Wednesday, May 13, 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: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 121

Number of Answers: 31

Points Needed for Genius: 85

Genius requires between 12 and 28 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 80% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 66% 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 121 was in the 23rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on May 04, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 31 possible answers rank it in the 27th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on May 04, 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 an 8-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on May 10, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.2.
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 151
  • mama 151
  • tint 149
  • onion 145
  • toon 144
  • onto 144
  • acai 142
  • acacia 142
  • anal 134
  • anon 133
  • olio 130
  • 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 117,723 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,982 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*:

  • aalii
  • alar
  • alba
  • albizia
  • albizzia
  • alidad
  • baal
  • barbal
  • barilla
  • biali
  • birl
  • brail
  • brazil
  • brill
  • dirl
  • drail
  • ilia
  • iliad
  • ilial
  • laari
  • labara
  • labra
  • labral
  • laird
  • lall
  • lari
  • lazar
  • liard
  • liblab
  • libra
  • libri
  • lidar
  • liri
  • radialia
  • zill

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

alibi

noun
  1. The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed
verb
  1. To provide an alibi for.
  2. To provide an excuse for.

aril

noun
  1. A tissue surrounding the seed in certain fruits such as pomegranates.

bail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
  2. Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
  3. The person providing such payment.
  4. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
  5. A person who bails water out of a boat.
  6. Custody; keeping.
verb
  1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
  2. To release a person under such guarantee.
  3. To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.
  4. To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.
  5. To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.
  6. To set free; to deliver; to release.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To exit quickly.
  2. To fail to meet a commitment.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
  2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
  3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
  4. A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.
  5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
  6. One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
  7. (furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.
verb
  1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To confine.
  2. To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
  3. To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up. (Usually with up.)

bald

noun
  1. A mountain summit or crest that lacks forest growth despite a warm climate conducive to such, as is found in many places in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
verb
  1. To become bald.
adjective
  1. Having no hair, fur or feathers.
  2. (by extension) Denuded of any hair- or fur-like covering.
  3. Of tyres: whose surface is worn away.
  4. (of a statement or account) Unembellished.
  5. (of a statement) Without evidence or support being provided.

ball

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
  2. A round or ellipsoidal object.
  3. (mildly, usually in the plural) A testicle.
  4. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
  5. A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
verb
  1. To form or wind into a ball.
  2. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
  3. To have sexual intercourse with.
  4. To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
  5. (usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
  6. To play basketball.
  7. To punish by affixing a ball and chain
interjection
  1. An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A formal dance.
  2. A very enjoyable time.

ballad

noun
  1. A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
  2. A slow romantic song.
verb
  1. To make mention of in ballads.
  2. To compose or sing ballads.

bilabial

noun
  1. A speech sound articulated with both lips.
adjective
  1. Articulated with both lips.

bill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
  2. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
  3. Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
  4. A pickaxe, or mattock.
  5. The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).
verb
  1. To dig, chop, etc., with a bill.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.
  2. A beak-like projection, especially a promontory.
  3. Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.
verb
  1. To peck
  2. To stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.)
  2. A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.)
  3. A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
  4. A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
  5. A piece of paper money; a banknote.
  6. A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; an invoice.
  7. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods
  8. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document; a bill of exchange. In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
  9. A set of items presented together.
verb
  1. To advertise by a bill or public notice.
  2. To charge; to send a bill to.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The bell, or boom, of the bittern.

billiard

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom.
  2. Pertaining to the game of billiards.
  3. A dynamical system in which a particle alternates between motion in a straight line and specular reflections from a boundary.

Etymology 2

numeral
  1. 1015, a thousand billion (long scale) or a million milliard.

biradial

No Definition Found.

blab

noun
  1. One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale; a gossip or gossiper.
  2. Gossip; prattle.
verb
  1. To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.

blizzard

noun
  1. A large snowstorm accompanied by strong winds and greatly reduced visibility caused by blowing snow.
  2. A large amount of paperwork.
  3. A large number of similar things.
verb
  1. (of snow) To fall in windy conditions.

bridal

noun
  1. A wedding feast or festival; a wedding.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to a bride, or to wedding; nuptial.

dial

noun
  1. A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
  2. A clock face.
  3. A sundial.
  4. A panel on a radio etc showing wavelengths or channels; a knob that is turned to change the wavelength etc.
  5. A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.
  6. A person's face.
  7. A miner's compass.
verb
  1. To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
  2. To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone.
  3. To use a dial or a telephone.

dill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Anethum graveolens (the type species of the genus Anethum), a herb, the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, formerly used as a soothing medicine for children; also known as dillseed.
  2. A cucumber pickled with dill flavoring
  3. A fool.
verb
  1. To cook or flavor with dill

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To still; to assuage; to calm; to soothe, as one in pain.

drill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A tool used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.
  2. The portion of a drilling tool that drives the bit.
  3. An activity done as an exercise or practice (especially a military exercise), particularly in preparation for some possible future event or occurrence.
  4. Any of several molluscs, of the genus Urosalpinx, especially the oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), that drill holes in the shells of other animals.
  5. A style of trap music with gritty, violent lyrics, originating on the South Side of Chicago.
verb
  1. To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).
  2. To practice, especially in (or as in) a military context.
  3. To cause to drill (practice); to train in military arts.
  4. To repeat an idea frequently in order to encourage someone to remember it.
  5. To investigate or examine something in more detail or at a different level
  6. To hit or kick with a lot of power.
  7. To hit someone with a pitch, especially in an intentional context.
  8. To have sexual intercourse with; to penetrate.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An agricultural implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
  2. A light furrow or channel made to put seed into, when sowing.
  3. A row of seed sown in a furrow.
verb
  1. To sow (seeds) by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A small trickling stream; a rill.
verb
  1. To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To entice or allure; to decoy; with on.
  2. To cause to slip or waste away by degrees.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. An Old World monkey of West Africa, Mandrillus leucophaeus, similar in appearance to the mandrill, but lacking the colorful face.

Etymology 6

noun
  1. A strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias (diagonal) in the weave.

labia

noun
  1. The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
noun
  1. A liplike structure; especially one of the two pairs of folds of skin either side of the vulva.
  2. The lip of a labiate corolla.
  3. The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.

labial

noun
  1. A consonant articulated by the lips.
  2. An organ pipe having a lip that influences its sound.
  3. Any of the scales bordering the mouth opening of a reptile.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
  2. Articulated by the lips, as the consonants b, m and w.
  3. Of an incisor or canine, on the side facing the lips. See mesial.
  4. Furnished with lips.

laid

adjective
  1. (of paper) Marked with parallel lines, as if ribbed, from wires in the mould.
verb
  1. To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
  2. To cause to subside or abate.
  3. To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
  4. To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
  5. To produce and deposit an egg.
  6. To bet (that something is or is not the case).
  7. To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
  8. To have sex with.
  9. To take a position; to come or go.
  10. To state; to allege.
  11. To point; to aim.
  12. (ropemaking) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
  13. To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
  14. To place (new type) properly in the cases.
  15. To apply; to put.
  16. To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
  17. To impute; to charge; to allege.
  18. To present or offer.
verb
  1. To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).

lair

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
  2. A shed or shelter for domestic animals.
  3. A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.
  4. A bed or resting place.
  5. A grave; a cemetery plot.
verb
  1. To rest; to dwell.
  2. To lay down.
  3. To bury.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A bog; a mire.
verb
  1. To mire.
  2. To become mired.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A person who dresses in a showy but tasteless manner and behaves in a vulgar and conceited way; a show-off.

lard

noun
  1. Fat from the abdomen of a pig, especially as prepared for use in cooking or pharmacy.
  2. Fatty meat from a pig; bacon, pork.
verb
  1. To stuff (meat) with bacon or pork before cooking.
  2. To smear with fat or lard.
  3. To garnish or strew, especially with reference to words or phrases in speech and writing.
  4. To fatten; to enrich.
  5. To grow fat.
  6. To mix or garnish with something, as by way of improvement; to interlard.

liar

noun
  1. One who tells lies.
  2. A swabber responsible for cleaning the outside parts of the ship rather than the cabins, a role traditionally assigned to a person caught telling a lie the previous week.

lira

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The former currency of Israel, superseded by the sheqel.
noun
  1. The basic unit of currency in Turkey.
  2. The currency of Lebanon (also pound), Syria (also pound), Jordan (also dinar)
  3. The former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus and the Vatican City, superseded by the euro

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A Ukrainian folk musical instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Any of a set of fine ridges on the shells of some molluscs

lizard

noun
  1. Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake, usually having four legs, external ear openings, movable eyelids and a long slender body and tail.
  2. (chiefly in attributive use) Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.
  3. An unctuous person.
  4. A coward.
  5. (rock paper scissors) A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
  6. (in compounds) A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female.

radial

noun
  1. A radial tire / radial tyre.
adjective
  1. Arranged like rays that radiate from, or converge to a common centre.
  2. Moving along a radius.
  3. Of, or relating to the radius bone.
  4. Of, or relating to the radius (vein), and/or the wing areas next to it.
  5. Developing uniformly on all sides.

rail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
  2. The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.
  3. A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.
  4. A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
  5. One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
  6. A vertical section on one side of a web page.
  7. A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).
verb
  1. To travel by railway.
  2. To enclose with rails or a railing.
  3. To range in a line.
  4. To criticize severely.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To complain violently (against, about).

Etymology 4

noun
  1. An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress.
  2. Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief.

Etymology 5

verb
  1. (of a liquid) To gush, flow.

railbird

noun
  1. A rail or similar bird
  2. A gambler; originally specifically a horseracing enthusiast

rial

noun
  1. The official currencies of Iran, Oman, and Yemen.
  2. An old gold coin of England.

ribald

noun
  1. An individual who is filthy or vulgar in nature.
adjective
  1. Coarsely, vulgarly, or lewdly amusing; referring to sexual matters in a rude or irreverent way.

rill

noun
  1. A very small brook; a streamlet.
verb
  1. To trickle, pour, or run like a small stream.
noun
  1. A long, narrow depression that resembles a channel, found on the surface of various lunar and planetary bodies.

airball

noun
  1. A shot that misses the backboard, rim and net entirely.
verb
  1. To throw an airball