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Thursday, January 1, 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 “N”. With a total of 61 words to find resulting in 363 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. Impressively, there are 4 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!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

61

Total Pangrams :

4

Total Points:

363

Genius Score :

254

Pangram

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

8-letter pangram 0 / 8 letters revealed
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10-letter pangram 0 / 10 letters revealed
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12-letter pangram 0 / 12 letters revealed
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11-letter pangram 0 / 11 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 2 2 1 1 1 9
C 3 4 2 4 1 2 1 17
I 1 2 2 1 6
L 2 2 1 1 6
N 3 4 2 1 1 11
T 2 4 3 1 1 1 12
Σ 12 17 12 9 3 4 2 1 1 61

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

  • AN 8
  • AT 1
  • CA 8
  • CL 5
  • CY 4
  • IN 6
  • LA 3
  • LI 3
  • NA 9
  • NI 2
  • TA 4
  • TI 8

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AN

  1. AN4 — extremely or overly neat, careful, or precise; anal-retentive; obsessive; adamant; adamantine sounds like addle, agile, apple, channel, null
  2. AN6
  3. AN8 — according to the rules of logic; coherent; consequent; good; logical sounds like catalytic
  4. AN10 — according to the rules of logic; coherent; consequent; good; logical
  5. AN12 — according to the rules of logic; coherent; consequent; good; logical
  6. AN5sounds like addle, agile, apple, channel, null
  7. AN4 — opposed to; not for; against; agin; contra sounds like aunt, p****e, shanty
  8. AN5 — causing or intended to cause laughter; given to good-natured joking or teasing; chucklesome; comedic; comic sounds like attic

AT

  1. AT6 — to obtain (as a goal) through effort; to receive as return for effort; achieve; bag; chalk up sounds like obtain, stain

CA

  1. CA5 — an open man-made passageway for water; aqueduct; channel; conduit; course sounds like banal, colonel, conceal, concur, confer
  2. CA6sounds like common, concave, condom
  3. CA5sounds like manna
  4. CA7 — as in falsely, artfully; artfully; deceitfully; deceptively; deviously
  5. CA5 — having or showing a practical cleverness or judgment; enjoying physical comfort; astute; clear-eyed; clear-sighted sounds like cranny, fanny
  6. CA4 — the degree to which something rises up from a position level with the horizon; diagonal; grade; gradient; inclination sounds like ant, aunt
  7. CA7 — as in hymn, anthem; anthem; canticle; carol; chorale
  8. CA7 — a place of business where alcoholic beverages are sold to be consumed on the premises; bar; barroom; café; dramshop

CL

  1. CL4 — a group of people sharing a common interest and relating together socially; a group of persons who come from the same ancestor; body; bunch; circle sounds like can
  2. CL6 — a place for the treatment of those who are ill or injured; an intensive educational or training program; hospital; infirmary; medical center sounds like chronic
  3. CL8 — having or showing a lack of emotion or interest; dispassionate; objective; impersonal; professional sounds like pinnacle
  4. CL10sounds like chronically, critically, cynically
  5. CL9 — a medical professional who works directly with patients rather than in a laboratory or as a researcher; attending; hospitalist; croaker; doc sounds like coalition, commission, condition, corinthian, emission

CY

  1. CY4sounds like ion, lion, science, sign, sine
  2. CY5 — a person who distrusts other people and believes that everything is done for selfish reasons; misanthrope; naysayer; pessimist sounds like civic, scenic, sinning, sonic
  3. CY7 — having or showing a deep distrust of human beings and their motives; misanthropic; pessimistic
  4. CY9 — as in disparagingly, negatively; captiously; critically; deprecatingly; disapprovingly

IN

  1. IN7 — a foolish act or idea; lack of good sense or judgment; absurdity; asininity; bêtise
  2. IN6sounds like can’t, decant, enact, encamp, enchant
  3. IN7 — coming before all others in time or order; earliest; first; foremost; headmost
  4. IN9 — in the beginning; firstly; originally; primarily
  5. IN5 — as in install, inset; cut in; inset; install; edge in
  6. IN6 — not lacking any part or member that properly belongs to it; compleat; complete; comprehensive; entire sounds like enact

LA

  1. LA4 — to be positioned along a certain course or in a certain direction; to occupy a place or location; to remain out of sight; borne; extended sounds like arraign, bane, cane, chain, feign
  2. LA5 — a covered structure adjoining an entrance to a building; gallery; piazza; porch; stoop sounds like cannot
  3. LA7sounds like antenna

LI

  1. LI4 — a soft airy substance or covering; down; floss; fluff; fur sounds like f****, g****, hint, leant, learnt
  2. LI5 — as in fluffy, fuzzy; downy; fluffy; fuzzy; nappy sounds like f*****
  3. LI6 — a long stated list of things one after another; an address to a deity or religious figure; enumeration; recital; recitation sounds like bitten, botany, gluttony, kitten, latent

NA

  1. NA4sounds like con, don, john, knob, knock
  2. NA4 — to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner; to make final, definite, or beyond dispute; to reveal the true nature of; bang; bash sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  3. NA4sounds like manna
  4. NA5 — a girl or woman employed to care for a young child or children; babysitter; dry nurse; nurse; nursemaid sounds like canny, fanny
  5. NA5sounds like fatal, nettle
  6. NA8sounds like fatality, neutrality, totality, vitality
  7. NA6sounds like latent
  8. NA7 — in a strikingly neat and trim manner; dashingly; sharply; smartly; snappily sounds like anatomy, battle, cattle, family, fatally
  9. NA5 — being strikingly neat and trim in style or appearance; dapper; sharp; smart; snappy sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, knotty, nutty

NI

  1. NI6sounds like basic, basin, casing, chasten, evasive
  2. NI5 — a person who lacks good sense or judgment; a stupid person; berk; booby; charlie sounds like guinea, nanny, tinny

TA

  1. TA9sounds like technician
  2. TA5 — a mark of guilt or disgrace; blot; brand; onus; slur sounds like faint, feint, paint, saint, tent
  3. TA6sounds like manic, panic, tonic, tunic
  4. TA6

TI

  1. TI5 — as in colored, hued; colored; colorized; dyed; hued sounds like linked
  2. TI6 — very small in size; atomic; bitsy; bitty; infinitesimal sounds like busily, eerily, eternally, finally, finicky
  3. TI5 — as in thin, peeping; peeping; thin; high-pitched; piping sounds like guinea, tony, tourney
  4. 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
  5. TI4 — very small in size; atomic; bitsy; bitty; infinitesimal sounds like shiny, tony, tourney
  6. TI5 — something that is unusually large and powerful; behemoth; blockbuster; colossus; dinosaur sounds like heighten, lighten
  7. TI7 — unusually large; astronomical; Brobdingnagian; bumper; colossal sounds like italic
  8. TI11 — unusually large; astronomical; Brobdingnagian; bumper; colossal

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • anal
  • anti
  • cant
  • clan
  • cyan
  • lain
  • lint
  • naan
  • nail
  • nana
  • tint
  • tiny

  • anally
  • analytic
  • analytical
  • analytically
  • annal
  • antic
  • attain
  • canal
  • cancan
  • canna
  • cannily
  • canny
  • cantata
  • cantina
  • clinic
  • clinical
  • clinically
  • clinician
  • cynic
  • cynical
  • cynically
  • inanity
  • incant
  • initial
  • initially
  • inlay
  • intact
  • lanai
  • lantana
  • linty
  • litany
  • nanny
  • natal
  • natality
  • natant
  • nattily
  • natty
  • niacin
  • ninny
  • tactician
  • taint
  • tannic
  • tannin
  • tinct
  • tinily
  • tinny
  • titan
  • titanic
  • titanically

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 121 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
  • ACLINIC
  • ACTANT
  • ACTIN
  • ACTINAL
  • ACTINALLY
  • ACTINIA
  • ACTINIAN
  • ACTINIC
  • ACTINICALLY
  • ALAN
  • ALANIN
  • ALANT
  • ALANYL
  • ALICANT
  • ALLICIN
  • ANACLINAL
  • ANACLITIC
  • ANALITY
  • ANALYTICITY
  • ANAN
  • ANANA
  • ANATA
  • ANATTA
  • ANCILIA
  • ANCILLA
  • ANICCA
  • ANIL
  • ANILIN
  • ANILITY
  • ANNA
  • ANNAT
  • ANNATTA
  • ANTA
  • ANTICAL
  • ANTICALLY
  • ANTICITY
  • ANTICLINAL
  • ANTICLY
  • ANTLIA
  • ATTAINT
  • AYIN
  • CAIN
  • CALLAN
  • CALLANT
  • CALYCINAL
  • CANINITY
  • CANN
  • CANTAL
  • CANTALA
  • CANTIC
  • CANTILY
  • CANTY
  • CANY
  • CATACLINAL
  • CATLIN
  • CINCT
  • CLINAL
  • CLINALLY
  • CLINT
  • CYANIC
  • CYANIN
  • CYANITIC
  • CYCLIN
  • INCITANT
  • INIA
  • INLY
  • INNIT
  • INTACTLY
  • INTI
  • INTIL
  • INYALA
  • LACINIA
  • LALLAN
  • LANA
  • LANITAL
  • LANT
  • LATINA
  • LATINITY
  • LATITANCY
  • LATITANT
  • LATTICINI
  • LATTIN
  • LAYIN
  • LIANA
  • LINAC
  • LININ
  • LINN
  • LINNY
  • LINY
  • LITTLIN
  • NAIANT
  • NAIN
  • NALA
  • NALLA
  • NANCY
  • NANNA
  • NATALITIAL
  • NATANTLY
  • NICTITANT
  • NILL
  • NITTY
  • NYALA
  • TACAN
  • TAIN
  • TALANT
  • TANA
  • TANNA
  • TANTALIC
  • TANTI
  • TIAN
  • TINA
  • TINCAL
  • TINNILY
  • TINTY
  • TITANIA
  • TITIAN
  • TIYIN
  • TYIN
  • TYIYN