Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for July 9, 2023

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

Words48
Pangrams2
Points possible309
Center letterC
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published July 9, 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.

IN
DCE
FT

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
25 pts
Good
47 pts
Solid
78 pts
Nice
124 pts
Great
155 pts
Amazing
217 pts
Genius
263 pts
Queen Bee
309 pts
Total words
48
Pangrams
2
Possible points
309

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 2 pangrams
deficient +16 ptsinfected +15 pts

The full word list

All 48 valid Spelling Bee solutions for July 9, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters6 words
cedecentcitediceicednice
5 letters8 words
cededciteddeicedicededictfenceniecetinct
6 letters12 words
deceitdecentdecidedefectdeiceddetecteffectenticefencedinciteindictinfect
7 letters7 words
decideddeficitdeicideedificeeideticenticedincited
8 letters10 words
citifieddecedentdefecteddetecteddieteticeffectedincidentindecentindictedinfected
9 letters3 words
deficientefficientincidence
10 letters1 word
diffidence
11 letters1 word
inefficient

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.

deficient +16infected +15inefficient +11diffidence +10efficient +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for July 9, 2023 has 48 valid words for a total of 309 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 263 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.