Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for December 20, 2024

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

Words47
Pangrams1
Points possible178
Center letterB
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published December 20, 2024·3 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.

AL
OBW
EP

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
15 pts
Good
27 pts
Solid
45 pts
Nice
72 pts
Great
89 pts
Amazing
125 pts
Genius
152 pts
Queen Bee
178 pts
Total words
47
Pangrams
1
Possible points
178

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
plowable +15 pts

The full word list

All 47 valid Spelling Bee solutions for December 20, 2024, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters23 words
ablebabababebaleballbawlbeepbellblabblewblobblowbobabolabollboloboobboopbowllobelobooboepleb
5 letters10 words
babelbebopbellebelowbleepbloopbowelelbowlabelplebe
6 letters8 words
babblebaobabbellowbobblebooboobowwowpebblewobble
7 letters1 word
lowball
8 letters3 words
palpablepeelableplowable
9 letters1 word
allowable
10 letters1 word
appealable

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.

plowable +15appealable +10allowable +9palpable +8peelable +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for December 20, 2024 has 47 valid words for a total of 178 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 152 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.