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Friday, February 20, 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 “U”. With a total of 28 words to find resulting in 100 total possible points, we are looking at a lower point cap, so every word counts. 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 :

28

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

100

Genius Score :

70

Pangram

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

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 Σ
B 3 5 1 – – 9
D 4 1 1 – – 6
G 2 3 – – – 5
L 4 – – 2 1 7
U 1 – – – – 1
Σ 14 9 2 2 1 28

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

  • BA 1
  • BU 8
  • DA 1
  • DU 5
  • GA 1
  • GL 1
  • GU 3
  • LA 3
  • LU 4
  • UG 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

BA

  1. BA4 — sounds like awed, bead, bed

BU

  1. BU5 —
  2. BU6 — joyously unrestrained; bouncy; buoyant; crank; effervescent sounds like doubly
  3. BU5 — a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another; alter ego; amigo; chum; compadre sounds like bawdy, beady, birdie, bloody, body
  4. BU5 — a small four-wheeled vehicle designed for pushing a baby around in; baby buggy; baby carriage; perambulator; pram sounds like baggy, biggie, bogey, boogie, muggy
  5. BU4 — a stupid person; airhead; birdbrain; blockhead; bonehead sounds like bely
  6. BU5 — a part that sticks out from the general mass of something; the more favorable condition or position in a competition; bunch; convexity; jut
  7. BU4 — an order publicly issued by an authority; decree; diktat; directive; edict sounds like bail, bale, ball, bawl, bell
  8. BU5 — of the very best kind; A-OK; A1; awesome; bang-up sounds like belly, bookie, fully, pulley, woolly

DA

  1. DA4 — to make dirty; to rub an oily or sticky substance over; befoul; begrime; bemire sounds like doff, dog, door, dub

DU

  1. DU4 — consisting of two members or parts that are usually joined; binary; bipartite; double; double-barreled sounds like dial, dowel, jewel
  2. DU6 — consisting of two members or parts that are usually joined; binary; bipartite; double; double-barreled
  3. DU4 — lacking sharpness of edge or point; causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest; covered over by clouds; blunt; blunted sounds like addle, cul, cull, dale, deal
  4. DU5 — as in dimly; as in sluggishly, inanimately; dimly; darkly; duskily sounds like daily, dally, doubly, gulley, gully
  5. DU4 — in a manner suitable for the occasion or purpose; appositely; appropriately; congruously; correctly sounds like coolly, daily, dally, newly

GA

  1. GA5 — excessively showy; flamboyant; flaring; flashy; garish sounds like bawdy, giddy, goody, gory

GL

  1. GL4 — sounds like lug, plug, slug

GU

  1. GU5 — as in concentration camp, stalag; concentration camp; labor camp; prison camp; stalag sounds like flag, gag, ghoulish, glad, glass
  2. GU4 — one who is easily deceived or cheated; chump; dupe; mug; patsy sounds like cul, cull, dull, eagle, gal
  3. GU5 — a long, narrow cut or low area in the ground that water moves through when it rains; arroyo; barranca; coulee; draw sounds like gaily, galley, girlie, glee, golly

LA

  1. LA7 — sounds like radial, radiate, radius
  2. LA4 — public acknowledgment or admiration for an achievement; acclaim; accolade; applause; bay(s) sounds like awed, flawed, lead, led, lewd
  3. LA8 — deserving of high regard or great approval; admirable; applaudable; commendable; creditable sounds like audibly, doubly, horribly, plausibly

LU

  1. LU4 — as in barbecue, cookout; barbecue; clambake; cookout; fry sounds like lewd, loom, loon, loop, loose
  2. LU4 — a momentary halt in an activity; break; breath; breather; interruption sounds like cul, cull, dull, gull, hull
  3. LU7 — to free from distress or disturbance; becalm; calm; compose; lull sounds like alibi, nullify
  4. LU4 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like blew, blue, clue, cool, cooled

UG

  1. UG4 — unpleasant to look at; causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment; grotesque; hideous; homely sounds like agleam, agree, glee

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • baud
  • bulb
  • bull
  • daub
  • dual
  • dull
  • duly
  • glug
  • gull
  • laud
  • luau
  • lull
  • lulu
  • ugly

  • bubba
  • bubbly
  • buddy
  • buggy
  • bulgy
  • bully
  • dually
  • dully
  • gaudy
  • gulag
  • gully
  • ladybug
  • laudably
  • lullaby

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 32 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.

  • AGLU
  • ALULA
  • AUDAD
  • AULA
  • AULD
  • BABU
  • BABUL
  • BALU
  • BLAUD
  • BLUB
  • BLUDY
  • BLUGGY
  • BUBA
  • BUBAL
  • BUBBY
  • BUBU
  • BUDA
  • BULBUL
  • BULLA
  • DAUBY
  • DAUD
  • DUAD
  • DUDDY
  • GAUD
  • GUGA
  • GULA
  • GULLABLY
  • GULY
  • UDAL
  • YAUD
  • YAULD
  • YUGA