Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 17, 2023

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

Words59
Pangrams2
Points possible271
Center letterL
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 17, 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.

AO
CLT
RN

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
22 pts
Good
41 pts
Solid
68 pts
Nice
109 pts
Great
136 pts
Amazing
190 pts
Genius
231 pts
Queen Bee
271 pts
Total words
59
Pangrams
2
Possible points
271

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
contralto +16 ptscolorant +15 pts

The full word list

All 59 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 17, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters20 words
altoanalcallclanclotcoalcolacoltcoolloanlocolollloonlootoralrolltalctalltolltool
5 letters19 words
allotaltarannalatollcallacanalcarolcoloncolorcoralllanolocallottonataloctaltalontonaltotaltroll
6 letters7 words
aortalatonalcanolacarnalcloacacollarcorral
7 letters7 words
catcallcontrolcoolantcorollacoronallantanalocator
8 letters3 words
callaloocolorantnonlocal
9 letters3 words
allocatorcolcannoncontralto

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.

contralto +16colorant +15allocator +9colcannon +9callaloo +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 17, 2023 has 59 valid words for a total of 271 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 231 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.