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Wednesday, February 4, 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 “V”. With a total of 57 words to find resulting in 285 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. 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!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

57

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

285

Genius Score :

200

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
????????

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 Σ
D 1 4 4 4 3 16
E 3 6 1 1 11
I 1 1
L 2 5 2 4 13
V 8 3 4 1 16
Σ 14 13 16 10 3 1 57

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

  • DE 6
  • DI 10
  • EL 1
  • EN 5
  • EV 5
  • IV 1
  • LE 6
  • LI 7
  • VE 8
  • VI 8

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

DE

  1. DE5 — a naturally formed underground chamber with an opening to the surface; antre; cave; cavern; grot sounds like shelve
  2. DE6 — as in dug, excavated; dug; excavated; shoveled; burrowed sounds like shelved
  3. DE6sounds like divine
  4. DE8
  5. DE5 — the supreme personification of evil often represented as the ruler of hell; an evil spirit; a member of the human race; archfiend; Beelzebub sounds like bevel, level, revel
  6. DE7 — as in got, tormented; aggravated; annoyed; bedeviled; chafed sounds like divide, reviled

DI

  1. DI4 — an act or instance of diving; the act or process of going to a lower level or altitude; pitch; plunge; descent sounds like arrive, chive, derive
  2. DI5 — to cast oneself head first into deep water; to go to a lower level especially abruptly; pitched; plunged; sounded sounds like lived
  3. DI6 — to set or force apart; to go or move in different directions from a central point; to cause (people) to break up into opposing groups; break up; decouple sounds like decide, deride, device, devise, devoid
  4. DI7 — disagreeing with each other; disunited; split sounds like decided, delighted, devoted
  5. DI8 — something given in addition to what is ordinarily expected or owed; bonus; cumshaw; donative; extra sounds like defend, depend, descend
  6. DI6 — of the very best kind; of, relating to, or being God; A-OK; A1; awesome sounds like define, design, device, devise
  7. DI7 — to realize or know about beforehand; anticipated; forefelt; foreknew; foresaw sounds like defined
  8. DI8 — as in gently, sweetly; angelically; gently; sweetly; tenderly sounds like devoutly
  9. DI7 — as in dished out, measured (out); admeasured; allotted; allowed; appropriated sounds like devoid
  10. DI5 — as in dish out, measure (out); admeasure; allot; allow; appropriate

EL

  1. EL6sounds like leaven

EN

  1. EN6sounds like dive, indict
  2. EN7 — to give life, vigor, or spirit to; amp (up); animate; brace; energize
  3. EN9 — as in animated, exhilarated; animated; exhilarated; jazzed (up); energized
  4. EN6 — to have a resentful awareness of and desire for (another’s possessions or advantages) or to feel resentment toward (someone) over possessions or advantages; begrudged; resented
  5. EN4 — a painful awareness of another’s possessions or advantages and a desire to have them too; covetousness; enviousness; green-eyed monster; invidiousness sounds like any

EV

  1. EV4 — not merely this but also; to a full extent or degree; indeed; nay; truly sounds like been, bin, chin, din, easing
  2. EV6 — to make free from breaks, curves, or bumps; to make equal in amount, degree, or status; flattened; leveled; planed sounds like almond, avenue, avid, eaten, eon
  3. EV6 — as in uniformly; uniformly; equally; equivalently; identically sounds like avidly, easily, heavenly, openly, un******
  4. EV4 — that which is morally unacceptable; bad; evildoing; ill; immorality sounds like eagle, easel, oval, we****
  5. EV6 — as in wickedly, sinfully; immorally; impurely; sinfully; wickedly sounds like easily

IV

  1. IV5sounds like divvied, evade

LE

  1. LE5 — a bank of earth constructed to control water; a structure used by boats and ships for taking on or landing cargo and passengers; dam; dike; embankment sounds like bevy, heavy
  2. LE5 — the placement of someone or something in relation to others in a vertical arrangement; degree; echelon; footing; place sounds like bevel, devil, revel
  3. LE7 — to make equal in amount, degree, or status; to make free from breaks, curves, or bumps; to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal; balanced; equalized
  4. LE7 — having a surface without bends, breaks, or irregularities; free from emotional or mental agitation; even; flat; flush sounds like heavily
  5. LE6 — to pick especially for required military service; to establish or apply as a charge or penalty; conscribed; conscripted; drafted
  6. LE4 — a charge usually of money collected by the government from people or businesses for public use; assessment; duty; imposition; impost sounds like bevy, heavy

LI

  1. LI4 — to have a home; to have life; abide; dwell; reside sounds like a****, arrive, chive, dive, five
  2. LI5 — to have a home; to have life; abided; dwelled; resided sounds like loved
  3. LI6 — in a quick and spirited manner; airily; animatedly; animately; bouncily sounds like lovely
  4. LI5 — to give life, vigor, or spirit to; amp (up); animate; brace; energize sounds like leaven
  5. LI7 — to give life, vigor, or spirit to; amp (up); animate; brace; energize sounds like leavened
  6. LI5 — feeling or showing anger; lacking a healthy skin color; angered; angry; apoplectic
  7. LI7sounds like vividly

VE

  1. VE4 — something that covers or conceals like a piece of cloth; blanket; cloak; cope; cover sounds like ail, ale, avail, bail, bale
  2. VE6 — as in covered; covered; appareled; attired; clad sounds like failed, jailed, mailed, paled
  3. VE4 — a distinctive way of putting ideas into words; fashion; locution; manner; mode sounds like arraign, bane, cane, chain, feign
  4. VE6 — as in marbled, moiré; marbled; moiré; spangled; chromatic sounds like chained, feigned, gained, pained, vain
  5. VE5sounds like genie, rainy, vagary, vaguely, vain
  6. VE4 — a broad area of level or rolling treeless country; campo; champaign; down(s); grassland sounds like felled, held, meld, shelled, weld
  7. VE4 — to offer for sale to the public; deal (in); market; merchandise; put up sounds like bend, end, fend, lend, mend
  8. VE6 — to offer for sale to the public; dealt (in); marketed; merchandised; put up sounds like ended, tended

VI

  1. VI4 — to engage in a contest; battled; competed; contended; faced off sounds like bead, cede, deed, feed, heed
  2. VI4 — not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable; not following or in accordance with standards of honor and decency; unpleasant to look at; bad; dark sounds like aisle, bile, file, guile, isle
  3. VI6 — as in terribly, horridly; abominably; appallingly; awfully; dreadfully sounds like chili, chilly, dearly, dimly, filly
  4. VI4 — to be unsuccessful; bomb; collapse; crater; fail sounds like dine, fine, line, mine, pine
  5. VI4sounds like guinea, tinny
  6. VI5sounds like final, venal, vernal
  7. VI5 — producing a mental picture through clear and impressive description; delineated; graphic; pictorial; picturesque sounds like avid, civil, devoid, divide, divvied
  8. VI7 — producing a mental picture through clear and impressive description; delineated; graphic; pictorial; picturesque sounds like avidly, timidly

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • dive
  • envy
  • even
  • evil
  • levy
  • live
  • veil
  • vein
  • veld
  • vend
  • vied
  • vile
  • vine
  • viny

  • delve
  • delved
  • devein
  • deveined
  • devil
  • deviled
  • dived
  • divide
  • divided
  • dividend
  • divine
  • divined
  • divinely
  • divvied
  • divvy
  • eleven
  • endive
  • enliven
  • enlivened
  • envied
  • evened
  • evenly
  • evilly
  • ivied
  • levee
  • level
  • leveled
  • levelly
  • levied
  • lived
  • lively
  • liven
  • livened
  • livid
  • lividly
  • veiled
  • veined
  • veiny
  • vended
  • vilely
  • vinyl
  • vivid
  • vividly

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 55 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.

  • DEEV
  • DEEVE
  • DEEVED
  • DEVEL
  • DEVELED
  • DEVELLED
  • DEVILLED
  • DEVVEL
  • DEVVELLED
  • DIVI
  • DIVIDEDLY
  • DIVIDIVI
  • DIVIED
  • EEVEN
  • EEVN
  • ENLEVE
  • EYELEVEL
  • LEVE
  • LEVEED
  • LEVELLED
  • LEVIN
  • LIEVE
  • LIVELILY
  • NEIVE
  • NEVE
  • NEVEL
  • NEVELLED
  • NEVI
  • NIEVE
  • VEILEDLY
  • VEILY
  • VELE
  • VELL
  • VENDEE
  • VENENE
  • VENEY
  • VENIN
  • VENINE
  • VENNEL
  • VENVILLE
  • VIDE
  • VIELLE
  • VILD
  • VILDE
  • VILDLY
  • VILL
  • VILLEIN
  • VILLI
  • VINED
  • VINYLIDENE
  • VIVE
  • VIVELY
  • VLEI
  • YEVE
  • YEVEN