A
R
I
F
M
Y
L

Sunday, January 4, 2026

Welcome to today’s New York Times Spelling Bee hints and answers. Today’s puzzle features an average-looking board with a center letter of “F”. With a total of 42 words to find resulting in 201 total possible points, we are looking at an average number of points. There is just a single pangram hiding in today’s letter set. 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 :

42

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

201

Genius Score :

141

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
??????????

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 10 Σ
A 1 3 1 5
F 9 8 6 1 4 1 29
I 1 1
M 1 1 1 3
R 1 2 1 4
Σ 13 9 12 2 5 1 42

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

  • AF 4
  • AL 1
  • FA 10
  • FI 8
  • FL 4
  • FR 7
  • IF 1
  • MA 2
  • MI 1
  • RA 2
  • RI 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AF

  1. AF4 — a long distance; country mile; far cry; long haul; mile sounds like ajar, far
  2. AF6 — a brief romantic relationship; a social gathering; something produced by physical or intellectual effort; amour; fling sounds like aware, fair, fare, unfair
  3. AF6 — to state as a fact usually forcefully; to state clearly and strongly; allege; assert; aver sounds like firm
  4. AF6 — a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people; brawl; broil; donnybrook; fracas sounds like fray

AL

  1. AL7

FA

  1. FA4 — to stop functioning; to be unsuccessful; to fall short in satisfying the expectation or hope of; break; break down sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  2. FA4 — not stormy or cloudy; marked by justice, honesty, and freedom from bias; following or according to the rules; bright; clear sounds like af****, air, bare, bear, care
  3. FA6 — to some degree or extent; according to the rules or the law; very close to but not completely; enough; kindly sounds like barely, ferry, rarely
  4. FA5 — an imaginary being usually having a small human form and magical powers; brownie; dwarf; elf; faerie sounds like airy, berry, bury, cherry, dairy
  5. FA4 — to go down from an upright position suddenly and involuntarily; to yield to the control or power of enemy forces; to go to a lower level especially abruptly; slip; stumble sounds like all, ball, bawl, call, feel
  6. FA8 — of or relating to a household or family; domestic; household
  7. FA8 — closely acquainted; having information especially as a result of study or experience; often observed or encountered; bosom; buddy-buddy sounds like un********
  8. FA10 — as in intimately; as in usually, generally; intimately; face-to-face; personally
  9. FA6 — a group of persons who come from the same ancestor; one of the units into which a whole is divided on the basis of a common characteristic; blood; clan; folks sounds like amply, camel, finally, firmly, formally
  10. FA4 — a piece of land and its buildings used to grow crops or raise livestock; estate; farmstead; grange; ranch sounds like arm, charm, form, harm

FI

  1. FI6sounds like bilious, cereal, ciliate, fearful
  2. FI8
  3. FI4 — to put into (something) as much as can be held or contained; to close up so that no empty spaces remain; to do what is required by the terms of; brim; charge sounds like bill, chill, dill, fail, fall
  4. FI5 — a female person who has not yet reached adulthood; girl; lass; lassie; miss sounds like chili, chilly
  5. FI4 — a story told by means of a series of continuously projected pictures and a sound track; the art or business of making a movie; flick; flicker; motion picture
  6. FI5 — being of a material lacking in sturdiness or substance; very thin and easy to see through; cobwebby; flimsy; frothy
  7. FI4 — a commercial or industrial activity or organization; business; company; concern; enterprise sounds like af****, fame, fern, foam, fur
  8. FI6 — in a vigorous and forceful manner; dynamically; energetically; explosively; forcefully sounds like burley, burly, calmly, comely, curly

FL

  1. FL5 — to move or cause to move with a striking motion; to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible; beat; flap; flop sounds like fail, frail
  2. FL5 — a special and usually inborn ability; aptitude; bent; endowment; faculty sounds like blare, fair, fare, glare
  3. FL4 — to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings; to remove the natural covering of; baste; bawl out; berate sounds like allay, clay, filet, fillet
  4. FL8 — a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end; an instance of the use of dishonest methods to acquire something of value; artifice; device; dodge sounds like aluminum, blissful, emblem, fearful, fearless

FR

  1. FR5 — easily broken; easily injured without careful handling; lacking bodily strength; breakable; delicate sounds like fail, flail, phrase, rail, trail
  2. FR7 — as in delicately, faintly; delicately; faintly; shakily; feebly
  3. FR4 — a forceful effort to reach a goal or objective; a physical dispute between opposing individuals or groups; a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people; battle; fight sounds like foray, gray, grey
  4. FR5 — as in monk, mendicant; brother; mendicant; monastic; monk sounds like drier, dryer, fire, flier, flyer
  5. FR6 — a residence for men under religious vows; abbey; cloister; hermitage; monastery
  6. FR5 — a strip of fabric gathered or pleated on one edge and used as trimming; something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary; something that decorates or beautifies; flounce; furbelow sounds like drill, fill, grill, grille, rill
  7. FR6 — as in extravagant, flamboyant; chichi; extravagant; exuberant; fancified sounds like filly, really

IF

  1. IF4 — as in questionable, uncertain; debatable; disputable; doubtable; doubtful sounds like eerie, fee, itchy, j****

MA

  1. MA5 — a group involved in secret or criminal activities; cabal; conspiracy; crew; gang sounds like aria, coffee, toffee
  2. MA6sounds like fly, melee, muffler, safely

MI

  1. MI4 — the feeling of being offended or resentful after a slight or indignity; dudgeon; huff; offense; peeve sounds like mere, muff, myth, riff, tiff

RA

  1. RA6sounds like caffeine, hafta, mafia, taffy
  2. RA6 — to set or force apart; break up; decouple; disassociate; disconnect

RI

  1. RI4 — a distinct treatment of something (as a story or a play); interpretation; take; variation sounds like rear, reef
  2. RI8 — discarded or useless material; people looked down upon as ignorant and of the lowest class; chaff; deadwood; debris sounds like refrain, refresh

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • afar
  • fail
  • fair
  • fall
  • farm
  • fill
  • film
  • firm
  • flay
  • fray
  • iffy
  • miff
  • riff

  • affair
  • affirm
  • affray
  • alfalfa
  • fairly
  • fairy
  • familial
  • familiar
  • familiarly
  • family
  • filial
  • filially
  • filly
  • filmy
  • firmly
  • flail
  • flair
  • flimflam
  • frail
  • frailly
  • friar
  • friary
  • frill
  • frilly
  • mafia
  • mayfly
  • raffia
  • ramify
  • riffraff

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 36 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.

  • AFARA
  • AFFY
  • ALFA
  • ALFILARIA
  • ALIF
  • FAFF
  • FAIRILY
  • FALLAL
  • FARFAL
  • FARL
  • FIAR
  • FILA
  • FILAR
  • FILARIA
  • FILARIAL
  • FILII
  • FILMI
  • FILMILY
  • FIRRY
  • FLAFF
  • FLAM
  • FLAMM
  • FLAMY
  • FLARY
  • FLIM
  • FLIR
  • FRAIM
  • FRIARLY
  • MAFFIA
  • MIFFILY
  • MIFFY
  • MILF
  • RAFF
  • RARIFY
  • YAFF
  • YARFA