Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 26, 2023

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

Words49
Pangrams1
Points possible221
Center letterC
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 26, 2023·3 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.

EL
BCO
KD

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
155 pts
Genius
188 pts
Queen Bee
221 pts
Total words
49
Pangrams
1
Possible points
221

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
blocked +14 pts

The full word list

All 49 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 26, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters18 words
beckblocbockcedecellclodcockcodecoedcokecoldcookcooldeckdecodocklockloco
5 letters8 words
blockboccecededcelebcelloclockcodedcooed
6 letters13 words
bedeckcelledcobblecockedcocklecoddlecookedcooleddeckeddeckledecodedockedlocked
7 letters5 words
blockedclockedcobbledcoddleddecoded
8 letters3 words
bedeckedcoldcockcookbook
9 letters1 word
cellblock
10 letters1 word
coldcocked

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.

blocked +14coldcocked +10cellblock +9bedecked +8coldcock +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 26, 2023 has 49 valid words for a total of 221 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 188 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.