Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 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.

Words55
Pangrams2
Points possible262
Center letterO
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 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?

Share:

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.

AN
IOH
LT

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
40 pts
Solid
66 pts
Nice
105 pts
Great
131 pts
Amazing
184 pts
Genius
223 pts
Queen Bee
262 pts
Total words
55
Pangrams
2
Possible points
262

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
annihilation +19 ptsinhalation +17 pts

The full word list

All 55 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 22, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters22 words
altoanonhaloholthootintoiotalionloanloinlollloonlootnoonoatholioontotoiltolltooltoontoot
5 letters14 words
aioliallotalohaanionatolllithollanoloathlottooniontalontonaltoothtotal
6 letters6 words
anointatonallotionnationnotiontattoo
7 letters2 words
annattolanolin
8 letters3 words
nationalnotationnotional
9 letters1 word
nonillion
10 letters5 words
annotationinhalationinitiationintonationnotational
11 letters1 word
titillation
12 letters1 word
annihilation

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.

annihilation +19inhalation +17titillation +11annotation +10initiation +10

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 22, 2026 has 55 valid words for a total of 262 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 223 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.

Share:

Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.