A
C
T
I
O
N
X

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Welcome to today’s New York Times Spelling Bee hints and answers. Today’s puzzle features a substantially larger than average board today, promising plenty of opportunities with a center letter of “I”. With a total of 63 words to find resulting in 393 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. Impressively, there are 2 pangrams to uncover. Whether you’re stuck looking for those elusive final few words to reach Genius rank, or simply seeking a gentle nudge to get the ball rolling, you’re in the right place. Dive into our comprehensive two-letter lists, explore our word length grid, and uncover targeted Merriam-Webster definitions tailored specifically to help you without giving the entire game away immediately. Good luck mastering the hive!

Rather see todays puzzle?

Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

63

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

393

Genius Score :

275

Pangram

Finding the nyt pangram is key to reaching “Genius” status.
Below is progressive reveal to help you achieve it.

10-letter pangram 0 / 10 letters revealed
??????????
12-letter pangram 0 / 12 letters revealed
????????????

NYT Spelling Bee Hints & Grid

Maximize your score without ruining the fun.

The grid shows how many words start with each letter, broken down by word length.

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Σ
A 2 3 7 1 1 14
C 2 4 1 3 1 2 1 1 15
I 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 13
N 3 2 5
O 1 1
T 2 7 3 1 1 1 15
Σ 9 16 17 4 5 4 5 2 1 63

Knowing the first two letters of a missing word is often the perfect clue. Here is the two letter list for today’s puzzle.

  • AC 3
  • AN 8
  • AT 3
  • CA 6
  • CI 2
  • CO 7
  • IC 2
  • IN 9
  • IO 2
  • NA 1
  • NI 1
  • NO 3
  • ON 1
  • TA 8
  • TI 4
  • TO 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC6sounds like occasion
  2. AC4sounds like occur, sky
  3. AC6 — something done by someone; the unfolding of events in a dramatic or literary work; a court case for enforcing a right or claim; act; deed sounds like ashen, auction, f******

AN

  1. AN5sounds like canyon, onion
  2. AN10 — a written explanation, observation, etc. that is added to something (such as a book); comment; note; reflection; remark sounds like agitation, connotation, imitation, inhalation, innovation
  3. AN6 — to rub an oily or sticky substance over; bedaub; besmear; daub; smear sounds like appoint
  4. AN6sounds like ataxia, boxy, epoxy, moxie, proxy
  5. AN6sounds like toxic
  6. AN4 — opposed to; not for; against; agin; contra sounds like aunt, p****e, shanty
  7. AN5 — causing or intended to cause laughter; given to good-natured joking or teasing; chucklesome; comedic; comic sounds like attic
  8. AN9sounds like toxin

AT

  1. AT6sounds like taxi
  2. AT6 — to obtain (as a goal) through effort; to receive as return for effort; achieve; bag; chalk up sounds like obtain, stain
  3. AT5 — a room or unfinished space directly beneath the roof of a building; cockloft; garret; loft sounds like antic, stick, tick

CA

  1. CA5
  2. CA7sounds like chronic
  3. CA7 — a place of business where alcoholic beverages are sold to be consumed on the premises; bar; barroom; café; dramshop
  4. CA9
  5. CA9 — not expressing any emotion; blank; deadpan; empty; expressionless sounds like isotonic
  6. CA6sounds like ashen, cushion, fashion, passion, ration

CI

  1. CI4sounds like cheap, cheat, cheek, cheese, chief
  2. CI8 — a formal expression of praise; a formal recognition of an achievement or praiseworthy deed; a passage referred to, repeated, or offered as an example; accolade; commendation sounds like station

CO

  1. CO5sounds like catty, caught, clot
  2. CO5sounds like catchy
  3. CO4 — something (as pieces of stamped metal or printed paper) customarily and legally used as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment; bread; bucks; cabbage; cash sounds like can, cane, join, keen, kin
  4. CO10 — something (as a device) created for the first time through the use of the imagination; brainchild; coinage; contrivance; creation
  5. CO5sounds like chronic, ionic, phonic, sonic, tonic
  6. CO11 — an idea or quality that is suggested by a word or thing; clue; cue; hint; implication sounds like sanitation
  7. CO7 — to have within; to have as part of a whole; to be made up of; bear; boast

IC

  1. IC4 — a person who is the object of extreme or uncritical devotion; a written or printed mark that is meant to convey information to the reader; a visible representation of something abstract (as a quality); god; hero sounds like con
  2. IC6sounds like ionic, ironic

IN

  1. IN8 — lack of action or activity; dormancy; idleness; inactivity; inertness sounds like action, ejection, election, erection, faction
  2. IN6sounds like can’t, decant, enact, encamp, enchant
  3. IN11 — a spoken word or set of words believed to have magic power; abracadabra; bewitchment; charm; conjuration sounds like implantation, plantation
  4. IN10 — the process or an instance of being formally placed in an office or organization; baptism; inaugural; inauguration; induction sounds like affiliation, delineation, enumeration
  5. IN6 — not lacking any part or member that properly belongs to it; compleat; complete; comprehensive; entire sounds like enact
  6. IN4 — in addition to what has been said; additionally; again; also; besides sounds like ensue, onto, unto
  7. IN10 — as in inflection; inflection; accent; accentuation; emphasis
  8. IN10 — a distilled beverage that can make a person drunk; alcohol; aqua vitae; ardent spirits; booze
  9. IN12 — the condition of being drunk; a state of overwhelming usually pleasurable emotion; drunkenness; inebriation; inebriety

IO

  1. IO5sounds like ironic, phonic, sonic, tonic
  2. IO4 — the smallest amount or part imaginable; beans; bubkes; continental; damn sounds like aroma, beta, boa, boat, boater

NA

  1. NA6 — a body of people composed of one or more nationalities usually with its own territory and government; a people having a common language, culture, and body of traditions; commonwealth; country; land sounds like notion

NI

  1. NI6sounds like basic, basin, casing, chasten, evasive

NO

  1. NO8 — as in nonpoisonous; nonpoisonous; nourishing; nutritional; nutritious sounds like toxic
  2. NO8 — a usually brief written reminder; jotting; memo; memorandum; note sounds like rotation
  3. NO6 — small useful items; a sudden impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action; an idea that is believed to be true or valid without positive knowledge; etceteras; novelties sounds like lotion, motion, nation, ocean, potion

ON

  1. ON5sounds like undone

TA

  1. TA5 — understood although not put into words; implicit; implied; unexpressed; unspoken sounds like asset, cast, caste, facet, facile
  2. TA6 — something done to achieve a particular goal; means; method; technique; way sounds like acting, active, antic, arctic, attic
  3. TA9sounds like technician
  4. TA5 — a mark of guilt or disgrace; blot; brand; onus; slur sounds like faint, feint, paint, saint, tent
  5. TA6sounds like manic, panic, tonic, tunic
  6. TA6
  7. TA8sounds like fixation
  8. TA4 — an automobile that carries passengers for a fare usually determined by the distance traveled; cab; hack; taxicab sounds like waxy

TI

  1. TI5 — as in colored, hued; colored; colorized; dyed; hued sounds like linked
  2. TI4 — a property that becomes apparent when light falls on an object and by which things that are identical in form can be distinguished; cast; color; hue; shade sounds like hint, lint, mint, s****, taint
  3. TI5 — something that is unusually large and powerful; behemoth; blockbuster; colossus; dinosaur sounds like heighten, lighten
  4. TI7 — unusually large; astronomical; Brobdingnagian; bumper; colossal sounds like italic

TO

  1. TO5 — having a renewing effect on the state of the body or mind; beneficial to the health of body or mind; bracing; cordial; invigorating sounds like ionic, phonic, sonic, tunic
  2. TO5 — containing or contaminated with a substance capable of injuring or killing a living thing; envenomed; poison; poisoned; poisonous sounds like boxing, tactic, taxing
  3. TO5 — a substance that by chemical action can kill or injure a living thing; bane; poison; toxic; venom sounds like arson, auction, parson, taken, tarpon

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

Ready to see the words? Use the toggles below to reveal today’s nyt spelling bee answers.

  • acai
  • anti
  • ciao
  • coin
  • icon
  • into
  • iota
  • taxi
  • tint

  • acacia
  • action
  • anion
  • annotation
  • anoint
  • anoxia
  • anoxic
  • antic
  • antitoxin
  • ataxia
  • attain
  • attic
  • cacti
  • canonic
  • cantina
  • catatonia
  • catatonic
  • cation
  • citation
  • coati
  • cocci
  • concoction
  • conic
  • connotation
  • contain
  • iconic
  • inaction
  • incant
  • incantation
  • initiation
  • intact
  • intonation
  • intoxicant
  • intoxication
  • ionic
  • nation
  • niacin
  • nontoxic
  • notation
  • notion
  • onion
  • tacit
  • tactic
  • tactician
  • taint
  • tannic
  • tannin
  • taxation
  • tinct
  • titan
  • titanic
  • tonic
  • toxic
  • toxin

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 101 valid dictionary words that are excluded. If you found a valid dictionary word that wasn’t accepted, it’s likely due to the New York Times Spelling Bee’s strict editorial criteria. Sam Ezersky, the puzzle’s editor, manually curates the daily word list to balance difficulty and fairness.

  • Obscure or Highly Technical Words: Medical, legal, and intensely specific scientific jargon is frequently omitted to keep the puzzle accessible to a general audience.
  • Offensive Language: Vulgar or derogatory words are universally banned.
  • Proper Nouns: Capitalized names of people or places are never allowed.
  • Hyphenated Words: Multi-word combinations containing hyphens are excluded.
  • Letter S / Plurals: The letter “S” is generally never included on a Spelling Bee board to avoid making the game too simple by tacking plurals onto every word.

  • ACINI
  • ACINIC
  • ACONITIC
  • ACTIN
  • ACTINIA
  • ACTINIAN
  • ACTINIC
  • ACTINON
  • ANATOXIN
  • ANICCA
  • ANICONIC
  • ANIONIC
  • ANTITAX
  • ANTITOXIC
  • ATACTIC
  • ATAXIC
  • ATOCIA
  • ATONIA
  • ATONIC
  • ATTAINT
  • AXION
  • AXONIC
  • CAIN
  • CANTIC
  • CANTICO
  • CANTION
  • CATIONIC
  • CINCT
  • CION
  • CITO
  • COACTION
  • COAITA
  • COCAIN
  • COCCIC
  • COCTION
  • COIT
  • COITION
  • CONATION
  • CONI
  • CONIA
  • CONIN
  • CONNATION
  • ICTIC
  • INANITION
  • INCITANT
  • INCITATION
  • INIA
  • INION
  • INNIT
  • INTI
  • INTINCTION
  • INTONACO
  • ITACONIC
  • IXIA
  • NAIANT
  • NAIN
  • NAOI
  • NATATION
  • NICOTIAN
  • NICOTIANA
  • NICOTIN
  • NICOTINIC
  • NICTATION
  • NICTITANT
  • NICTITATION
  • NINON
  • NITON
  • NOINT
  • NONACTION
  • NONANOIC
  • NONI
  • NONINTOXICANT
  • NONIONIC
  • NONTONIC
  • NOOIT
  • NOTITIA
  • OCICAT
  • OINT
  • OITICICA
  • ONTIC
  • OTIC
  • OTITIC
  • OTOTOXIC
  • TACTION
  • TAIN
  • TAIT
  • TANTI
  • TAXITIC
  • TIAN
  • TICCA
  • TICTAC
  • TICTOC
  • TINA
  • TITANIA
  • TITI
  • TITIAN
  • TOCCATINA
  • TOIT
  • TOITOI
  • TOXICANT
  • TOXICATION