Friday, May 15, 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: 3

Maximum Puzzle Score: 280

Number of Answers: 50

Points Needed for Genius: 196

Genius requires between 25 and 43 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 84% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 64% 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 280 was in the 89th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on May 10, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 50 possible answers rank it in the 75th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on May 11, 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 May 12, 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 239
  • loll 219
  • toot 214
  • nana 198
  • naan 198
  • nene 158
  • tilt 156
  • till 156
  • lilt 156
  • mamma 152
  • mama 152
  • tint 149
  • onion 145
  • toon 144
  • onto 144
  • acai 142
  • acacia 142
  • anal 134
  • anon 133
  • olio 131
  • tact 126
  • papa 125
  • baba 125
  • lulu 124
  • lull 124
  • dodo 124
  • poop 120
  • booboo 120
  • boob 120
  • mitt 119
  • moon 118
  • mono 118
  • cocci 118
  • loon 117
  • calla 117
  • call 117
  • tartar 116
  • tart 116
  • ratatat 116
  • attar 115
  • tattoo 114
  • tutu 113
  • ally 113
  • allay 113
  • momma 111
  • aria 111
  • ammo 111
  • tatty 110
  • meme 109
  • cancan 109


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 117,805 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,983 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*:

  • acmic
  • agama
  • agamic
  • agma
  • amain
  • amia
  • amici
  • amiga
  • amin
  • aminic
  • amnia
  • amnic
  • animi
  • apimania
  • campagna
  • campi
  • cinnamic
  • gagman
  • gama
  • gamic
  • gamming
  • gamp
  • gimping
  • impi
  • imping
  • magian
  • mana
  • manana
  • manganic
  • manganin
  • mannan
  • migg
  • mina
  • nimming
  • pima

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

aiming

verb
  1. To point or direct a missile, or a weapon which propels as missile, towards an object or spot with the intent of hitting it
  2. To direct the intention or purpose; to attempt the accomplishment of a purpose; to try to gain; to endeavor;—followed by at, or by an infinitive
  3. To direct or point (e.g. a weapon), at a particular object; to direct, as a missile, an act, or a proceeding, at, to, or against an object
  4. To direct (something verbal) towards a certain person, thing, or group
  5. To guess or conjecture.
noun
  1. The act of one who aims.

amping

verb
  1. (usually with up) To amplify.
  2. (usually with up) To excite.
  3. (usually with up) To intensify or increase.

anima

noun
  1. The soul or animating principle of a living thing, especially as contrasted with the animus.
  2. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) of a person that is in touch with the unconscious as opposed to the persona.
  3. (Jungian psychology) The unconscious feminine aspect of a person.

caiman

noun
  1. Any of the relatively small crocodilians of genus Caiman, within family Alligatoridae.
  2. A semi-aquatic lizard, of the genus Dracaena, found in South America. To differentiate from caimans, they are referred to as caiman lizards.

cami

noun
  1. A camisole.

camp

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An outdoor place acting as temporary accommodation in tents or other temporary structures.
  2. An organised event, often taking place in tents or temporary accommodation.
  3. A base of a military group, not necessarily temporary.
  4. A single hut or shelter.
  5. The company or body of persons encamped.
  6. A group of people with the same strong ideals or political leanings.
  7. Campus
  8. A summer camp.
  9. A prison.
  10. A mound of earth in which potatoes and other vegetables are stored for protection against frost
  11. Conflict; battle.
  12. An ancient game of football, played in some parts of England.
verb
  1. To live in a tent or similar temporary accommodation.
  2. To set up a camp.
  3. To afford rest or lodging for.
  4. To stay in an advantageous location in a video game, such as next to a power-up's spawning point or in order to guard an area.
  5. To fight; contend in battle or in any kind of contest; to strive with others in doing anything; compete.
  6. To wrangle; argue.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An affected, exaggerated or intentionally tasteless style.
adjective
  1. Theatrical; making exaggerated gestures.
  2. (of a man) Ostentatiously effeminate.
  3. Intentionally tasteless or vulgar, self-parodying.

campaign

noun
  1. A series of operations undertaken to achieve a set goal.
  2. The period during which a blast furnace is continuously in operation.
  3. An open field; a large, open plain without considerable hills; a champaign.
  4. An excursion into the countryside.
verb
  1. To take part in a campaign.
  2. Consistently ride in races for a racing season.

campaigning

verb
  1. To take part in a campaign.
  2. Consistently ride in races for a racing season.
noun
  1. The act of taking part in a campaign.

camping

verb
  1. To live in a tent or similar temporary accommodation.
  2. To set up a camp.
  3. To afford rest or lodging for.
  4. To stay in an advantageous location in a video game, such as next to a power-up's spawning point or in order to guard an area.
  5. To fight; contend in battle or in any kind of contest; to strive with others in doing anything; compete.
  6. To wrangle; argue.
noun
  1. The recreational activity of temporarily living in a tent or similar accommodation, usually in the wilderness.
  2. The act of setting up a camp.

gamin

noun
  1. A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also (more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.

gaming

verb
  1. To gamble.
  2. To play card games, board games, or video games.
  3. To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.
  4. (of males) To perform premeditated seduction strategy.
noun
  1. The playing of a game or games, including but not limited to video games and games of chance.
  2. Careful, strategic use of rules to achieve one's purposes, as one would use the rules of a game.

gamma

noun
  1. The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).
  2. The Gamma function, symbolized by Γ.
  3. A constant approximately equal to 0.55721566, symbolized by γ (also known as the Euler–Mascheroni constant).
  4. A non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, equal to 1 nT.
  5. (industries) slope of log-log plot of video input and luminance output.
  6. A second-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change in delta with respect to changes in the underlying asset price.
noun
  1. A nonlinear operation used to encode and decode luminance or tristimulus values in video or still image systems.

gimp

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A narrow ornamental fabric or braid of silk, wool, or cotton, often stiffened with metallic wire or coarse cord running through it, used as trimming for dresses, curtains, furniture, etc. Also guimpe.
  2. Any coarse or reinforced thread, such as a glazed thread employed in lacemaking to outline designs, or silk thread used as a fishing leader, protected from the bite of fish by a wrapping of fine wire.
  3. The plastic cord used in the plaiting and knotting craft Scoubidou (lanyard making); or, the process itself.
  4. (chiefly North Eastern US) Gumption
verb
  1. (of yarn, cord, thread, etc.) To wrap or wind (surround) with another length of yarn or wire in a tight spiral, often by means of a gimping machine, creating 'gimped yarn', etc. Also, generally, to wrap or twist with string or wire. See gimped.
  2. To notch or indent; to jag or make jagged; to edge with serrations or grooves.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A person who is lame due to a crippling of the legs or feet.
  2. A crippled leg.
  3. A limp or a limping gait.
  4. A name-calling word, generally for a person who is perceived to be inept, deficient or peculiar
  5. (BDSM) A sexual submissive, almost always male, dressed generally in a black leather suit. See Gimp (sadomasochism) in Wikipedia.
  6. A character or ability that is underpowered.
verb
  1. To limp; to hobble.
  2. To make underpowered; to limit or restrict the useful effects of.

Etymology 3

adjective
  1. (Scotland and N England) Neat; trim; delicate; slender; handsome; spruce; elegant.

imaging

verb
  1. To represent by an image or symbol; to portray.
  2. To reflect, mirror.
  3. To create an image of.
  4. To create a complete backup copy of a file system or other entity.
noun
  1. The technique or practice of creating images of otherwise invisible aspects of an object, especially of body parts.
  2. The use of mental images to alter a person's perceptions or behaviors.

imagining

verb
  1. To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind.
  2. To believe in something created by one's own mind.
  3. To assume
  4. To conjecture or guess
  5. To use one's imagination
  6. To contrive in purpose; to scheme; to devise.
noun
  1. Something imagined; a figment of the imagination.

imam

noun
  1. (usually capitalized) A Shi'ite Muslim leader.
  2. One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.

impinging

verb
  1. To make a physical impact on.
  2. To interfere with.
  3. To have an effect upon, especially a negative one.

macing

verb
  1. To hit someone or something with a mace.
verb
  1. To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
  2. To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.

magi

noun
  1. A magician, wizard or sorcerer.
noun
  1. (common usage) magician, and derogatorily sorcerer, trickster, conjurer, charlatan
  2. (special usage) a Zoroastrian priest

magic

noun
  1. The application of rituals or actions, especially those based on occult knowledge, to subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces in order to have some benefit from them
  2. A specific ritual or procedure associated with such magic; a spell.
  3. The supernatural forces which are drawn on in such a ritual
  4. Something producing successful and remarkable results, especially when not fully understood; an enchanting quality; exceptional skill.
  5. A conjuring trick or illusion performed to give the appearance of supernatural phenomena or powers.
  6. The art or practice of performing conjuring tricks and illusions.
  7. Complicated or esoteric code that is not expected to be generally understood.
verb
  1. To produce, transform (something), (as if) by magic.
adjective
  1. Having supernatural talents, properties or qualities attributed to magic.
  2. Producing extraordinary results, as though through the use of magic; wonderful, amazing.
  3. Pertaining to conjuring tricks or illusions performed for entertainment etc.
  4. Great; excellent.
  5. Describing the number of nucleons in a particularly stable isotopic nucleus; 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126, and 184.
  6. Being a literal number or string value with no meaning or context, not defined as a constant or variable

magician

noun
  1. A person who plays with or practices allegedly supernatural magic.
  2. (sometimes derogatory) A spiritualist or practitioner of mystic arts.
  3. A performer of tricks or an escapologist or an illusionist.
  4. An amazingly talented craftsman or scientist.
  5. A person who astounds; an enigma.

magma

noun
  1. The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc.
  2. A basic algebraic structure consisting of a set equipped with a single binary operation.
  3. Any soft doughy mass.
  4. The residuum after expressing the juice from fruits.

maim

noun
  1. A serious wound
verb
  1. To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.

maiming

verb
  1. To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.
noun
  1. The act by which somebody is maimed.

main

Etymology 1

verb
  1. Short for mainline.
  2. To mainly play a specific character, or side, during a game.
  3. Of a road: to convert into a main or primary road.
adjective
  1. Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal.
  2. Chief, most important, or principal in extent, size, or strength; consisting of the largest part.
  3. (of force, strength, etc.) Full, sheer, undivided.
  4. Big; angry.
  5. Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
  6. Great in size or degree; important, powerful, strong, vast.
adverb
  1. Exceedingly, extremely, greatly, mightily, very, very much.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the bulk, the greater part, gross.
  2. A large cable or pipe providing utility service to an area or a building, such as a water main or electric main.
  3. Short for main course.
  4. The high seas.
  5. The mainland.
  6. Short for mainsail.
  7. (except in might and main) Force, power, strength, violent effort.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hand or match in a game of dice.
  2. The largest throw in a match at dice; in the game of hazard, a number from one to nine called out by a person before the dice are thrown.
  3. A stake played for at dice.
  4. A sporting contest or match, especially a cockfighting match.
  5. A banker's shovel for coins.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A basket for gathering grapes.

mama

noun
  1. (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

mamma

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder. (plural: mammae)
  2. An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

managing

verb
  1. To direct or be in charge of.
  2. To handle or control (a situation, job).
  3. To handle with skill, wield (a tool, weapon etc.).
  4. To succeed at an attempt.
  5. To achieve (something) without fuss, or without outside help.
  6. To train (a horse) in the manège; to exercise in graceful or artful action.
  7. To treat with care; to husband.
  8. To bring about; to contrive.
noun
  1. Management

manga

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A comic originating in Japan.
  2. An artistic style heavily used in, and associated with, Japanese comics, and that has also been adopted by a comparatively low number of comics from other countries.
  3. A comic in manga style, regardless of the country of origin.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A covering for a crucifix.

mania

noun
  1. Violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity.
  2. Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; fanaticism.
  3. The state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.

maniac

noun
  1. An insane person, especially one who suffers from a mania.
  2. A fanatic, a person with an obsession.

manic

adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to someone who exhibits mania or craziness; wicked.
  2. Suffering from mania, the state of an abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.

manna

noun
  1. Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.
  2. (by extension) Any boon which comes into one's hands by good luck.
  3. The sugary sap of the manna gum tree which oozes out from holes drilled by insects and falls to the ground around the tree.http//www.museum.vic.gov.au/forest/plants/gum.html

manning

verb
  1. To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).
  2. To take up position in order to operate (something).
  3. (possibly obsolete) To brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way. (Compare man up.)
  4. To wait on, attend to or escort.
  5. To accustom (a raptor or other type of bird) to the presence of people.

mapping

verb
  1. To create a visual representation of a territory, etc. via cartography.
  2. (followed by a "to" phrase) To act as a function on something, taking it to something else.
  3. (followed by a "to" phrase) To have a direct relationship; to correspond.
  4. To inform someone of a particular idea.
noun
  1. The process of making maps.
  2. The process of locating genes on a chromosome.
  3. Assigning a PC to a shared drive or printer port on a network.
  4. A function that maps every element of a given set to a unique element of another set; a correspondence.
  5. Conversion of data types between incompatible type systems.

mica

noun
  1. Any of a group of hydrous aluminosilicate minerals characterized by highly perfect cleavage, so that they readily separate into very thin leaves, more or less elastic.

mimic

noun
  1. A person who practices mimicry, or mime.
  2. An imitation.
verb
  1. To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
  2. To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.
adjective
  1. Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.
  2. Mock, pretended.
  3. Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.

miming

verb
  1. To mimic.
  2. To act without words.
  3. To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.
noun
  1. A performance in mime.

mincing

verb
  1. To make less; make small.
  2. To lessen; diminish; to diminish in speaking; speak of lightly or slightingly; minimise.
  3. To effect mincingly.
  4. To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine.
  5. To suppress or weaken the force of
  6. To say or utter vaguely, not directly or frankly
  7. To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
  8. To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
  9. To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
noun
  1. The act by which something is minced.
adjective
  1. Affectedly dainty.

mini

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Miniature, tiny, small.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A miniskirt.
  2. A minicomputer.

minicam

noun
  1. A small movie camera.

minicamp

noun
  1. A short training session for members of a professional sports team, held before the main preseason training

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.

minima

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.

mining

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.
noun
  1. The activity of removing solid valuables from the earth.
  2. Any activity that extracts or undermines.
  3. The activity of placing explosives underground, rigged to explode
  4. Creation of new units of cryptocurrency by validating transactions and demonstrating proof-of-work

naming

verb
  1. (ditransitive) To give a name to.
  2. To mention, specify.
  3. To identify as relevant or important
  4. To publicly implicate.
  5. To designate for a role.
  6. (Westminster system politics) To initiate a process to temporarily remove a member of parliament who is breaking the rules of conduct.
noun
  1. The process of giving names to things.
  2. A ritual or ceremony in which a person's name is given or announced.
adjective
  1. Giving a name to a person or thing.

pampa

No Definition Found.

panama

No Definition Found.

pimp

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
  2. A man who can easily attract women.
verb
  1. To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
  2. To prostitute someone.
  3. To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle, according to ghetto standards (also pimp out).
  4. To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
  5. To promote, to tout.
  6. To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.
adjective
  1. Excellent, fashionable, stylish

Etymology 2

numeral
  1. Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting

pimping

verb
  1. To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
  2. To prostitute someone.
  3. To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle, according to ghetto standards (also pimp out).
  4. To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
  5. To promote, to tout.
  6. To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.
noun
  1. The practise of procuring prostitutes.
  2. The process of modifying a vehicle (usually a car), predominantly focusing on its appearance and audiovisual system as opposed to performance.
adjective
  1. Little or petty.
  2. Puny; sickly
  3. Consisting of or having the qualities of a pimp.