Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 23, 2021

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

Words61
Pangrams1
Points possible228
Center letterE
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 23, 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.

NO
VEL
TB

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
19 pts
Good
35 pts
Solid
57 pts
Nice
92 pts
Great
114 pts
Amazing
160 pts
Genius
194 pts
Queen Bee
228 pts
Total words
61
Pangrams
1
Possible points
228

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
benevolent +17 pts

The full word list

All 61 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 23, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters29 words
beenbeetbellbeltbentboneebonevenlentlobeloneloveneneneonnoelnonenoteoboeoleooventeentelltenttonetoteventvetovolevote
5 letters14 words
bellebentobetelbeveleventlentoleveelevelnoblenonetnoveltenettenontonne
6 letters12 words
beetlebobblebonnetbooteebotnetbottleelevenevolvenettletelnettootlevelvet
7 letters2 words
ennobleentente
8 letters1 word
nonevent
9 letters2 words
novelettevelveteen
10 letters1 word
benevolent

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.

benevolent +17novelette +9velveteen +9nonevent +8ennoble +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 23, 2021 has 61 valid words for a total of 228 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 194 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.