Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for February 22, 2026

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

Words42
Pangrams1
Points possible212
Center letterL
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published February 22, 2026·3 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.

UN
ILK
GR

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
17 pts
Good
32 pts
Solid
53 pts
Nice
85 pts
Great
106 pts
Amazing
149 pts
Genius
181 pts
Queen Bee
212 pts
Total words
42
Pangrams
1
Possible points
212

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
lurking +14 pts

The full word list

All 42 valid Spelling Bee solutions for February 22, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters14 words
gillgirlgluggullkillkilnlinklulllululunglunklurknullrill
5 letters3 words
grillknurlkrill
6 letters8 words
gluinglikinglininglugingluringrilingrulingunlink
7 letters9 words
gillinggullinginklingkillinglinkinglugginglullinglunginglurking
8 letters7 words
gigglingglugginggrillinggurglinglinguininigglingunliking
9 letters1 word
unlinking

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.

lurking +14unlinking +9giggling +8glugging +8grilling +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for February 22, 2026 has 42 valid words for a total of 212 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 181 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.