list

Number of Pangrams: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 291

Number of Answers: 60

Points Needed for Genius: 204

Genius requires between 28 and 52 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 80% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 66% of the remaining points to reach genius.

Other days with this pangram:

March 08, 2025 (Center Letter: K)
January 16, 2024 (Center Letter: C)
June 03, 2021 (Center Letter: N)

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 291 was in the 91st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on August 22, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 60 possible answers rank it in the 91st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on August 31, 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 7-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on September 02, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.6.
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 249
loll 229
toot 223
nana 209
naan 209
tilt 161
till 161
nene 161
lilt 161
tint 160
mamma 160
mama 160
onion 153
acai 151
acacia 151
toon 150
onto 150
olio 140
anon 140
anal 140
tact 130
dodo 130
papa 129
mitt 129
baba 129
lulu 126
lull 126
loon 124
booboo 123
boob 123
poop 122
calla 122
call 122
cocci 121
tattoo 120
tartar 120
tart 120
ratatat 120
moon 120
mono 120
attar 119
tutu 116
natant 115
cancan 115
aria 115
ally 115
allay 115
momma 114
meme 114
ammo 114

How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 122,657 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,127 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*:

celt
centile
cete
clit
clitic
elenctic
elint
enceinte
enclitic
etic
ictic
illite
illitic
incent
inti
intine
intitle
keet
kelt
kent
ketene
kiltie
kiltlike
kinetin
kitelike
kittel
kittle
lectin
leet
lenite
lenten
lentic
lenticel
licente
litten
necklet
nett
niente
tectite
teel
tein
tekkie
tektite
tektitic
tele
telecine
telic
telnet
tenne
tentie
tentlike
tike
tilelike
tillite
tinlike
titi
tittie

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

cent

No Definition Found.

cite

No Definition Found.

client

No Definition Found.

clientele

No Definition Found.

eclectic

No Definition Found.

elect

No Definition Found.

electee

No Definition Found.

elicit

No Definition Found.

elite

No Definition Found.

entente

No Definition Found.

entice

verb

To lure; to attract by arousing desire or hope.

entitle

No Definition Found.

illicit

No Definition Found.

incite

No Definition Found.

inlet

No Definition Found.

intellect

No Definition Found.

intent

No Definition Found.

kente

No Definition Found.

kettle

kilt

No Definition Found.

kinetic

No Definition Found.

kite

No Definition Found.

kitten

No Definition Found.

knelt

No Definition Found.

knit

No Definition Found.

lenient

No Definition Found.

lent

No Definition Found.

lentil

No Definition Found.

licit

No Definition Found.

lilt

No Definition Found.

linnet

No Definition Found.

lint

No Definition Found.

lintel

No Definition Found.

lite

No Definition Found.

little

noun

A small amount.

adjective

Small in size.
Insignificant, trivial.
Very young.
(of a sibling) Younger.
(also Little) Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.
Small in amount or number, having few members.
Short in duration; brief.
Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.

adverb

Not much.
Not at all.

pronoun

Not much; not a large amount.

littleneck

No Definition Found.

necktie

No Definition Found.

netlike

No Definition Found.

nettle

No Definition Found.

nineteen

No Definition Found.

nite

No Definition Found.

teen

No Definition Found.

telekinetic

No Definition Found.

tell

No Definition Found.

tenet

No Definition Found.

tent

No Definition Found.

tick

Etymology 1

noun

A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

Etymology 2

noun

A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.
A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
A short period of time, particularly a second.
A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness or acknowledgement.
A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.
The whinchat.

verb

To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands in an analog clock.
To make a tick or checkmark.
To work or operate, especially mechanically.
To strike gently; to pat.
To add a bird to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).

Etymology 3

noun

Ticking.
A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.

Etymology 4

noun

Credit, trust.

verb

To go on trust, or credit.
To give tick; to trust.

Etymology 5

noun

(place names) A goat.

ticket

No Definition Found.

tickle

No Definition Found.

tiki

No Definition Found.

tile

No Definition Found.

till

No Definition Found.

tilt

No Definition Found.

tinct

No Definition Found.

tine

No Definition Found.

tinkle

No Definition Found.

tint

No Definition Found.

title

No Definition Found.

tittle

No Definition Found.

intel

No Definition Found.