Spelling Bee · Tuesday

Spelling Bee Answers for August 18, 2020

The complete word list, every pangram, and the seven letters of the hive for today's NYT Spelling Bee. Hand-checked at release.

Words63
Pangrams1
Points possible226
Center letterL
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published August 18, 2020·3 min read

Hand-checked every word in this list against the live Spelling Bee on the morning of release. Spotted an error?

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Today's seven letters

The center letter is yellow and must appear in every valid word. The six surrounding letters are optional. Every word in the puzzle is at least four letters long.

OA
NLB
EK

Stats & rank thresholds

The Spelling Bee scoring tops out at Queen Bee — the rank you earn for finding every word, including all pangrams. Here are today's point thresholds:

Beginner
0 pts
Moving Up
19 pts
Good
34 pts
Solid
57 pts
Nice
91 pts
Great
113 pts
Amazing
159 pts
Genius
193 pts
Queen Bee
226 pts
Total words
63
Pangrams
1
Possible points
226

Pangrams

A pangram uses all seven letters from today's hive at least once. Each pangram is worth its letter count + a 7-point bonus.

Today's 1 pangram
anklebone +16 pts

The full word list

All 63 valid Spelling Bee solutions for August 18, 2020, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters31 words
ablealoeanalbalebalkballbellblabblobbolabollboloelankalekeelkolalakelanelankleakleanleekloanlobelobololllonelookloonnoeloleo
5 letters16 words
aloneankleannalbabelbanalbelleblankbleakblokekneelknellknollkoalalabelllanonoble
6 letters9 words
alkanealkenealleleannealbabblebaleenbobbleenablekennel
7 letters3 words
abaloneballoonennoble
8 letters3 words
bankablebeanballloanable
9 letters1 word
anklebone

Top-scoring words today

The five words worth the most points in today's puzzle — mostly pangrams and long compound words. These alone can push you over the Genius threshold.

anklebone +16bankable +8beanball +8loanable +8abalone +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for August 18, 2020 has 63 valid words for a total of 226 possible points. Hitting Queen Bee means finding every single one. The Genius threshold is roughly 85 percent of the total, so today that's about 193 pts.

Stuck on a clue? Jump back to the Spelling Bee hub for strategy tips, the rank-by-rank breakdown, the full archive, and an explainer on how the NYT picks each day's seven letters.

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Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.