Spelling Bee · Tuesday

Spelling Bee Answers for February 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.

Words27
Pangrams1
Points possible116
Center letterH
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published February 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.

TU
DHE
LC

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
10 pts
Good
18 pts
Solid
29 pts
Nice
47 pts
Great
58 pts
Amazing
82 pts
Genius
99 pts
Queen Bee
116 pts
Total words
27
Pangrams
1
Possible points
116

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
clutched +15 pts

The full word list

All 27 valid Spelling Bee solutions for February 21, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters11 words
etchheedheelheldhellhuedhulllechtechtheethud
5 letters4 words
chutehutchleechteeth
6 letters7 words
clutchetchedheededheeledhuddlehulledteethe
7 letters4 words
huddledleechedteethedthudded
8 letters1 word
clutched

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.

clutched +15huddled +7leeched +7teethed +7thudded +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for February 21, 2023 has 27 valid words for a total of 116 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 99 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.