Spelling Bee · Thursday

Spelling Bee Answers for March 18, 2021

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

Words52
Pangrams1
Points possible222
Center letterA
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published March 18, 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.

IL
OAG
CB

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
18 pts
Good
34 pts
Solid
56 pts
Nice
89 pts
Great
111 pts
Amazing
156 pts
Genius
189 pts
Queen Bee
222 pts
Total words
52
Pangrams
1
Possible points
222

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
biological +17 pts

The full word list

All 52 valid Spelling Bee solutions for March 18, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters20 words
acaiagogalgabababailballblabbobabolacallciaocoalcocacolagagagalagallgliagoallaic
5 letters15 words
abaciaboilaiolialgalalibicabalcacaocallaciliacocoaglialiliaclabialilaclocal
6 letters8 words
acaciabaobabcabalacalicocloacagloballabiallaical
7 letters3 words
bacilliglaciallogical
8 letters4 words
biblicalbilabialboogaloocallaloo
9 letters1 word
illogical
10 letters1 word
biological

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.

biological +17illogical +9biblical +8bilabial +8boogaloo +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for March 18, 2021 has 52 valid words for a total of 222 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 189 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.