G
L
O
P
I
N
W

Tuesday, February 17, 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 “P”. With a total of 52 words to find resulting in 288 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!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

52

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

288

Genius Score :

202

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
?????????
7-letter pangram 0 / 7 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
G 2 1 1 4
L 2 2 3 1 1 9
N 1 1
O 2 2
P 10 1 9 11 2 2 35
W 1 1
Σ 14 2 12 17 4 3 52

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

  • GL 3
  • GO 1
  • LI 2
  • LO 7
  • NI 1
  • OP 2
  • PI 15
  • PL 4
  • PO 16
  • WI 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

GL

  1. GL5sounds like group, loop, sloop
  2. GL4 — a thick semiliquid substance (as food) that is unattractive; slop; swill sounds like flop, lop, plop, slop
  3. GL8sounds like lopping

GO

  1. GO4 — as in gunk, goo; crud; goo; guck; gunk sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, gap, group

LI

  1. LI4sounds like depot, leap
  2. LI7 — to flow along or against; bathing; lapping; laving; splashing sounds like c*******, f*******, leaping, lopping, whipping

LO

  1. LO8sounds like hollyhock
  2. LO6 — to move with a light springing step; bounce; bound; hop; lope sounds like dollop, wallop
  3. LO9 — to move with a light springing step; bouncing; bounding; hopping; loping sounds like galloping, walloping
  4. LO4 — a circular strip; band; circle; eye; hoop sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, hoop, lap
  5. LO7 — as in swirling, spiraling; circling; coiled; coiling; corkscrew sounds like leaping
  6. LO6 — to move with a light springing step; bouncing; bounding; hopping; lolloping sounds like leaping
  7. LO7 — as in paring, pruning; clipping; cropping; curtailing; cutting back sounds like leaping, shopping, sopping, whopping

NI

  1. NI7 — having a low or subnormal temperature; uncomfortably cool; algid; arctic; bitter sounds like whipping

OP

  1. OP7 — to make a statement of one’s opinion; allowing; commenting; editorializing; noting sounds like cunning, punish, ripening, running, spinning
  2. OP7 — an idea that is believed to be true or valid without positive knowledge; a position arrived at after consideration; belief; conviction; eye sounds like dominion, minion, onion

PI

  1. PI7 — to eat greedily or to excess; gorging; gormandizing; overeating; swilling sounds like rigging
  2. PI6 — as in pile; pile; needle; obelisk; buttress sounds like filing, polling
  3. PI4 — a small mass containing medicine to be taken orally; a person whose behavior is offensive to others; cap; capsule; lozenge sounds like bill, chill, dill, fill, hill
  4. PI7sounds like billing, chilling, killing, polling, schilling
  5. PI7sounds like billion, jillion, million
  6. PI6sounds like below, billow, polo, willow
  7. PI9sounds like billing, building, chilling, delaying, flowing
  8. PI4 — as in ring, chime; chime; ding-dong; knell; peal sounds like king, owing, pang, paying, peer
  9. PI7 — as in dinging, clanging; chinking; clanging; clanking; clashing sounds like ginning, inning, sinning, spinning, winning
  10. PI6 — a strong wish for something; appetency; appetite; craving; desire sounds like dining, fining, shining
  11. PI6 — to confine or restrain with or as if with chains; bind; chain; enchain; enfetter sounds like minion, o******
  12. PI9 — to confine or restrain with or as if with chains; binding; chaining; enchaining; enfettering sounds like incoming, minion, opinion, paneling, poignancy
  13. PI7 — as in mounting, hooking; hooking; mounting; tacking; dangling sounds like ginning, inning, sinning, s*******, winning
  14. PI6 — having a high musical pitch or range; high-pitched; screeching; shrieking; shrill
  15. PI6 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like begin, bidden, herein, kingpin, poplin

PL

  1. PL4 — to throw or set down clumsily or casually; flop; flump; plank; plump sounds like flop, glop, lop, pop, prop
  2. PL8 — to throw or set down clumsily or casually; flopping; flumping; planking; plumping sounds like lopping
  3. PL4 — to cut into and turn over the sod of (a piece of land) using a bladed implement; to devote serious and sustained effort; break; furrow; bang away sounds like allow, prow
  4. PL7 — to cut into and turn over the sod of (a piece of land) using a bladed implement; to devote serious and sustained effort; breaking; furrowing; banging away

PO

  1. PO4sounds like logo
  2. PO7sounds like bugging, going, mugging, ongoing, outgoing
  3. PO6 — as in punting; punting; canoeing; kayaking; feathering sounds like piling, rolling
  4. PO5
  5. PO4 — the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth; bean; block; dome; head sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dole, foal
  6. PO7 — to go around and approach (people) with a request for opinions or information; to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument; canvassing; interviewing; soliciting sounds like piling, rolling
  7. PO8sounds like colleague, hollyhock, lollipop
  8. PO4sounds like pillow, solo
  9. PO4sounds like long, pang, pause, paw, pawn
  10. PO4 — a small often deep body of water; billabong; mere; puddle; stank sounds like cool, fool, pail, pal, pale
  11. PO7 — as in joining, connecting; combining; connecting; joining; linking sounds like piling, ruling
  12. PO4 — solid matter discharged from an animal’s alimentary canal; dirt; doo-doo; dropping; dung sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, hoop, loop
  13. PO7sounds like piping
  14. PO6sounds like pipeline
  15. PO7 — to break open or into pieces usually because of internal pressure; to break suddenly with an explosive sound; to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive; blowing; blowing up sounds like lopping, piping, shopping, sopping, whopping
  16. PO6sounds like plough, plow, prow

WI

  1. WI6 — as in washing, brushing; brushing; combing; dry-cleaning; dusting sounds like piping, whipping, whopping

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • glop
  • goop
  • lipo
  • loop
  • pill
  • ping
  • plop
  • plow
  • pogo
  • poll
  • polo
  • pong
  • pool
  • poop

  • gloop
  • glopping
  • lipping
  • lollipop
  • lollop
  • lolloping
  • looping
  • loping
  • lopping
  • nipping
  • opining
  • opinion
  • pigging
  • piling
  • pilling
  • pillion
  • pillow
  • pillowing
  • pinging
  • pining
  • pinion
  • pinioning
  • pinning
  • piping
  • pippin
  • plopping
  • plowing
  • pogoing
  • poling
  • polio
  • polling
  • polliwog
  • pooling
  • pooping
  • poplin
  • popping
  • powwow
  • wiping

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 46 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.

  • GIPON
  • GIPPING
  • GIPPO
  • GLOOPING
  • GOLLOP
  • GOLLOPING
  • GOLP
  • IPPON
  • LIPIN
  • LOWP
  • LOWPING
  • NIPPLING
  • NOOP
  • OOPING
  • OPING
  • OPPO
  • PIGGIN
  • PIGLING
  • PIGNOLI
  • PIING
  • PILI
  • PILLIONING
  • PILOW
  • PINGLING
  • PINGO
  • PINGPONG
  • PINON
  • PION
  • PIONING
  • PIOPIO
  • PIPI
  • PIPPING
  • PLING
  • PLONG
  • PLONGING
  • POGONIP
  • POLLIWIG
  • PONGING
  • PONGO
  • POOING
  • POON
  • POPPLING
  • POWIN
  • POWN
  • POWWOWING
  • WOPPING