Spelling Bee Answers — today's word list, every pangram, and the hive.
Every NYT Spelling Bee puzzle, hand-checked the morning it releases. Today's seven letters, pangrams, complete word list and the full archive going back.
Today's Spelling Bee at a glance
The seven letters of the hive for June 22, 2026. The center letter is yellow and must appear in every word; the six outer letters are optional. There are 55 valid words today, including 1 pangram, for a total of 229 possible points. Hitting Genius today means earning at least 195 points.
This week at a glance
The last seven Spelling Bees we've indexed. Tap a date to see the full word list. Today is highlighted in gold.
What is the NYT Spelling Bee?
The NYT Spelling Bee is a daily word puzzle published by the New York Times. Every day at midnight you are given seven letters arranged in a honeycomb shape — one yellow center letter and six grey outer letters — and asked to make as many words as you can. The center letter must appear in every word, words must be at least four letters long, and letters can be re-used as often as you like.
The format is deceptively simple. Most days have between 25 and 80 valid solutions, ranging from short four-letter words worth a single point each to pangram-length compound words worth fifteen points or more. The full set is hand-curated by the Spelling Bee editor before release, so there's a definitive answer key — if a word isn't on the list, it isn't accepted in the game.
Spelling Bee first appeared as a weekend feature in the print New York Times Magazine in 2014, designed by puzzle constructor Frank Longo. The daily digital version launched in 2018 inside the NYT Games portfolio and is now edited by Sam Ezersky, who picks the seven letters, finalises the word list, and decides which solutions are common enough to count.
How to play — the full rule set
Spelling Bee's rules fit on a postcard but a few of them trip people up. Here's the complete list:
- Words must use the center letter. The yellow letter in the middle of the hive is mandatory in every valid solution.
- Words must be at least four letters long. Three-letter words are not accepted.
- Letters can repeat. The puzzle has seven distinct letters, but you can use any of them as many times as you need.
- No proper nouns, no profanity, no archaic words. NYC, Tokyo, and similar are out.
- No hyphens. Compound words must be spelled as one unbroken string of letters.
- Plurals are fine, but only if the singular doesn't end in S. ROAST/ROASTS is allowed. BUSY/BUSIES is not.
- Find every word for Queen Bee. The top rank, Queen Bee, requires finding 100 percent of the day's valid words.
Scoring
Each word's point value depends on length and whether it's a pangram:
- 4-letter word: 1 point
- 5+-letter word: 1 point per letter
- Pangram (uses all 7 letters): length + 7 bonus points.
That bonus is why pangrams are the single highest-value catch in the game. A typical day has one pangram; some days have two or three; rarely you'll see four. Each pangram on its own is usually worth between 14 and 25 points.
The Spelling Bee ranks
As you find words, you earn points, and as you earn points your rank ticks up. There are nine ranks in total, scaled as a percentage of the day's maximum possible points:
- Beginner — 0 points (everyone starts here).
- Good Start — 2% of total.
- Moving Up — 5% of total.
- Good — 8% of total.
- Solid — 15% of total.
- Nice — 25% of total.
- Great — 40% of total.
- Amazing — 50% of total.
- Genius — 70% of total. Most players who finish the puzzle stop here.
- Queen Bee — 100% of total. The full word list, including every pangram. Rare.
The Genius rank is the practical “completion” threshold most players target. Queen Bee is borderline obsessive territory.
Spelling Bee strategy
Most players get to Solid or Nice on instinct, then stall. Here's the strategy stack that consistently pushes us to Genius and, on most days, Queen Bee:
1. Find the pangram first
Every Spelling Bee has at least one pangram — a word using all seven letters. Look at the hive and try to make a single word from all of them before you do anything else. Pangrams jump you up two or three ranks in one move because of the +7 bonus.
2. Use the center letter as your anchor
Every valid word contains the center letter, so search by starting with the center letter and trying every possible adjacent letter.
3. Hunt for short -ING and -ED endings
If the hive contains the letters I, N, G or E, D, you can usually find a dozen short verbs ending in -ING or -ED.
4. Try every double-letter combination
The editor regularly includes words with doubled letters: BUSSED, NEEDED, LADDER. These are easy to miss.
5. Lean on common prefixes and suffixes
Re-, Un-, De- as prefixes; -tion, -ment, -ness as suffixes.
6. Save the obscurities for last
The difference between Genius and Queen Bee is often a small handful of weird words — think TARTAN, COTTA, RATATAT.
7. If you give up, the answer key is here
Stuck at Amazing with three words to go? Today's answer page lists every valid word grouped by length.
Common mistakes Spelling Bee players make
- Forgetting the center letter. The most common error is typing a word that doesn't use the yellow letter.
- Trying 3-letter words. Spelling Bee is 4+ letters only.
- Trying plurals of S-ending singulars. If the singular is BUS, the plural BUSES is allowed, but BUSSES with two Ss is not.
- Giving up at Amazing. The jump from Amazing to Genius is usually one or two specific words.
- Not using our answer pages as hints. Looking at the length breakdown alone is a powerful hint without spoiling the words themselves.
Spelling Bee spinoffs & alternatives
- Spelling Bee Forum — the official NYT comments thread.
- Sb Solver and Sbsolver.com — third-party tools that brute-force the word list.
- Beewords & Honey — unofficial clones with unlimited play modes.
- Wordhub — mobile honeycomb game with similar mechanics.
- NYT Connections, Strands, Wordle, Mini Crossword — if you like the Bee, the rest of the NYT Games roster will fill out your morning. Browse the Wordle hub or the daily answers table.
Frequently asked questions
What time does Spelling Bee reset?
The NYT Spelling Bee rolls over at 3am Eastern every day.
Is Spelling Bee free?
The game is free for the first portion of words each day and then asks for a subscription to unlock all ranks. Our answer pages here are free without any login.
How is the daily letter set chosen?
The editor (currently Sam Ezersky) picks the seven letters by hand each day, choosing combinations that yield between roughly 25 and 80 valid words.
Why aren't some words I tried in the list?
Spelling Bee uses a curated word list. Some legitimate English words are excluded because they're considered too obscure, too profane, or simply weren't added to the dictionary.
Can I play yesterday's Spelling Bee?
Not on the official site without a subscription, but every day's full word list is archived here on GameAnswers.com.
What's a pangram?
A word that uses all seven letters of the hive at least once. Each pangram earns the standard letter-count points plus a 7-point bonus.
How do you compile this answer list?
Maya plays the full puzzle to Queen Bee on release morning, cross-checks against the live game's word list, and publishes the page.
Spelling Bee archive
Every Spelling Bee we've indexed, grouped by month with the most recent first.
June 2026 (22)
May 2026 (31)
April 2026 (30)
March 2026 (31)
February 2026 (28)
January 2026 (31)
December 2025 (27)
If you like the Bee, try these next
The Spelling Bee is part of the wider New York Times Games lineup. If you're working through the morning queue, these are the most-played:
