Tuesday, August 25, 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: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 218

Number of Answers: 40

Points Needed for Genius: 153

Genius requires between 21 and 34 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 83% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 65% 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 218 was in the 70th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on August 24, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 40 possible answers rank it in the 50th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on August 24, 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 24, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.8.
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 249
  • loll 228
  • toot 221
  • nana 208
  • naan 208
  • tilt 160
  • till 160
  • nene 160
  • mamma 160
  • mama 160
  • lilt 160
  • tint 158
  • onion 153
  • acai 151
  • acacia 151
  • toon 149
  • onto 149
  • olio 140
  • anon 140
  • anal 139
  • 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
  • moon 120
  • mono 120
  • tartar 119
  • tart 119
  • ratatat 119
  • tattoo 118
  • attar 118
  • tutu 116
  • cancan 115
  • aria 115
  • momma 114
  • meme 114
  • ammo 114
  • ally 114
  • allay 114
  • natant 113


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 122,271 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*:

  • bibb
  • bibbing
  • biggin
  • bigging
  • bing
  • binit
  • bint
  • biog
  • biont
  • bitt
  • bitting
  • bobo
  • boinging
  • bonging
  • boobing
  • bott
  • boubou
  • bouton
  • bubo
  • bubu
  • bugout
  • bunging
  • bunn
  • butut
  • gibbing
  • gobbing
  • gobo
  • nibbing
  • nonbiting
  • titbit
  • tubbing

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

bigot

No Definition Found.

binging

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To engage in a short period of excessive consumption, especially of excessive alcohol consumption.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To go; walk; come; run
verb
  1. Making the sound of a bounce
  2. To bounce

bingo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out "bingo!" or "house!" after crossing off all numbers on the grid or in one line of the grid.
  2. A win in such a game.
  3. (Scrabble) A play where all seven of a player's letter tiles are played.
verb
  1. To play the game of bingo.
  2. To give the winning cry of "bingo!" in a game.
  3. To play all of one's seven tiles in one move in the game of Scrabble, earning a score bonus.
  4. To return to base.
adjective
  1. Just sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)
interjection
  1. Used by players of bingo to claim a win.
  2. Used when finding what one has been looking for or trying to recall, or on successful completion of a task.
  3. Used to declare "You've just made my point!" or "My point exactly!"

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Brandy.

binning

verb
  1. To dispose of (something) by putting it into a bin, or as if putting it into a bin.
  2. To throw away, reject, give up.
  3. To convert continuous data into discrete groups.
  4. To place into a bin for storage.
noun
  1. A data pre-processing technique in which original data values fall into a small interval ("bin") and are replaced by a value representative of that interval, often the central value. Wp
  2. The process of grouping reads or contigs and assigning them to operational taxonomic units. Wp
  3. The categorization of finished products based on their characteristics. Wp
  4. The process of combining charge from adjacent pixels in a CCD image sensor during readout.

biotin

noun
  1. A sulfur-containing member of the vitamin B complex, 5-[(3aS,4S,6aR)-2-oxohexahydro-1H-thieno[3,4-d]imidazol-4-yl]pentanoic acid, found in liver, egg yolk, milk and yeast, essential to the activity of multiple enzyme systems.

biting

verb
  1. To cut into something by clamping the teeth.
  2. To hold something by clamping one's teeth.
  3. To attack with the teeth.
  4. To behave aggressively; to reject advances.
  5. To take hold; to establish firm contact with.
  6. To have significant effect, often negative.
  7. (of a fish) To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.
  8. To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor.
  9. (of an insect) To sting.
  10. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.
  11. (sometimes figurative) To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure.
  12. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
  13. To take or keep a firm hold.
  14. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.
  15. To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.
  16. To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.
  17. To plagiarize, to imitate.
  18. To deceive or defraud; to take in.
noun
  1. An instance of something being bitten.
adjective
  1. Causing a stinging sensation.
  2. Cutting or incisive.
  3. Tending to bite.

bobbin

noun
  1. A spool or cylinder around which wire is coiled.
  2. In a sewing machine, the small spool that holds the lower thread.
  3. The little rounded piece of wood at the end of a latch string, which is pulled to raise the latch.
  4. (haberdashery) A fine cord or narrow braid.

bobbing

No Definition Found.

bogging

No Definition Found.

boing

No Definition Found.

bonbon

noun
  1. A sweet, especially a small chocolate-covered candy.
  2. A small, spherical savory snack or canapé.
  3. A Christmas cracker.

bong

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The clang of a large bell.
  2. Doorbell chimes.
verb
  1. To pull a bell.
  2. To ring a doorbell.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A vessel, usually made of glass or ceramic and filled with water, used in smoking various substances; especially marijuana or pot.
  2. An act of smoking one serving of drugs from a bong.
  3. A device for rapidly consuming beer, usually consisting of a funnel or reservoir of beer and a length of tubing.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A very wide piton.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. (thieves' cant) A purse.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. An Australian Aboriginal person.

bongo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A striped bovine mammal found in Africa, Tragelaphus eurycerus.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Either of a pair of small drums of Cuban origin, played by beating with the hands.
verb
  1. To play the bongo drums.
  2. Of the heart, etc.: to beat with an irregular rhythm.
  3. To hit something rhythmically with the hands.

boning

No Definition Found.

bonito

No Definition Found.

bonobo

noun
  1. The pygmy chimpanzee, Pan paniscus, from Africa south of the Congo river.

boob

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Idiot, fool.
verb
  1. To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.
  2. To make a mistake
adjective
  1. Idiotic, foolish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent human female.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A prison; jail.

booboo

No Definition Found.

booing

No Definition Found.

boon

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A prayer; petition.
  2. That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
  3. A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.
  4. An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Good; prosperous.
  2. Kind; bountiful; benign.
  3. (Now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

boot

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg.
  2. A blow with the foot; a kick.
  3. A flexible cover of rubber or plastic, which may be preformed to a particular shape and used to protect a shaft, lever, switch, or opening from dust, dirt, moisture, etc.
  4. (usually preceded by definite article) A torture device used on the feet or legs, such as a Spanish boot.
  5. A parking enforcement device used to immobilize a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
  6. A rubber bladder on the leading edge of an aircraft’s wing, which is inflated periodically to remove ice buildup. A deicing boot.
  7. A place at the side of a coach, where attendants rode; also, a low outside place before and behind the body of the coach.
  8. A place for baggage at either end of an old-fashioned stagecoach.
  9. (police) A recently arrived recruit; a rookie.
  10. The luggage storage compartment of a sedan or saloon car.
  11. The act or process of removing or firing someone (give someone the boot).
  12. Unattractive person, ugly woman (usually as "old boot")
  13. A hard plastic case for a long firearm, typically moulded to the shape of the gun and intended for use in a vehicle.
  14. A bobbled ball.
  15. The inflated flag leaf sheath of a wheat plant.
verb
  1. To kick.
  2. To put boots on, especially for riding.
  3. To apply corporal punishment (compare slippering).
  4. To forcibly eject.
  5. To disconnect forcibly; to eject from an online service, conversation, etc.
  6. To vomit.
  7. (criminal slang) To shoot, to kill by gunfire.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Remedy, amends.
  2. Profit, plunder.
  3. That which is given to make an exchange equal, or to make up for the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged; compensation; recompense.
  4. Profit; gain; advantage; use.
  5. Repair work; the act of fixing structures or buildings.
  6. A medicinal cure or remedy.
verb
  1. To avail, benefit, profit.
  2. To benefit, to enrich; to give in addition.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The act or process of bootstrapping; the starting or re-starting of a computing device.
verb
  1. To bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A bootleg recording.

booting

verb
  1. To kick.
  2. To put boots on, especially for riding.
  3. To apply corporal punishment (compare slippering).
  4. To forcibly eject.
  5. To disconnect forcibly; to eject from an online service, conversation, etc.
  6. To vomit.
  7. (criminal slang) To shoot, to kill by gunfire.
verb
  1. To avail, benefit, profit.
  2. To benefit, to enrich; to give in addition.
verb
  1. To bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap.
noun
  1. A kicking, as with a booted foot.
  2. The act by which a computer is booted.
  3. Advantage; gain; gain by plunder; booty.
  4. (criminal slang) Homicide by gunfire.

bout

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A period of something, usually painful or unpleasant.
  2. A boxing match.
  3. An assault (a fencing encounter) at which the score is kept.
  4. A roller derby match.
  5. A fighting competition.
  6. A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.
  7. The going and returning of a plough, or other implement used to mark the ground and create a headland, across a field.
verb
  1. To contest a bout.

Etymology 2

preposition
  1. In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of.
  2. Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
  3. Indicates that something will happen very soon; indicates a plan or intention to do something.
  4. Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of; to affect.
  5. Concerned with; engaged in; intent on.
  6. Within or in the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place.
  7. On one's person; nearby the person.
  8. In or near, as in mental faculties or in the possession of; under the control of; at one's command; in one's makeup.

bugging

verb
  1. To annoy.
  2. To install an electronic listening device or devices in.
noun
  1. Electronic surveillance.

bung

No Definition Found.

bunion

noun
  1. A bump or bulge on the first joint of the big toe caused by the swelling of a sac of fluid under the skin.
  2. (by extension) Hallux valgus, deviation of the big toe from its normal position towards the other toes, the prime cause for the swelling of its first joint.

bunt

No Definition Found.

bunting

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Strips of material used as festive decoration, especially in the colours of the national flag.
  2. A thin cloth of woven wool from which flags are made; it is light enough to spread in a gentle wind but resistant to fraying in a strong wind.
  3. Flags considered as a group.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any of various songbirds, mostly of the genus Emberiza, having short bills and brown or gray plumage.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A warm, hooded infant garment, as outerwear or sleepwear, similar to a sleeper or sleepsack; especially as baby bunting or bunting bag.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To push with the horns; to butt.
  2. To spring or rear up.
  3. To intentionally hit softly with a hands-spread batting stance.
  4. To intentionally hit a ball softly with a hands-spread batting stance.
  5. To perform (the second half of) an outside loop.
  6. To swell out.
  7. (of a cat) To headbutt affectionately.
noun
  1. A pushing action.
  2. A strong timber; a stout prop.
  3. An old boys' game, played with sticks and a small piece of wood.

butt

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end
  2. The waste end of anything
  3. (generally) An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.
  4. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
verb
  1. To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.
  2. A thrust in fencing.
verb
  1. To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.
  2. To strike bluntly with the head.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (English units) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun; equivalent to the pipe.
  2. A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot

Etymology 5

noun
  1. A heavy two-wheeled cart.
  2. A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow.

butting

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
verb
  1. To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.
  2. To strike bluntly with the head.
noun
  1. An abuttal; a boundary.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. Use the word "but".

button

No Definition Found.

buttoning

No Definition Found.

gibbon

No Definition Found.

gibing

No Definition Found.

nubbin

noun
  1. A stub, especially a stub of undeveloped corn or fruit or nipple.
  2. A small protuberance, bud, bump or knob.
  3. The clitoris.

obit

No Definition Found.

tubing

No Definition Found.

unbutton

No Definition Found.

unbuttoning

verb
  1. To open (something) by undoing its buttons.
  2. To come open by having its buttons unfastened.
noun
  1. An act of unfastening buttons.

noob

noun
  1. (often pejorative) A newb or newbie; refers to the idea that someone is new to a game, concept, or idea; implying a lack of experience. Also, in some areas the word noob can mean someone is obsessed with things.