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C
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I
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Z

Monday, January 12, 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 46 words to find resulting in 223 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!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

46

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

223

Genius Score :

156

Pangram

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

9-letter pangram 0 / 9 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
A 2 2 2 6
C 1 3 1 2 7
E 1 1 1 3
I 1 2 1 1 5
L 4 2 3 2 11
T 5 2 3 1 1 1 13
Z 1 1
Σ 13 11 12 6 2 2 46

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
  • AL 1
  • AT 2
  • CA 3
  • CE 2
  • CI 2
  • EC 1
  • EL 2
  • IC 1
  • IL 2
  • IT 2
  • LA 5
  • LI 6
  • TA 7
  • TI 6
  • ZI 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC6sounds like occasion
  2. AC4sounds like occur, sky
  3. AC6sounds like ascetic

AL

  1. AL4 — to come to rest after descending from the air; to come down from something (as a vehicle); landed; lit; perched sounds like eyelet, glut, gullet

AT

  1. AT5 — inclined or twisted to one side; askew; aslant; awry; cock-a-hoop sounds like stilt, tilt
  2. 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. CA7
  3. CA7sounds like curtail

CE

  1. CE6sounds like setback, slack, sleek
  2. CE5sounds like belly, jelly, sally, self, sell

CI

  1. CI5sounds like psyllium, sillier, silly
  2. CI4 — to give as an example; to make reference to or speak about briefly but specifically; adduce; instance; mention sounds like bite, byte, eyesight, fight, height

EC

  1. EC8 — consisting of many things of different sorts; assorted; heterogeneous; indiscriminate; kitchen-sink sounds like elective, electric

EL

  1. EL6 — to draw out (something hidden, latent, or reserved); educe; evoke; inspire; raise sounds like illicit
  2. EL5 — as in exclusive; exclusive; better; exceptional; fancy sounds like cleat, delete, fleet, pleat, sleet

IC

  1. IC6 — a cold aloof person; cold fish; cold turkey; iceberg sounds like bicycle, sickle

IL

  1. IL5sounds like black, bleak, clique, elite, flak
  2. IL7 — contrary to or forbidden by law; criminal; felonious; illegal; illegitimate sounds like elicit

IT

  1. IT6sounds like idyllic, metallic, static, titanic
  2. IT9 — to make more apparent; accentuate; bring out; emphasize; stress sounds like analyse, analysis, apologize, metabolize, televise

LA

  1. LA6sounds like tactic
  2. LA4 — as in lay, nonclerical; lay; nonclerical; atheistic; godless sounds like lick
  3. LA6 — as in lay, nonclerical; lay; nonclerical; atheistic; godless sounds like cul, cull, local, loyal, lull
  4. LA7sounds like size, wayside
  5. LA7 — a structure made of wood or metal strips that are arranged or attached together in a gridlike pattern; cage; network; architecture; armature sounds like lettuce, lotus

LI

  1. LI4 — a person whose behavior is offensive to others; bastard; beast; bleeder; blighter sounds like dice, ice, lace, lass, lease
  2. LI5 — permitted by law; lawful; legal; legit; legitimate sounds like il*****
  3. LI5sounds like black, buyback, eyelash, flak, hijack
  4. LI4 — the attractive quality of speech or music that rises and falls in a pleasing pattern; movement; sway; swing; beat sounds like built, gilt, guilt, hilt, jilt
  5. LI4 — as in light; light; natural; plain; simple sounds like alight, bite, blight, byte, cite
  6. LI6 — having relatively little height; lacking importance; not broad or open in views or opinions; low; low-lying sounds like whittle

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. TA8 — suitable for bringing about a desired result under the circumstances; advisable; desirable; expedient; judicious
  4. TA7 — relating to the sense of touch; corporeal; physical; palpable; tangible
  5. TA4 — a body of employees or servants who accompany and wait on a person; the part of the body upon which someone sits; a behind part or surface; cortege; entourage sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  6. TA4sounds like collie, folly, golly, jolly, toffee
  7. TA6

TI

  1. TI4 — as in drain, hydrant; drain; drainpipe; funnel; hydrant sounds like aisle, bile, file, guile, isle
  2. TI4 — to work by plowing, sowing, and raising crops on; cultivate; farm; tend sounds like bill, chill, dill, fill, hill
  3. TI4 — the act of positioning or an instance of being positioned at an angle; angling; bend; cock; inclination sounds like built, gilt, guilt, hilt, jilt
  4. TI9 — to cause a pleasurable stimulation of the feelings; charge; electrify; excite; exhilarate sounds like distillate, mitigate
  5. TI5 — a word or combination of words by which a person or thing is regularly known; a word or series of words often in larger letters placed at the beginning of a passage or at the top of a page in order to introduce or categorize; the position occupied by the one who comes in first in a competition; appellation; appellative sounds like litle, total, turtle, vital
  6. TI6 — a very small piece; the smallest amount or part imaginable; atom; bit; crumb sounds like little, total, turtle, whittle

ZI

  1. ZI4sounds like meaty

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • acai
  • alit
  • cite
  • laic
  • lice
  • lilt
  • lite
  • tail
  • tali
  • tile
  • till
  • tilt
  • ziti

  • acacia
  • acetic
  • atilt
  • attic
  • cacti
  • calcite
  • cattail
  • celiac
  • celli
  • cilia
  • eclectic
  • elicit
  • elite
  • icicle
  • iliac
  • illicit
  • italic
  • italicize
  • lactic
  • laical
  • laicize
  • lattice
  • licit
  • lilac
  • little
  • tacit
  • tactic
  • tactical
  • tactile
  • tallit
  • titillate
  • title
  • tittle

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 90 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.

  • AALII
  • ACATALECTIC
  • ACCITE
  • AECIA
  • AECIAL
  • AILETTE
  • AIZLE
  • ALALIA
  • ALCAIC
  • ALLELIC
  • ALLICE
  • ATACTIC
  • ATELECTATIC
  • ATELIC
  • ATTICIZE
  • CAILLE
  • CALCIC
  • CALCITIC
  • CALICLE
  • CATALATIC
  • CATALECTIC
  • CATALLACTIC
  • CATTIE
  • CEIL
  • CEILI
  • CICALA
  • CICALE
  • CIEL
  • CILIATE
  • CILICE
  • CILL
  • CITAL
  • CLIT
  • CLITELLA
  • CLITIC
  • CLITICIZE
  • ECTATIC
  • ETIC
  • ICTAL
  • ICTIC
  • ILEA
  • ILEAC
  • ILEAL
  • ILIA
  • ILIAL
  • ILLITE
  • ILLITIC
  • IZZAT
  • LATI
  • LATILLA
  • LATITAT
  • LAZZI
  • LEZZIE
  • LILL
  • LITAI
  • LITTLIE
  • LIZZIE
  • TAILLE
  • TAILLIE
  • TAILZIE
  • TAIT
  • TALLIATE
  • TATIE
  • TATTIE
  • TECTITE
  • TEIL
  • TELIA
  • TELIAL
  • TELIC
  • TICAL
  • TICCA
  • TICE
  • TICTAC
  • TIETAC
  • TILLITE
  • TITE
  • TITI
  • TITTIE
  • TIZZ
  • TZITZIT
  • ZATI
  • ZETETIC
  • ZILA
  • ZILL
  • ZILLA
  • ZITE
  • ZIZEL
  • ZIZIT
  • ZIZZ
  • ZIZZLE