Spelling Bee · Tuesday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 23, 2023

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

Words65
Pangrams3
Points possible347
Center letterB
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 23, 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.

LA
MBE
IC

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
28 pts
Good
53 pts
Solid
87 pts
Nice
139 pts
Great
174 pts
Amazing
243 pts
Genius
295 pts
Queen Bee
347 pts
Total words
65
Pangrams
3
Possible points
347

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 3 pangrams
climbable +16 ptsclaimable +16 ptsamicable +15 pts

The full word list

All 65 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 23, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters16 words
ablebabababebailbaleballbalmbeambellbilebillblabblamiamblamblimb
5 letters18 words
abacialibiambleamebababelbeliebellebibleblamecabalcablecelebclimbiambilabellabialibelmamba
6 letters15 words
amebaeamebicbabblebaileebecamecabalacabbieembalmemblemiambicimbibelabiallabileliablelimbic
7 letters3 words
amiablebacillilibelee
8 letters8 words
amicablebiblicalbilabialbillableblamablecallableimbecilemailable
9 letters5 words
blameableclaimableclimbableimbecilicmalleable

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.

claimable +16climbable +16amicable +15blameable +9imbecilic +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 23, 2023 has 65 valid words for a total of 347 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 295 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.