Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for August 20, 2023

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

Words51
Pangrams2
Points possible220
Center letterT
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published August 20, 2023·3 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.

CO
ITL
NU

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
18 pts
Good
33 pts
Solid
55 pts
Nice
88 pts
Great
110 pts
Amazing
154 pts
Genius
187 pts
Queen Bee
220 pts
Total words
51
Pangrams
2
Possible points
220

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 2 pangrams
locution +15 ptslinocut +14 pts

The full word list

All 51 valid Spelling Bee solutions for August 20, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters22 words
clotcoltcootcultintoliltlintlootloutontotilltilttinttoiltolltooltoontoottouttutuunitunto
5 letters11 words
cloutcountlicitlottotincttonictunictuttiuncutunlituntil
6 letters7 words
cottonculticcutoutintuitlotionnotionoccult
7 letters6 words
coconutconcoctillicitlinocuttuitionunction
8 letters1 word
locution
9 letters3 words
cotillionintuitionoctillion
10 letters1 word
concoction

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.

locution +15linocut +14concoction +10cotillion +9intuition +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for August 20, 2023 has 51 valid words for a total of 220 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 187 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.