Spelling Bee Answers

How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today's score of 209 was in the 66th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on September 16, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 41 possible answers rank it in the 53rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on September 16, 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 15, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.7.
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 250
loll 229
toot 223
nana 211
naan 211
tilt 163
till 163
lilt 163
mamma 162
mama 162
tint 161
nene 161
onion 154
acai 153
acacia 153
toon 151
onto 151
anon 141
olio 140
anal 140
tact 131
mitt 130
dodo 130
baba 130
papa 129
lulu 127
lull 127
loon 124
booboo 124
boob 124
poop 123
calla 122
call 122
cocci 121
tattoo 120
tartar 120
tart 120
ratatat 120
moon 120
mono 120
attar 119
natant 117
tutu 116
cancan 116
aria 116
momma 115
ammo 115
ally 115
allay 115
meme 114

How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 123,326 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,138 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*:

acini
acinic
acta
actin
actinia
actinian
actinic
anna
annuitant
anta
atactic
attaint
caca
cain
cantic
incitant
inia
nanna
nictitant
nutant
qanat
quai
quantic
quinina
quinnat
quinta
quintain
quintan
tacan
tain
tian
tictac
titania
titian
tunica
unai
unau
uncia
unica

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

NYT Spelling Bee Answers and Analysis

Friday, September 18, 2026

Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 209

Number of Answers: 41

Points Needed for Genius: 146

How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Haven't I seen these letters before?

Haven't I seen these words before?

How long are words in the Bee?

Valid dictionary words not in today's official answers