Spelling Bee · Monday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 3, 2021

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

Words44
Pangrams2
Points possible247
Center letterT
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 3, 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.

AC
ITV
EP

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
20 pts
Good
38 pts
Solid
62 pts
Nice
99 pts
Great
124 pts
Amazing
173 pts
Genius
210 pts
Queen Bee
247 pts
Total words
44
Pangrams
2
Possible points
247

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
captivate +16 ptscaptive +14 pts

The full word list

All 44 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 3, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters9 words
citepactpatepeatpitatacttapatapeteat
5 letters10 words
atticcacticivetevictpetitpipetpipittacettacittepee
6 letters12 words
acceptaceticactiveaviatecaveatpepitapepticpetitetacticteepeetippetvacate
7 letters7 words
acetatecaptiveevicteepiccatapipettepitapatvitiate
8 letters3 words
activateappetitetitivate
9 letters1 word
captivate
10 letters2 words
appetitivecapacitate

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.

captivate +16captive +14appetitive +10capacitate +10activate +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 3, 2021 has 44 valid words for a total of 247 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 210 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.