NYT Spelling Bee Answers and Analysis

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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Click outside the pop-up to close it.

ache ↗
athlete ↗
athletic ↗
attach ↗
attache ↗
cache ↗
cachet ↗
catch ↗
catchall ↗
chai ↗
chalet ↗
chalice ↗
challah ↗
chat ↗
chattel ↗
cheat ↗
cheetah ↗
chia ↗
chic ↗
chica ↗
chichi ↗
chicle ↗
chili ↗
chill ↗
chit ↗
chitchat ↗
cliche ↗
each ↗
etch ↗
ethic ↗
ethical ↗
hail ↗
halal ↗
hale ↗
halite ↗
hall ↗
halt ↗
hatch ↗
hatchet ↗
hate ↗
hath ↗
hatha ↗
heal ↗
health ↗
heat ↗
heath ↗
hectic ↗
heel ↗
heliacal ↗
helical ↗
hell ↗
hellcat ↗
hiatal ↗
hill ↗
hilt ↗
hitch ↗
itch ↗
latch ↗
lath ↗
lathe ↗
leach ↗
lech ↗
leech ↗
lethal ↗
litchi ↗
lithe ↗
tach ↗
teach ↗
tech ↗
techie ↗
teeth ↗
teethe ↗
telehealth ↗
that ↗
thatch ↗
thee ↗
theta ↗
tilth ↗
tithe ↗

Words not in official answer list

Number of Pangrams: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 353

Number of Answers: 79

Points Needed for Genius: 247

Genius requires between 37 and 67 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 76% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 67% of the remaining points to reach genius.

Other days with this pangram:

November 26, 2022 (Center Letter: I)

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 353 was in the 98th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on August 14, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 79 possible answers rank it in the 100th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on February 01, 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 19, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.3.
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
booboo 125
boob 125
loon 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 123,463 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,142 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*:

achillea
aitch
alecithal
allheal
althaea
althea
cachaca
cachectic
calathea
calathi
caleche
caliche
catechetical
cathect
cathectic
chaeta
chaetae
chaetal
chalah
chaleh
challa
challie
chela
chelae
chelate
chetah
cheth
chiel
chile
chilli
chital
clach
eath
eche
echelle
echt
elhi
haet
haha
halacha
halachic
halala
halalah
hallah
hallal
hallel
hatchel
hectical
heil
heliac
helictite
heth
hila
hili
lahal
laich
laith
latchet
lathi
leachate
letch
lethe
lich
lichee
lichi
licht
lithia
lithic
tache
tallith
tathata
teth
thae
thali
thalli
thallic
theca
thecae
thecal
thecate
thetic
thetical
thill
titch
titchie

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

ache

No Definition Found.

athlete

No Definition Found.

athletic

No Definition Found.

attach

No Definition Found.

attache

No Definition Found.

cache

No Definition Found.

cachet

No Definition Found.

catch

No Definition Found.

catchall

No Definition Found.

chai

No Definition Found.

chalet

No Definition Found.

chalice

No Definition Found.

challah

No Definition Found.

chat

No Definition Found.

chattel

No Definition Found.

cheat

No Definition Found.

cheetah

No Definition Found.

chia

No Definition Found.

chic

No Definition Found.

chica

No Definition Found.

chichi

No Definition Found.

chicle

No Definition Found.

chili

No Definition Found.

chill

No Definition Found.

chit

No Definition Found.

chitchat

No Definition Found.

cliche

No Definition Found.

each

No Definition Found.

etch

No Definition Found.

ethic

No Definition Found.

ethical

No Definition Found.

hail

No Definition Found.

halal

No Definition Found.

hale

No Definition Found.

halite

No Definition Found.

hall

No Definition Found.

halt

No Definition Found.

hatch

No Definition Found.

hatchet

No Definition Found.

hate

No Definition Found.

hath

No Definition Found.

heal

No Definition Found.

health

No Definition Found.

heat

No Definition Found.

heath

No Definition Found.

hectic

No Definition Found.

heel

No Definition Found.

heliacal

No Definition Found.

helical

No Definition Found.

hell

No Definition Found.

hellcat

No Definition Found.

hiatal

No Definition Found.

hill

No Definition Found.

hilt

No Definition Found.

hitch

No Definition Found.

itch

No Definition Found.

latch

No Definition Found.

lath

No Definition Found.

lathe

No Definition Found.

leach

No Definition Found.

lech

No Definition Found.

leech

No Definition Found.

lethal

No Definition Found.

litchi

No Definition Found.

lithe

No Definition Found.

tach

No Definition Found.

teach

No Definition Found.

tech

No Definition Found.

techie

No Definition Found.

teeth

No Definition Found.

teethe

No Definition Found.

that

noun

Something being indicated that is there; one of those.

adverb

(degree) To a given extent or degree.
(degree) To a great extent or degree; very, particularly (in negative constructions).
To such an extent; so. (in positive constructions).

pronoun

(demonstrative) The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action or time indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote geographically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "this", or if expressing distinction.
The known (thing); used to refer to something just said.
(demonstrative) The aforementioned quality or proposition; used to emphatically affirm or deny a previous statement or question.
(relative) (plural that) Which, who; representing a subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition.
Used in place of relative adverbs such as where or when; often omitted.

conjunction

Introducing a clause which is the subject or object of a verb (such as one involving reported speech), or which is a complement to a previous statement.
Introducing a subordinate clause expressing a reason or cause: because, in that.
Introducing a subordinate clause that expresses an aim, purpose or goal ("final"), and usually contains the auxiliaries may, might or should: so, so that.
Introducing — especially, but not exclusively, with an antecedent like so or such — a subordinate clause expressing a result, consequence or effect.
Introducing a premise or supposition for consideration: seeing as; inasmuch as; given that; as would appear from the fact that.
Introducing a subordinate clause modifying an adverb.
Introducing an exclamation expressing a desire or wish.
Introducing an exclamation expressing a strong emotion such as sadness or surprise.

thatch

No Definition Found.

thee

No Definition Found.

theta

No Definition Found.

tilth

No Definition Found.

tithe

No Definition Found.

hatha

No Definition Found.

telehealth

No Definition Found.