Friday, September 19, 2025

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: 128

Number of Answers: 36

Points Needed for Genius: 90

Genius requires between 13 and 33 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 128 was in the 28th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on September 12, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 36 possible answers rank it in the 41st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on September 18, 2025.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 8, 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 September 11, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.0.
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 213
  • loll 203
  • toot 196
  • naan 179
  • nana 179
  • lilt 144
  • till 144
  • tilt 144
  • nene 139
  • tint 139
  • mama 137
  • mamma 137
  • acacia 133
  • acai 133
  • onto 130
  • toon 130
  • onion 126
  • anal 121
  • anon 121
  • dodo 117
  • tact 117
  • olio 116
  • boob 115
  • booboo 115
  • baba 114
  • papa 113
  • poop 113
  • lull 111
  • lulu 111
  • call 109
  • calla 109
  • mitt 108
  • mono 107
  • moon 107
  • ratatat 107
  • tart 107
  • tartar 107
  • tutu 107
  • attar 106
  • cocci 106
  • tattoo 106
  • allay 105
  • ally 105
  • loon 105
  • tatty 105
  • ammo 104
  • momma 104
  • epee 101
  • peep 101
  • cancan 99


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 106,956 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,791 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*:

  • elhi
  • eolipile
  • eolopile
  • epopee
  • ghillie
  • gighe
  • gillie
  • gleg
  • goolie
  • heigh
  • heil
  • helio
  • helo
  • higgle
  • hoolie
  • hoopoe
  • hopple
  • lipe
  • loggie
  • looie
  • oilhole
  • pele
  • pepo
  • piggie
  • pilei
  • pollee
  • popple

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

elope

verb
  1. (of a married person) To run away from home with a paramour.
  2. (of an unmarried person) To run away secretly for the purpose of getting married with one's intended spouse; to marry in a quick or private fashion, especially without a public period of engagement.
  3. To run away from home (for any reason).

epee

noun
  1. A sharp-pointed dueling sword with a bell-shaped guard, used (with the end blunted) in sport fencing.

epilog

noun
  1. A short speech, spoken directly at the audience at the end of a play
  2. The performer who gives this speech
  3. A brief oration or script at the end of a literary piece; an afterword
  4. A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to return from a routine.

gelee

No Definition Found.

ghee

noun
  1. A type of clarified butter used in South Asian cooking; usli ghee.
  2. Vegetable oil for cooking.

giggle

noun
  1. A high-pitched, silly laugh.
  2. Fun; an amusing episode.
verb
  1. To laugh gently or in a high-pitched voice; to laugh in a silly or giddy way.

glee

noun
  1. Joy; happiness great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
  2. Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
  3. An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.
verb
  1. To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).

goggle

noun
  1. A wide-eyed stare or affected rolling of the eye.
  2. (in the plural) A pair of protective eyeglasses.
verb
  1. To stare (at something) with wide eyes.
  2. To roll the eyes.

google

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To deliver googlies.
  2. To move as a ball in a googly.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An Internet search, such as those performed on the Google search engine.
  2. A match obtained by a query in the Google search engine.
verb
  1. To search for (something) on the Internet using the Google search engine.
  2. (by extension) To search for (something) on the Internet using any comprehensive search engine.
  3. To be locatable in a search of the Internet.

heel

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
  2. The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.
  3. The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.
  4. The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.
  5. (usually in the plural) A woman's high-heeled shoe.
  6. The back, upper part of the stock.
  7. The last or lowest part of anything.
  8. A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
  9. The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.
  10. A contemptible, inconsiderate or thoughtless person.
  11. A headlining wrestler regarded as a "bad guy," whose ring persona embodies villainous or reprehensible traits and demonstrates characteristics of a braggart and a bully.
  12. The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
  13. Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
  14. The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
  15. (specifically) The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
  16. (workman slang) A cyma reversa.
  17. The short side of an angled cut.
  18. The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
  19. The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the toe (upper end).
  20. In a carding machine, the part of a flat nearest the cylinder.
verb
  1. To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.
  2. To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
  3. To kick with the heel.
  4. To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.
  5. To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
  6. To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
  7. To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant.
verb
  1. To incline to one side; to tilt.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.
  2. To become better or healthy again.
  3. To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt.
verb
  1. To hide, conceal, and keep secret, especially for a secret society (such as the masons).
  2. (now especially in the phrase "hele in") To cover or conceal (a seedling, plant, roots, etc).

hell

No Definition Found.

hellhole

noun
  1. A place of intense hatred, misery, or turmoil.

hello

noun
  1. "Hello!" or an equivalent greeting.
verb
  1. To greet with "hello".
interjection
  1. A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.
  2. A greeting used when answering the telephone.
  3. A call for response if it is not clear if anyone is present or listening, or if a telephone conversation may have been disconnected.
  4. Used sarcastically to imply that the person addressed or referred to has done something the speaker or writer considers to be foolish.
  5. An expression of puzzlement or discovery.

help

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Action given to provide assistance; aid.
  2. (usually uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
  3. Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
  4. (usually uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
  5. Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To provide assistance to (someone or something).
  2. To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.
  3. To contribute in some way to.
  4. To provide assistance.
  5. To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.
interjection
  1. A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance

hippie

noun
  1. (1950s slang) A teenager who imitated the beatniks.
  2. (1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era) One who chooses not to conform to prevailing social norms: especially one who subscribes to values or actions such as acceptance or self-practice of recreational drug use, liberal or radical sexual mores, advocacy of communal living, strong pacifism or anti-war sentiment, etc.
  3. (modern slang) A person who keeps an unkempt or sloppy appearance and wearing unusually long hair (for males), and because of it, often stereotyped as a deadbeat.
  4. Someone who dresses in a hippie style.
  5. One who is hip.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to hippies.
  2. Not conforming to generally accepted standards.

hole

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; an opening in or through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent; a fissure.
  2. (heading) In games.
  3. An excavation pit or trench.
  4. A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
  5. A container or receptacle.
  6. In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
  7. A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
  8. An orifice, in particular the anus. When used with shut it always refers to the mouth.
  9. (particularly in the phrase "get one's hole") Sex, or a sex partner.
  10. (with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.
  11. An undesirable place to live or visit; a hovel.
  12. Difficulty, in particular, debt.
  13. A chordless cycle in a graph.
verb
  1. To make holes in (an object or surface).
  2. (by extension) To destroy.
  3. To go into a hole.
  4. To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.
  5. To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Entire, undivided.
  2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.
  3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.
  4. As yet unworked.

hope

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might.
  2. To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
  3. To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in.
  4. To wish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
  2. The actual thing wished for.
  3. A person or thing that is a source of hope.
  4. The virtuous desire for future good.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a comb.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
  2. A small bay; an inlet; a haven.

liege

noun
  1. A free and independent person; specifically, a lord paramount; a sovereign.
  2. (in full liege lord) A king or lord.
  3. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
adjective
  1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance.
  2. Serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, such as a vassal to his lord; faithful.
  3. Full; perfect; complete; pure.

loge

noun
  1. A booth or stall.
  2. The lodge of a concierge.
  3. An upscale seating region in a modern concert hall or sports venue, often in the back lower tier, or on a separate tier above the mezzanine.
  4. An exclusive box or seating region in older theaters and opera houses, having wider, softer, and more widely spaced seats than in the gallery.

logophile

noun
  1. One who loves words; a word buff.

loophole

noun
  1. A slit in a castle wall; today, any similar window for shooting a ranged weapon or letting in light.
  2. A method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule or law that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.
verb
  1. To prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers
  2. To exploit (a law, etc.) by means of loopholes.

lope

noun
  1. An easy pace with long strides.
verb
  1. To travel an easy pace with long strides.
  2. To jump, leap.

ogee

noun
  1. A double curve in the shape of an elongated S; an object of that shape
  2. A pointed arch made from two ogees
  3. An inflection point.
  4. (aesthetic facial surgery) The malar or cheekbone prominence transitioning into the mid-cheek hollow.
  5. (distillation) The bubble-shaped chamber of a pot still that connects the swan neck to the pot and allows distillate to expand, condense, and fall back into the pot.

ogle

noun
  1. An impertinent, flirtatious, amorous or covetous stare.
  2. (usually in the plural) An eye.
verb
  1. To stare at (someone or something), especially impertinently, amorously, or covetously.

oleo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The various fats and oils that go into the making of margarine.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Margarine

ollie

noun
  1. An aerial maneuver in which one catches air by leaping off the ground with the skateboard and into the air.
verb
  1. To perform an ollie.

peel

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (usually uncountable) The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.
  2. The action of peeling away from a formation.
  3. A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.
verb
  1. To remove the skin or outer covering of.
  2. To remove something from the outer or top layer of.
  3. To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way.
  4. To remove one's clothing.
  5. To move, separate (off or away).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A stake.
  2. A fence made of stakes; a stockade.
  3. A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A shovel or similar instrument, now especially a pole with a flat disc at the end used for removing pizza or loaves of bread from a baker's oven.
  2. A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
  3. The blade of an oar.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. An equal or match; a draw.
  2. A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.
verb
  1. To play a peel shot.

Etymology 5

verb
  1. To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).

Etymology 6

verb
  1. To plunder; to pillage, rob.

Etymology 7

noun
  1. A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin.

peep

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A quiet sound, particularly one from a baby bird.
  2. A feeble utterance or complaint.
  3. The sound of a steam engine's whistle; typically shrill.
  4. A kind of bird; a sandpiper.
verb
  1. To make a soft, shrill noise like a baby bird.
  2. To speak briefly with a quiet voice.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A quick look or glimpse, especially a furtive one.
  2. The first partial appearance of something; a beginning to appear.
verb
  1. To look, especially through a narrow opening, or while trying not to be seen or noticed.
  2. To begin to appear; to look forth from concealment; to make the first appearance.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A spot on a die or domino.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. Person.

peephole

noun
  1. A small hole, opening or piece of glass, especially in a door, through which one can look without being seen.

people

noun
  1. Used as plural of person; a body of human beings considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.
  2. Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.
  3. A group of persons regarded as being employees, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler.
  4. One's colleagues or employees.
  5. A person's ancestors, relatives or family.
  6. The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.
verb
  1. To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate.
  2. To become populous or populated.
  3. To inhabit; to occupy; to populate.
  4. To interact with people; to socialize.
noun
  1. An individual; usually a human being.
  2. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
  3. Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
  4. The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
  5. (grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom he or she is speaking. See grammatical person.
  6. A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.

piehole

noun
  1. Mouth.

pile

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
  2. A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
  3. A mass formed in layers.
  4. A funeral pile; a pyre.
  5. A large amount of money.
  6. A large building, or mass of buildings.
  7. A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
  8. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
  9. An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.
  10. The reverse (or tails) of a coin.
  11. A list or league
verb
  1. (often used with the preposition "up") To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate
  2. To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
  3. To add something to a great number.
  4. (of vehicles) To create a hold-up.
  5. To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A dart; an arrow.
  2. The head of an arrow or spear.
  3. A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
  4. One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
verb
  1. To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (usually in the plural) A hemorrhoid.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. Hair, especially when very fine or short; the fine underfur of certain animals. (Formerly countable, now treated as a collective singular.)
  2. The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric; the nap of a cloth.
verb
  1. To give a pile to; to make shaggy.

pipe

noun
  1. Meanings relating to a wind instrument.
  2. Meanings relating to a hollow conduit.
  3. Meanings relating to a container.
  4. Meanings relating to something resembling a tube.
  5. Meanings relating to computing.
  6. Meanings relating to a smoking implement.
verb
  1. To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute.
  2. To shout loudly and at high pitch.
  3. To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle.
  4. Of a metal ingot: to become hollow in the process of solidifying.
  5. To convey or transport (something) by means of pipes.
  6. To install or configure with pipes.
  7. To dab moisture away from.
  8. To lead or conduct as if by pipes, especially by wired transmission.
  9. To directly feed (the output of one program) as input to another program, indicated by the pipe character (pipe) at the command line.
  10. To create or decorate with piping (icing).
  11. To order or signal by a note pattern on a boatswain's pipe.
  12. (of a male) To have sexual intercourse with a female.
  13. To see.

plie

noun
  1. A smooth and continuous bending of the knees

pole

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.
  2. A type of basic fishing rod.
  3. A long sports implement used for pole-vaulting; now made of glassfiber or carbon fiber, formerly also metal, bamboo and wood have been used.
  4. (spotting) A telescope used to identify birds, aeroplanes or wildlife.
  5. A unit of length, equal to a rod (1/4 chain or 5 1/2 yards).
  6. Pole position.
  7. A gun.
  8. A penis
verb
  1. To propel by pushing with poles, to push with a pole.
  2. To identify something quite precisely using a telescope.
  3. To furnish with poles for support.
  4. To convey on poles.
  5. To stir, as molten glass, with a pole.
  6. To strike (the ball) very hard.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Either of the two points on the earth's surface around which it rotates; also, similar points on any other rotating object.
  2. A point of magnetic focus, especially each of the two opposing such points of a magnet (designated north and south).
  3. A fixed point relative to other points or lines.
  4. A contact on an electrical device (such as a battery) at which electric current enters or leaves.
  5. For a meromorphic function f(z), any point a for which f(z) \rightarrow \infty as z \rightarrow a.
  6. The firmament; the sky.
  7. Either of the states that characterize a bipolar disorder.
verb
  1. To induce piezoelectricity in (a substance) by aligning the dipoles.

pope

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
  2. (Coptic Church) An honorary title of the Coptic bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his church.
  3. An honorary title of the Orthodox bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his autocephalous church.
  4. Any bishop of the early Christian church.
  5. The ruffe, a small Eurasian freshwater fish (Gymnocephalus cernua); others of its genus.
  6. (Cumberland) The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica).
  7. The painted bunting (Passerina ciris).
  8. The red-cowled cardinal (Paroaria dominicana).
verb
  1. To act as or like a pope.
  2. To convert to Roman Catholicism.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (alcoholic beverages) Any mulled wine (traditionally including tokay) considered similar and superior to bishop.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (Russian Orthodoxy) A Russian Orthodox priest; a parson.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The whippoorwill (Caprimulgus vociferus).
  2. The nighthawk (Chordeiles minor).