Spelling Bee · Wednesday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 2, 2026

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

Words31
Pangrams2
Points possible138
Center letterF
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 2, 2026·3 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.

PL
AFI
NT

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
12 pts
Good
21 pts
Solid
35 pts
Nice
56 pts
Great
69 pts
Amazing
97 pts
Genius
118 pts
Queen Bee
138 pts
Total words
31
Pangrams
2
Possible points
138

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
plaintiff +16 ptsflippant +15 pts

The full word list

All 31 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 2, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters13 words
failfallfiatfillflanflapflatflipflitliftnaifpffttiff
5 letters6 words
faintfatalfinalflailflintpilaf
6 letters6 words
antifafilialfillipfinialinfantinfill
7 letters4 words
affiantalfalfafantailpitfall
8 letters1 word
flippant
9 letters1 word
plaintiff

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.

plaintiff +16flippant +15affiant +7alfalfa +7fantail +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 2, 2026 has 31 valid words for a total of 138 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 118 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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