Spelling Bee · Monday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 24, 2021

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

Words74
Pangrams6
Points possible406
Center letterI
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 24, 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.

PO
LIT
CA

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
33 pts
Good
61 pts
Solid
102 pts
Nice
163 pts
Great
203 pts
Amazing
285 pts
Genius
346 pts
Queen Bee
406 pts
Total words
74
Pangrams
6
Possible points
406

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 6 pangrams
apolitical +17 ptsoccipital +16 ptspolitical +16 ptstopical +14 ptscapitol +14 ptsoptical +14 pts

The full word list

All 74 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 24, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters20 words
acaialitciaoclipcoiliotalaicliltlipolocioliopailpicapillpitatailtalitilltilttoil
5 letters20 words
aioliatiltatticcacticiliacoaticoccicoliciliaclicitlilacopticpatiopicotpilotpipitplaitpoliotacittopic
6 letters9 words
acaciacalicocoitalitaliclacticlaicaloctopitactictiptop
7 letters14 words
capitalcapitolcattailcopilotillicitopticalpapillapiccatapiccolopitapatpolitictapiocatilapiatopical
8 letters8 words
capicolacoattaillollipopocotillopalatialpoliticotacticaltailcoat
9 letters2 words
occipitalpolitical
10 letters1 word
apolitical

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.

apolitical +17occipital +16political +16capitol +14optical +14

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 24, 2021 has 74 valid words for a total of 406 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 346 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.