Spelling Bee · Monday

Spelling Bee Answers for October 9, 2023

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

Words53
Pangrams1
Points possible364
Center letterI
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published October 9, 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.

CL
NIH
GT

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
30 pts
Good
55 pts
Solid
91 pts
Nice
146 pts
Great
182 pts
Amazing
255 pts
Genius
310 pts
Queen Bee
364 pts
Total words
53
Pangrams
1
Possible points
364

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
glitching +16 pts

The full word list

All 53 valid Spelling Bee solutions for October 9, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters4 words
gillgilthighnigh
5 letters8 words
clingglinticinglightnightthighthingtight
6 letters5 words
citingglitchinningliningtiling
7 letters16 words
gigginggillingginninghillinghinginghintinghittinginchingitchingliltingtillingtiltingtingingtintingtithingtitling
8 letters13 words
chillingchinningcinchingclinginggigglingglintinghitchingignitingincitinglightingnigglingthinningtingling
9 letters5 words
clinchingglitchinghighlightinclininglightning
10 letters1 word
nightlight
12 letters1 word
highlighting

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.

glitching +16highlighting +12nightlight +10clinching +9highlight +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for October 9, 2023 has 53 valid words for a total of 364 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 310 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.