Wednesday, November 26, 2025

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: 180

Number of Answers: 37

Points Needed for Genius: 126

Genius requires between 18 and 31 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 76% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 67% 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 180 was in the 55th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on November 24, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 37 possible answers rank it in the 44th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on November 25, 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 a 7-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on November 23, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.6.
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 224
  • loll 208
  • toot 202
  • naan 184
  • nana 184
  • lilt 147
  • till 147
  • tilt 147
  • nene 144
  • tint 143
  • mama 141
  • mamma 141
  • onto 135
  • toon 135
  • acacia 134
  • acai 134
  • onion 134
  • anal 126
  • anon 125
  • olio 121
  • dodo 120
  • tact 118
  • baba 116
  • boob 116
  • booboo 116
  • papa 116
  • poop 115
  • lull 114
  • lulu 114
  • mitt 112
  • mono 112
  • moon 112
  • cocci 111
  • call 110
  • calla 110
  • ratatat 109
  • tart 109
  • tartar 109
  • tutu 109
  • attar 108
  • loon 108
  • allay 107
  • ally 107
  • ammo 107
  • momma 107
  • tattoo 106
  • tatty 106
  • epee 102
  • meme 102
  • peep 102


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 109,972 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,867 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
  • abaxial
  • abaxile
  • abelia
  • affixable
  • affixal
  • affixial
  • alible
  • alif
  • alliable
  • axil
  • axile
  • bailable
  • bailee
  • bailie
  • biali
  • biaxal
  • bibb
  • bibe
  • biflex
  • billie
  • exilable
  • faille
  • fila
  • fileable
  • fille
  • flexile
  • ilea
  • ileal
  • ilex
  • ilia
  • ilial
  • ixia
  • libellee
  • liblab
  • lief

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

affix

noun
  1. That which is affixed; an appendage.
  2. A bound morpheme added to the word’s stem's end.
  3. (broadly) A bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; a prefix, suffix etc.
  4. The complex number a+bi associated with the point in the Gauss plane with coordinates (a,b).
  5. (decorative art) Any small feature, as a figure, a flower, or the like, added for ornament to a vessel or other utensil, to an architectural feature.
verb
  1. To attach.
  2. To subjoin, annex, or add at the close or end; to append to.
  3. To fix or fasten figuratively; with on or upon.

alexia

noun
  1. Word blindness, the inability, due to a cerebral disorder, to comprehend or understand writing.

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.

axial

noun
  1. A flight feather that appears between the primaries and secondaries on some birds.
  2. A plane parallel to the surface of a tooth.
adjective
  1. Relating to, resembling, or situated on an axis
  2. Belonging to the axis of the body, or to the axis of any appendage or organ
  3. In the same direction as the axis, parallel to the axis.

axilla

noun
  1. The angle or point of divergence between the upper side of a branch, leaf, or petiole, and the stem or branch from which it springs.
noun
  1. The armpit, or the cavity beneath the junction of the arm and shoulder.

axillae

noun
  1. The angle or point of divergence between the upper side of a branch, leaf, or petiole, and the stem or branch from which it springs.
noun
  1. The armpit, or the cavity beneath the junction of the arm and shoulder.

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.)

bailiff

noun
  1. (law enforcement) An officer of the court, particularly:
  2. A public administrator, particularly:
  3. A private administrator, particularly
  4. Any debt collector, regardless of his or her official status.

belie

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To lie around; encompass.
  2. (of an army) To surround; beleaguer.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To tell lies about.
  2. To give a false representation of.
  3. To contradict, to show (something) to be false.
  4. To conceal the contradictory or ironic presence of (something).
  5. To show, evince, demonstrate: to show (something) to be present, particularly something deemed contradictory or ironic.
  6. To mimic; to counterfeit.
  7. To fill with lies.

belief

noun
  1. Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
  2. Faith or trust in the reality of something; often based upon one's own reasoning, trust in a claim, desire of actuality, and/or evidence considered.
  3. Something believed.
  4. The quality or state of believing.
  5. Religious faith.
  6. (in the plural) One's religious or moral convictions.

biaxial

adjective
  1. Having two axes
  2. Having a value in two perpendicular directions. [In solid mechanics it generally means that normal stresses exist in two of the possible three directions. Note that they do not have to be equal in sign or magnitude.]

bible

noun
  1. An exemplar of the Bible.
  2. A comprehensive manual that describes something. (e.g., handyman’s bible).
  3. (at certain US universities) A compilation of problems and solutions from previous years of a given course, used by some students to cheat on tests or assignments.
  4. Omasum, the third compartment of the stomach of ruminants
noun
  1. A piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the wooden decks of ships, usually with sand and seawater.
  2. A stone with a naturally-formed hole, used by Yorkshiremen for good luck.

biff

noun
  1. A sudden, sharp blow or punch.
  2. A wipeout.
verb
  1. To punch or hit.
  2. To discard; to throw out; to throw away.
  3. To wipe out; to faceplant; to fall.

bilabial

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

bile

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion.
  2. Bitterness of temper; ill humour; irascibility.
  3. Two of the four humours, black bile or yellow bile, in ancient and medieval physiology.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A boil (kind of swelling).
verb
  1. (of liquids) To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas.
  2. To cook in boiling water.
  3. (of liquids) To begin to turn into a gas, seethe.
  4. To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil.
  5. (used only in progressive tenses, of weather) To be uncomfortably hot.
  6. (used only in progressive tenses) To feel uncomfortably hot.
  7. To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation.
  8. To steep or soak in warm water.
  9. To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce.
  10. To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid.

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.

billable

noun
  1. Something that is billed for.
adjective
  1. Capable of being billed for.

exile

noun
  1. The state of being banished from one's home or country.
  2. Someone who is banished from their home or country.
verb
  1. To send into exile.

fail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
  2. A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)
  3. A failure (something incapable of success)
  4. A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
  5. A failing grade in an academic examination.
verb
  1. To be unsuccessful.
  2. Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
  3. To neglect.
  4. Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
  5. To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.
  6. To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
  7. To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
  8. To miss attaining; to lose.
  9. To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
  10. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
  11. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
  12. To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
  13. To perish; to die; used of a person.
  14. To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
  15. To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent.
adjective
  1. That is a failure.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A piece of turf cut from grassland.

fallible

adjective
  1. Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.

fief

noun
  1. An estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior.
  2. Something over which one has rights or exercises control.
  3. An area of dominion, especially in a corporate or governmental bureaucracy.

fife

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music
verb
  1. To play this instrument.

Etymology 2

numeral
  1. Used instead of five in radio communications to avoid confusion.

file

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A collection of papers collated and archived together.
  2. A roll or list.
  3. Course of thought; thread of narration.
  4. An aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name.
verb
  1. To commit (official papers) to some office.
  2. To place in an archive in a logical place and order
  3. To store a file (aggregation of data) on a storage medium such as a disc or another computer.
  4. (with for) To submit a formal request to some office.
  5. To set in order; to arrange, or lay away.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A column of people one behind another, whether "single file" or in a large group with many files side by side.
  2. A small detachment of soldiers.
  3. One of the eight vertical lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a letter). The analog horizontal lines are the ranks.
verb
  1. To move in a file.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hand tool consisting of a handle to which a block of coarse metal is attached, and used for removing sharp edges or for cutting, especially through metal.
  2. A cunning or resourceful person.
verb
  1. To smooth, grind, or cut with a file.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To defile
  2. To corrupt

filial

adjective
  1. Pertaining to or befitting a son or daughter.
  2. Respectful of the duties and attitudes of a son or daughter toward their parents.
  3. Of a generation or generations descending from a specific previous one.

fill

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To occupy fully, to take up all of.
  2. To add contents to (a container, cavity or the like) so that it is full.
  3. To enter (something), making it full.
  4. To become full.
  5. To become pervaded with something.
  6. To satisfy or obey (an order, request or requirement).
  7. To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
  8. To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
  9. To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
  10. To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
  11. (of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.
  2. An amount that fills a container.
  3. The filling of a container or area.
  4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.
  5. Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.
  6. An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.
  7. A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.

fillable

No Definition Found.

fixable

No Definition Found.

flail

noun
  1. A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
  2. A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
verb
  1. To beat using a flail or similar implement.
  2. To wave or swing vigorously
  3. To thresh.
  4. To move like a flail.

flexible

noun
  1. Something that is flexible.
adjective
  1. Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.
  2. Willing or prone to give way to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate.
  3. Capable or being adapted or molded in some way.

ibex

noun
  1. A type of wild mountain goat of the genus Capra, such as the species Capra ibex.

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.

labile

adjective
  1. Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
  2. Apt or likely to change.
  3. (of a compound or bond) Kinetically unstable; rapidly cleaved (and possibly reformed).
  4. (of a verb) Able to change valency without changing its form; especially, able to be used both transitively and intransitively without changing its form.

liable

adjective
  1. Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
  2. Subject; susceptible.
  3. Exposed to a certain contingency or causality, more or less probable.
  4. (as predicate, with "to" and an infinitive) likely.

libel

noun
  1. A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.
  2. The act or crime of displaying such a statement publicly.
  3. Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.
  4. A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of their cause of action, and of the relief they seek.
  5. A brief writing of any kind, especially a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc.
verb
  1. To defame someone, especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.
  2. To proceed against (a ship, goods, etc.) by filing a libel.

libelee

No Definition Found.

life

noun
  1. The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.
  2. The animating principle or force that keeps an inorganic thing or concept metaphorically alive (dynamic, relevant, etc) and makes it a "living document", "living constitution", etc.
  3. Lifeforms, generally or collectively.
  4. A living individual; the fact of a particular individual being alive. (Chiefly when indicating individuals were lost (died) or saved.)
  5. Existence.
  6. A period of time during which something has existence.
  7. Animation; spirit; vivacity.
  8. A biography.
  9. Nature, reality, and the forms that exist in it.
  10. An opportunity for existence.
  11. The life insurance industry.
  12. A life assured under a life assurance policy (equivalent to the policy itself for a single life contract).