Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 21, 2025

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

Words34
Pangrams4
Points possible193
Center letterF
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 21, 2025·3 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.

AI
RFC
TN

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
16 pts
Good
29 pts
Solid
49 pts
Nice
78 pts
Great
97 pts
Amazing
136 pts
Genius
165 pts
Queen Bee
193 pts
Total words
34
Pangrams
4
Possible points
193

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 4 pangrams
antiaircraft +19 ptsfrantic +14 ptsinfarct +14 ptsinfract +14 pts

The full word list

All 34 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 21, 2025, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters11 words
afarfactfairfartfiatfratnaifraftriffrifttiff
5 letters4 words
craftfaintfrancfriar
6 letters8 words
affairantifacaftanfanficfarinainfantraffiatariff
7 letters6 words
affiantfanaticfranticinfarctinfracttraffic
8 letters4 words
aircraftartifactfrittatariffraff
12 letters1 word
antiaircraft

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.

antiaircraft +19frantic +14infarct +14infract +14aircraft +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 21, 2025 has 34 valid words for a total of 193 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 165 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.