Spelling Bee · Monday

Spelling Bee Answers for August 31, 2020

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

Words41
Pangrams1
Points possible160
Center letterO
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published August 31, 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.

CK
AOT
BU

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
13 pts
Good
24 pts
Solid
40 pts
Nice
64 pts
Great
80 pts
Amazing
112 pts
Genius
136 pts
Queen Bee
160 pts
Total words
41
Pangrams
1
Possible points
160

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
outback +14 pts

The full word list

All 41 valid Spelling Bee solutions for August 31, 2020, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters19 words
autoboatbobabockboobbookbootboutcoatcocacockcookcootkooktacotocktooktoottout
5 letters8 words
abbotaboutbuckocacaocoactcocoakabobtaboo
6 letters6 words
baobabbobcatbooboocuckoocutouttattoo
7 letters6 words
buttockcatboatcookoutoutbacktobaccotoccata
8 letters2 words
cockatoocookbook

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.

outback +14cockatoo +8cookbook +8buttock +7catboat +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for August 31, 2020 has 41 valid words for a total of 160 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 136 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.