Sunday, August 23, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

Jump to answers for


The official answers for today's puzzle are:

Click on the arrow to show the definition.
Click outside the pop-up to close it.



Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 153

Number of Answers: 38

Points Needed for Genius: 107

Genius requires between 15 and 34 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 77% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 67% of the remaining points to reach genius.

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 153 was in the 40th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on August 21, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 38 possible answers rank it in the 45th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on August 21, 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 August 22, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.3.
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 248
  • loll 228
  • toot 221
  • nana 207
  • naan 207
  • tilt 160
  • till 160
  • nene 160
  • mamma 160
  • mama 160
  • lilt 160
  • tint 158
  • onion 153
  • acai 151
  • acacia 151
  • toon 148
  • onto 148
  • olio 140
  • anon 139
  • anal 139
  • tact 130
  • dodo 130
  • papa 129
  • mitt 129
  • baba 129
  • lulu 126
  • lull 126
  • loon 124
  • poop 122
  • calla 122
  • call 122
  • booboo 122
  • boob 122
  • cocci 121
  • tartar 119
  • tart 119
  • ratatat 119
  • moon 119
  • mono 119
  • tattoo 118
  • attar 118
  • tutu 116
  • cancan 115
  • aria 115
  • momma 114
  • meme 114
  • ammo 114
  • ally 114
  • allay 114
  • roar 112


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 122,174 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,126 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*:

  • betime
  • bimbette
  • bimini
  • binmen
  • emetin
  • emetine
  • emeu
  • emeute
  • emmet
  • imbuement
  • imine
  • intime
  • meinie
  • mentum
  • mimetite
  • minium
  • mumm
  • mumu
  • muni
  • muniment
  • muntin
  • mutine
  • neem
  • neum
  • neume
  • numen
  • tinmen
  • titmen
  • unmeet
  • ununbium
  • unununium

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

benumb

verb
  1. To make numb, as by cold or anesthetic.
  2. To deaden, dull (the mind, faculties, etc.).

biennium

noun
  1. A period of two years.

bitumen

No Definition Found.

eminent

adjective
  1. High, lofty.
  2. Noteworthy, remarkable, great.
  3. (of a person) distinguished, important, noteworthy.

emit

verb
  1. To send out or give off

imbibe

No Definition Found.

imbue

No Definition Found.

imminent

adjective
  1. About to happen, occur, or take place very soon, especially of something which won't last long.

immune

noun
  1. A person who is not susceptible to infection by a particular disease
verb
  1. To make immune.
adjective
  1. (usually with "from") Exempt; not subject to.
  2. (usually with "to") Protected by inoculation, or due to innate resistance to pathogens.
  3. (by extension) Not vulnerable.
  4. Of or pertaining to the immune system.

item

meet

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A sports competition, especially for track and field (a track meet) or swimming (a swim meet).
  2. A gathering of riders, horses and hounds for foxhunting; a field meet for hunting.
  3. A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross.
  4. A meeting.
  5. The greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧.
  6. An act of French kissing someone.
verb
  1. To make contact (with) while in proximity.
  2. (Of groups) To come together.
  3. To make physical or perceptual contact.
  4. To satisfy; to comply with.
  5. To balance or come out correct.
  6. To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
  7. To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Suitable; right; proper.

meme

noun
  1. Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.
  2. Something, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, including quizzes, basic pictures, video templates etc.
  3. A myth circulating as truth; something ineffective presented as effective, or similar.
verb
  1. To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve something in real life.
  2. To create and use humorous memes.
  3. To joke around.

mentee

noun
  1. A person who is being mentored

menu

noun
  1. The details of the food to be served at a banquet; a bill of fare.
  2. A list of dishes offered in a restaurant.
  3. A list from which the user may select an operation to be performed, often done with a keyboard, mouse, or controller under a graphical user interface

mete

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To measure.
  2. (usually with “out”) To dispense, measure (out), allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.

Etymology 3

adjective
  1. Suitable; right; proper.

mien

noun
  1. Demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer.
  2. A specific facial expression.

mime

noun
  1. A form of acting without words; pantomime.
  2. A pantomime actor.
  3. A classical theatrical entertainment in the form of farce.
  4. A performer of such a farce.
  5. A person who mimics others in a comical manner.
  6. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the genus Chilasa or Papilio, that mimic other species in appearance.
verb
  1. To mimic.
  2. To act without words.
  3. To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.

mine

Etymology 1

pronoun
  1. My; belonging to me; that which belongs to me.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.
  2. Any source of wealth or resources.
  3. A passage dug toward or underneath enemy lines, which is then packed with explosives.
  4. A device intended to explode when stepped upon or touched, or when approached by a ship, vehicle, or person.
  5. A type of firework that explodes on the ground, shooting sparks upward.
  6. The cavity made by a caterpillar while feeding inside a leaf.
  7. A machine or network of machines used to extract units of a cryptocurrency.
verb
  1. To remove (ore) from the ground.
  2. To dig into, for ore or metal.
  3. To sow mines (the explosive devices) in (an area).
  4. To damage (a vehicle or ship) with a mine (an explosive device).
  5. To dig a tunnel or hole; to burrow in the earth.
  6. To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine.
  7. (by extension) To ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.
  8. To pick one's nose.
  9. To earn new units of cryptocurrency by doing certain calculations.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer.
  2. A specific facial expression.

mini

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Miniature, tiny, small.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A miniskirt.
  2. A minicomputer.

minim

noun
  1. A half note, drawn as a semibreve with a stem.
  2. A unit of volume, in the Imperial and U.S. customary systems, 1/60 fluid drachm. Approximately equal to 1 drop, 62 μL or 0.9 grain (weight) of water.
  3. A short vertical stroke used in handwriting.
  4. Anything very minute; applied to animalcula and the like.
  5. The smallest kind of worker in a leaf-cutter ant colony.
  6. A little man or being; a dwarf.
  7. A small fish; a minnow.
  8. A short poetical encomium.

minimum

noun
  1. The lowest limit.
  2. The smallest amount.
  3. A period of minimum brightness or energy intensity (of a star).
  4. A lower bound of a set which is also an element of that set.
  5. The smallest member of a batch or sample or the lower bound of a probability distribution.
adjective
  1. To the lowest degree.

mint

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A building or institution where money (originally, only coins) is produced under government licence.
  2. A large amount of money. A vast sum or amount, etc.
  3. Any place regarded as a source of unlimited supply; the supply itself.
verb
  1. To reproduce (coins), usually en masse, under licence.
  2. To invent; to forge; to fabricate; to fashion.
adjective
  1. (with condition) Like new.
  2. In near-perfect condition; uncirculated.
  3. Unused with original gum; as issued originally.
  4. Very good.
  5. Attractive; beautiful; handsome.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any plant in the genus Mentha in the family Lamiaceae, typically aromatic with square stems.
  2. The flavouring of the plant, either a sweet, a jelly or sauce.
  3. Any plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae.
  4. A green colour, like that of mint.
  5. A mint-flavored candy, often eaten to sweeten the smell of the breath.
adjective
  1. Of a green colour, like that of the mint plant.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (provincial) Intent, purpose; an attempt, try; effort, endeavor.
verb
  1. (provincial) To try, attempt; take aim.
  2. (provincial) To try, attempt, endeavor; to take aim at; to try to hit; to purpose.
  3. To hint; suggest; insinuate.

minuet

noun
  1. A slow graceful dance consisting of a coupé, a high step, and a balance.
  2. A tune or air to regulate the movements of the minuet dance: it has the dance form, and is commonly in 3/4, sometimes 3/8, measure.
  3. A complete short musical composition inspired by and conforming to many formal characteristics of the traditional musical accompaniment to the dance of same name.
  4. A movement which is part of a longer musical composition such as a suite, sonata, or symphony which is inspired by and conforming to formal characteristics of the dance of same name.
verb
  1. To dance a minuet.

minute

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A unit of time equal to sixty seconds (one-sixtieth of an hour).
  2. A short but unspecified time period.
  3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.
  4. (chiefly in the plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.
  5. A unit of purchase on a telephone or other network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.
  6. A point in time; a moment.
  7. A nautical or a geographic mile.
  8. An old coin, a half farthing.
  9. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.
  10. A fixed part of a module.
  11. A while or a long unspecified period of time
verb
  1. Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.
  2. To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Very small.
  2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.

minutemen

noun
  1. During the American War for Independence, a citizen-soldier who would fight for the Patriots at a minute's notice.
  2. A man who reaches orgasm undesirably quickly during sexual intercourse.
  3. The cyclist starting one minute ahead of, or behind, another rider in a time trial.

mite

noun
  1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
  2. A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
  3. A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
  4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
  5. (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle
  6. (often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one you take pity on; rascal

mitt

noun
  1. A mitten
  2. An oversized, protective glove such as an oven mitt or a baseball mitt.
  3. (especially in plural) A hand.

mitten

noun
  1. A type of glove or garment that covers a hand with a separate sheath for the thumb, but not for other fingers, which are either enclosed in a single section or left uncovered.
  2. A cat's or dog's paw that is a different colour from the main body.
  3. (as "the mitten") A romantic rejection; dismissal of a lover.
verb
  1. To dress in mittens; to put a mitten on.

mute

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A stopped consonant; a stop.
  2. An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.
  3. A person who does not have the power of speech.
  4. A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
  5. An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.
  6. An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
  7. A mute swan.
verb
  1. To silence, to make quiet.
  2. To turn off the sound of.
adjective
  1. Not having the power of speech; dumb.
  2. Silent; not making a sound.
  3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
  4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The faeces of a hawk or falcon.
verb
  1. Of a bird: to defecate.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To cast off; to moult.

mutt

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A mongrel dog (or sometimes cat); an animal of mixed breed or uncertain origin.
  2. (sometimes derogatory) A person of diverse ancestry.
  3. An idiot, a stupid person.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A monastic or similar religious establishment in Hinduism and Jainism, usually more formal and hierarchical than an ashram.

muumuu

noun
  1. A long loose-fitting dress made of lightweight fabric printed with bright, stylized Hawaiian themes (such as flowers and palm branches).

nimbi

noun
  1. A circle of light; a halo.
  2. A gray rain cloud.

numb

verb
  1. To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).
  2. To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
  3. To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
  4. To become numb (especially physically).
adjective
  1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.
  2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.
  3. Causing numbness.

teem

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To be stocked to overflowing.
  2. To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.
  3. To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To empty.
  2. To pour (especially with rain)
  3. To pour, as steel, from a melting pot; to fill, as a mould, with molten metal.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To think fit.

tenement

noun
  1. A building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.
  2. Any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.
  3. Dwelling; abode; habitation.

time

noun
  1. The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events.
  2. A duration of time.
  3. An instant of time.
  4. The measurement under some system of region of day or moment.
  5. Ratio of comparison.
  6. (grammar) Tense.
  7. The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo; rate of movement; rhythmical division.
verb
  1. To measure or record the time, duration, or rate of.
  2. To choose when something begins or how long it lasts.
  3. To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.
  4. To pass time; to delay.
  5. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in time of movement.
  6. To measure, as in music or harmony.
interjection
  1. Reminder by the umpire for the players to continue playing after their pause.
  2. The umpire's call in prizefights, etc.
  3. A call by a bartender to warn patrons that the establishment is closing and no more drinks will be served.

unmet

No Definition Found.

unmute

No Definition Found.