Spelling Bee · Saturday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 12, 2020

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

Words54
Pangrams1
Points possible238
Center letterI
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 12, 2020·3 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.

OC
TIL
NM

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
36 pts
Solid
60 pts
Nice
96 pts
Great
119 pts
Amazing
167 pts
Genius
203 pts
Queen Bee
238 pts
Total words
54
Pangrams
1
Possible points
238

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
locomotion +17 pts

The full word list

All 54 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 12, 2020, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters22 words
coilcoiniconintoliltlimnlimolintlionlociloinmillminimintmittmoilolioomittilltilttinttoil
5 letters12 words
coccicoliccomicconicioniclicitlimitmimicminimoniontincttonic
6 letters8 words
cliniccommiticoniclotionminionmotionnotiontomtit
7 letters4 words
colonicillicitmillionmoonlit
8 letters1 word
ocotillo
9 letters5 words
commotioncotillionmonotonicnonillionoctillion
10 letters2 words
concoctionlocomotion

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.

locomotion +17concoction +10commotion +9cotillion +9monotonic +9

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 12, 2020 has 54 valid words for a total of 238 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 203 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.