Spelling Bee · Monday

Spelling Bee Answers for May 8, 2023

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

Words34
Pangrams1
Points possible173
Center letterC
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published May 8, 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.

BL
ACK
IF

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
14 pts
Good
26 pts
Solid
44 pts
Nice
70 pts
Great
87 pts
Amazing
122 pts
Genius
148 pts
Queen Bee
173 pts
Total words
34
Pangrams
1
Possible points
173

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
backfill +15 pts

The full word list

All 34 valid Spelling Bee solutions for May 8, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters8 words
acaibackcalfcallkicklacklaiclick
5 letters14 words
abaciabackalackblackcabalcallaciliaclackclickcliffflackflickiliaclilac
6 letters4 words
acaciacabalafaciallaical
7 letters1 word
bacilli
8 letters6 words
backfillbiblicalcallbackfallbackkickbackkickball
9 letters1 word
blackball

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.

backfill +15blackball +9biblical +8callback +8fallback +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for May 8, 2023 has 34 valid words for a total of 173 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 148 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.