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Wednesday, February 18, 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 “N”. With a total of 39 words to find resulting in 180 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 :

39

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

180

Genius Score :

126

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 Σ
A 1 2 1 1 5
C 1 6 8 2 1 18
D 1 1 2
N 6 1 7
R 2 3 1 1 7
Σ 11 13 10 3 2 39

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 1
  • AD 1
  • AN 2
  • AR 1
  • CA 7
  • CO 10
  • CR 1
  • DA 1
  • DO 1
  • NA 5
  • NO 2
  • RA 5
  • RO 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC5sounds like corn, scorn

AD

  1. AD5 — to make more attractive by adding something that is beautiful or becoming; array; beautify; bedeck; bedizen

AN

  1. AN8 — as in python, boa; adder; asp; black racer; blacksnake sounds like avocado
  2. AN4 — at or within a short time; before long; by and by; directly; momentarily sounds like upon

AR

  1. AR6

CA

  1. CA6 — a rumor or report of a personal or sensational nature; story; tale; whisper sounds like concede, confide, country, regard, unarmed
  2. CA6sounds like common, concave, condom
  3. CA6 — the free expression of one’s true feelings and opinions; the quality or state of having or giving off light; bluntness; candidness; directness sounds like gander, hander, kinder, pander, sander
  4. CA5sounds like manna
  5. CA6 — as in barrage, cannonade; barrage; cannonade; blitz; bomb
  6. CA5 — a statement or body of statements concerning faith or morals proclaimed by a church; a record of a series of items (as names or titles) usually arranged according to some system; a collection or system of rules of conduct; doctrine; dogma
  7. CA7 — a group of vehicles traveling together or under one management; a motor vehicle that is specially equipped for living while traveling; armada; cavalcade; fleet sounds like baron, barren, craven

CO

  1. CO6 — something that encloses another thing especially to protect it; something that serves as a protective barrier; armor; capsule; case sounds like cuckoo
  2. CO5
  3. CO7 — peaceful coexistence; chime; comity; compatibility; harmony sounds like encore, onboard
  4. CO5 — as in condominium, penthouse; bed-sitter; cohousing; condominium; duplex
  5. CO6sounds like candor, fonder, kinder, ponder, wander
  6. CO5
  7. CO6 — a line of people or objects that are placed around or in front of a person or place to keep people away; barricade; buffer; bumper; cocoon sounds like warden
  8. CO8 — as in calfskin, deerskin; alligator; antelope; buckskin; cabretta
  9. CO4 — something (as a work of literature or music) that is too sentimental; goo; mush; schmaltz; sludge sounds like a****, born, chord
  10. CO6 — as in aura; aura; starburst; sunburst; aureole sounds like krona

CR

  1. CR5 — to produce low, soft musical tones with the voice; belt; harmonize; hum; lilt sounds like prune

DA

  1. DA4 — the smallest amount or part imaginable; beans; bubkes; continental; damn sounds like barn, don, yarn

DO

  1. DO5 — one that helps another with gifts or money; angel; benefactor; donator; fairy godmother sounds like diner, dinner, loner, owner, toner

NA

  1. NA4sounds like con, don, john, knob, knock
  2. NA4sounds like nod
  3. NA4sounds like manna
  4. NA4 — as in fed, plainclothesman; fed; Federal; G-man; plainclothesman sounds like arc, bark, dark, knock, lark
  5. NA5sounds like arc, bark, barrio, borrow, cargo

NO

  1. NO4 — the middle of the day; the highest part or point; high noon; lunch time; midday sounds like boon, dune, goon, knew, known
  2. NO4 — a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness and then within a few months or years becomes less bright again; binary star; brown dwarf; dwarf; fixed star sounds like aroma, boa, coca, cola, coma

RA

  1. RA7 — as in rabbit, otter; badger; beaver; chamois; chinchilla sounds like cocoon, reckon, recoup, tycoon, wrack
  2. RA5
  3. RA6 — a deep-seated ill will; animosity; animus; antagonism; antipathy sounds like anchor, banker, canker, tanker
  4. RA4sounds like and, band, b****, canned, g****
  5. RA5sounds like and, band, bandy, banjo, brand

RO

  1. RO4 — as in blotchy, piebald; blotched; blotchy; piebald; pinto sounds like bone, cone, crone, drone, g****
  2. RO5sounds like condo

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • anon
  • corn
  • darn
  • naan
  • nada
  • nana
  • narc
  • noon
  • nova
  • rand
  • roan

  • acorn
  • adorn
  • anaconda
  • arcana
  • canard
  • cancan
  • candor
  • canna
  • cannon
  • canon
  • caravan
  • cocoon
  • codon
  • concord
  • condo
  • condor
  • convo
  • cordon
  • cordovan
  • corona
  • croon
  • donor
  • narco
  • raccoon
  • radon
  • rancor
  • rando
  • rondo

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 50 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.

  • ANAN
  • ANANA
  • ANCON
  • ANCORA
  • ANDRO
  • ANNA
  • ANNO
  • ANNONA
  • ANOA
  • ARNA
  • CACOON
  • CANADA
  • CANN
  • CARANNA
  • CARDAN
  • CARDON
  • CARDOON
  • CARN
  • CARON
  • CARRON
  • COND
  • CONN
  • COON
  • COONCAN
  • CORNO
  • CRAN
  • DACRON
  • DONA
  • DONNA
  • DONNARD
  • DOON
  • DOONA
  • DOORN
  • DVANDVA
  • NANDOO
  • NANNA
  • NARD
  • NARDOO
  • NAVAR
  • NONA
  • RACON
  • RACOON
  • RANA
  • RANDAN
  • RANDON
  • RONCADOR
  • ROON
  • VANDA
  • VARAN
  • VARNA