Spelling Bee · Saturday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 18, 2021

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

Words49
Pangrams2
Points possible265
Center letterH
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 18, 2021·3 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.

AN
DHE
LC

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
40 pts
Solid
67 pts
Nice
106 pts
Great
133 pts
Amazing
186 pts
Genius
226 pts
Queen Bee
265 pts
Total words
49
Pangrams
2
Possible points
265

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
dancehall +16 ptschanneled +16 pts

The full word list

All 49 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 18, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters13 words
achechadeachhalehallhandheadhealheedheelheldhelllech
5 letters9 words
achedaheadcachedachahalalhencehennaleachleech
6 letters9 words
cachedchanceclenchhandedhandleheadedhealedheededheeled
7 letters9 words
challahchancedchancelchannelenhancehandledhennaedleachedleeched
8 letters6 words
clencheddeadheadenhancedhandheldheadacheheadland
9 letters2 words
channeleddancehall
10 letters1 word
deadheaded

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.

channeled +16dancehall +16deadheaded +10clenched +8deadhead +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 18, 2021 has 49 valid words for a total of 265 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 226 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.