Spelling Bee · Saturday

Spelling Bee Answers for January 9, 2021

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

Words71
Pangrams1
Points possible259
Center letterL
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published January 9, 2021·3 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.

CO
ALT
IK

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
21 pts
Good
39 pts
Solid
65 pts
Nice
104 pts
Great
130 pts
Amazing
182 pts
Genius
221 pts
Queen Bee
259 pts
Total words
71
Pangrams
1
Possible points
259

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
cocktail +15 pts

The full word list

All 71 valid Spelling Bee solutions for January 9, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters34 words
alitaltocallclotcoalcoilcolacoltcoolkillkilokiltkolalacklaiclickliltlocilocklocololllooklootoliotailtalctalitalktalltilltilttoiltolltool
5 letters20 words
aiolialackallotatiltatollcallaciliaclackclickcloakclockcoliciliackoalalicitlilaclocallottooctaltotal
6 letters7 words
alkalicalicocloacacoitalitaliclacticlaical
7 letters4 words
catcallcattailillicittoolkit
8 letters6 words
callaloocoattailcocktailocotillotacticaltailcoat

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.

cocktail +15callaloo +8coattail +8ocotillo +8tactical +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for January 9, 2021 has 71 valid words for a total of 259 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 221 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.