Spelling Bee · Thursday

Spelling Bee Answers for January 8, 2026

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

Words64
Pangrams1
Points possible299
Center letterA
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published January 8, 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.

ME
DAI
TY

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
24 pts
Good
45 pts
Solid
75 pts
Nice
120 pts
Great
150 pts
Amazing
210 pts
Genius
255 pts
Queen Bee
299 pts
Total words
64
Pangrams
1
Possible points
299

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
daytime +14 pts

The full word list

All 64 valid Spelling Bee solutions for January 8, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters20 words
aideamiddamedatadatedeaddyadideaimammademaidmaimmamamatemeadmeatmetatameteamteat
5 letters17 words
addedadmitaidedaimedamitydaddydatededemamadammammamatedmateymattemeatymediatamedtatty
6 letters12 words
dammeddammitdiademideatemadamemaimedmattedmaydaymiddaytatamitattedteamed
7 letters7 words
daytimedeadeyeedamameideatedimitatemediateteatime
8 letters6 words
admittedimitatedmediatedmeditatemetadatateammate
9 letters2 words
immediatemeditated

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.

daytime +14immediate +9meditated +9admitted +8imitated +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for January 8, 2026 has 64 valid words for a total of 299 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 255 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.