Spelling Bee · Saturday

Spelling Bee Answers for October 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.

Words46
Pangrams2
Points possible233
Center letterI
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published October 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?

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.

BA
CIH
NL

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
19 pts
Good
35 pts
Solid
59 pts
Nice
94 pts
Great
117 pts
Amazing
164 pts
Genius
199 pts
Queen Bee
233 pts
Total words
46
Pangrams
2
Possible points
233

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
bacchanalian +19 ptsbacchanalia +18 pts

The full word list

All 46 valid Spelling Bee solutions for October 3, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters14 words
acaibailbillblinchaichiachicchinhailhillinchlaiclainnail
5 letters15 words
abacialibiblinicabinchainchicachilichillchinaciliacinchiliaclabialanaililac
6 letters7 words
acaciachichiclinchcliniclabiallaicalniacin
7 letters2 words
bacillihibachi
8 letters4 words
biblicalbilabialcannibalclinical
9 letters1 word
clinician
10 letters1 word
chinchilla
11 letters1 word
bacchanalia
12 letters1 word
bacchanalian

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.

bacchanalian +19bacchanalia +18chinchilla +10clinician +9biblical +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for October 3, 2026 has 46 valid words for a total of 233 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 199 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:
← Previous
Oct 2, 2026
Next →
No newer puzzle yet

Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.