Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for February 16, 2024

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

Words46
Pangrams1
Points possible223
Center letterE
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published February 16, 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.

DT
CEX
AV

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
34 pts
Solid
56 pts
Nice
90 pts
Great
112 pts
Amazing
157 pts
Genius
190 pts
Queen Bee
223 pts
Total words
46
Pangrams
1
Possible points
223

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
excavated +16 pts

The full word list

All 46 valid Spelling Bee solutions for February 16, 2024, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters12 words
acedaxedcavecededatedeaddeedeaveexecteatteedtext
5 letters13 words
actedaddedcadetcavedcededdatedeavedevadeexacttacettaxedvaxedvexed
6 letters13 words
accedecaveatdecadedeededdetectevadedexactaexceedtattedtextedvacatevaxxedvetted
7 letters4 words
accededacetateexactedvacated
8 letters3 words
detectedexcavateexceeded
9 letters1 word
excavated

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.

excavated +16detected +8excavate +8exceeded +8acceded +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for February 16, 2024 has 46 valid words for a total of 223 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 190 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.