Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 3, 2026

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

Words69
Pangrams1
Points possible383
Center letterC
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 3, 2026·3 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.

TU
RCN
OA

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
31 pts
Good
58 pts
Solid
96 pts
Nice
154 pts
Great
192 pts
Amazing
269 pts
Genius
326 pts
Queen Bee
383 pts
Total words
69
Pangrams
1
Possible points
383

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
turncoat +15 pts

The full word list

All 69 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 3, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters13 words
arcocantcartcoatcocacootcorncroccurtnarcorcatacotact
5 letters14 words
acornactorcacaocannacanoncaratcocoacountcourtcroonnarcooccurtractuncut
6 letters17 words
arcanacancancannoncannotcantoncantorcarrotcartoncocoonconcurcoronacottoncutoutoctantrancorrococotoucan
7 letters16 words
accountattractcantatacartooncoconutconcoctcontactcontortcontourcroutoncuracaocuratorcurrantraccoontoccatatractor
8 letters5 words
actuatorautocratcataractcontractturncoat
9 letters1 word
attractor
10 letters3 words
accountantattractantcontractor

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.

turncoat +15accountant +10attractant +10contractor +10attractor +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 3, 2026 has 69 valid words for a total of 383 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 326 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.