Spelling Bee · Thursday

Spelling Bee Answers for December 21, 2023

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

Words32
Pangrams1
Points possible101
Center letterL
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published December 21, 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.

RO
TLI
CV

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
9 pts
Good
16 pts
Solid
26 pts
Nice
41 pts
Great
51 pts
Amazing
71 pts
Genius
86 pts
Queen Bee
101 pts
Total words
32
Pangrams
1
Possible points
101

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
vitriolic +16 pts

The full word list

All 32 valid Spelling Bee solutions for December 21, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters20 words
clotcoilcoltcoolliltlocilocololllootoliorillroilrolltilltilttoiltolltoolviolvolt
5 letters7 words
civilcoliccolorlicitlottotrilltroll
7 letters2 words
illicitvitriol
8 letters2 words
rototilltricolor
9 letters1 word
vitriolic

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.

vitriolic +16rototill +8tricolor +8illicit +7vitriol +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for December 21, 2023 has 32 valid words for a total of 101 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 86 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.