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Wednesday, January 21, 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 “O”. With a total of 51 words to find resulting in 207 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 :

51

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

207

Genius Score :

145

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 3 2 1 6
C 6 8 5 3 1 1 24
L 5 2 1 8
N 4 1 1 1 7
O 2 1 3
W 1 2 3
Σ 21 14 9 3 2 2 51

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

  • AE 1
  • AL 4
  • AN 1
  • CA 7
  • CE 1
  • CL 3
  • CO 13
  • LL 1
  • LO 7
  • NE 2
  • NO 5
  • OC 1
  • OL 1
  • ON 1
  • WA 1
  • WO 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AE

  1. AE4 — a long or seemingly long period of time; age; blue moon; coon’s age; cycle sounds like neon

AL

  1. AL5 — to give permission for or to approve of; to give permission to; to fail to prevent (some behavior on someone’s part) especially from neglect or indifference; green-light; have sounds like plough, plow
  2. AL9 — something belonging to, due to, or contributed by an individual member of a group; the approval by someone in authority for the doing of something; allotment; cut; end
  3. AL4sounds like ago, blow, flow, glow, hello
  4. AL5 — without aid or support; for nothing other than; independently; single-handed; single-handedly sounds like atone, blown, clone, clones, cologne

AN

  1. AN4 — at or within a short time; before long; by and by; directly; momentarily sounds like upon

CA

  1. CA5sounds like cocaine, coco, cocoa, cocoon, cuckoo
  2. CA8
  3. CA6 — lacking in adult experience or maturity; adolescent; green; immature; inexperienced sounds like fallow, shallow, tallow
  4. CA6 — as in barrage, cannonade; barrage; cannonade; blitz; bomb
  5. CA5 — a long narrow boat that is pointed at both ends and that is moved by a paddle with one blade; bateau; caïque; catamaran; coracle sounds like anew, cuckoo, kazoo
  6. CA6sounds like ayatollah, cola, connote, kimono, manila
  7. 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

CE

  1. CE5sounds like bellow, fellow, mellow, self, sell

CL

  1. CL6sounds like coca
  2. CL5 — something that is made to look exactly like something else; something or someone that strongly resembles another; carbon; carbon copy; copy sounds like alone, blown, cologne, cone
  3. CL5 — a comically dressed performer (as at a circus) who entertains with playful tricks and ridiculous behavior; a person whose behavior is offensive to others; buffo; buffoon; harlequin sounds like crown

CO

  1. CO4sounds like boll, bowl, call
  2. CO4
  3. CO5
  4. CO6 — something that encloses another thing especially to protect it; something that serves as a protective barrier; armor; capsule; case sounds like cuckoo
  5. CO4
  6. CO9sounds like cannon, canon, volcanic
  7. CO7 — as in senorita, mademoiselle; mademoiselle; senhorita; senorita; bird sounds like clean, saline
  8. CO5
  9. CO7 — a person with old-fashioned ideas; antediluvian; dodo; fogy; fossil sounds like journal, kennel, vernal
  10. CO7 — to put into a hiding place; to keep secret or shut off from view; bury; cache; ensconce sounds like unseal
  11. CO4sounds like bone, can, cane, clone, clones
  12. CO4 — being in the latest or current fashion; having or showing a lack of friendliness or interest in others; free from emotional or mental agitation; à la mode; au courant sounds like call, cul
  13. CO4 — as in poncho, capelet; as in hood, bonnet; burnoose; capelet; capuchin sounds like call, cul, cull, curl

LL

  1. LL5 — a broad area of level or rolling treeless country; campo; champaign; down(s); grassland sounds like blond, blonde, bond, borrow, capo

LO

  1. LO4 — as in advance; advance; bribe; douceur; peace offering sounds like alone, blown, bone, clone, clones
  2. LO5 — as in regional; regional; aboriginal; autochthonous; born sounds like focal, vocal
  3. LO6 — the area or space occupied by or intended for something; the place and time in which the action for a portion of a dramatic work (as a movie) is set; emplacement; locality; location
  4. LO4 — unable to think in a clear or sensible way; bats; batty; bonkers; brainsick sounds like coco, cocoa
  5. LO4 — to be limp from lack of water or vigor; to refrain from labor or exertion; to spend time doing nothing; droop; flag sounds like doll, lat, lull, pall
  6. LO4 — being the one or ones of a class with no other members; not being in the company of others; alone; one; one-off sounds like a****, blown, bone, c****, c****s
  7. LO4 — a person of odd or whimsical habits; a stupid person; character; codger; crack sounds like boon, dune, goon, lain, lane

NE

  1. NE6 — as in neoconservative; neoconservative; conformist; diehard; standpatter sounds like beacon, deacon, knuckle, weaken
  2. NE4sounds like bean, con, dean, don, eon

NO

  1. NO4 — the season celebrating Christmas; Christmastide; Christmastime; yuletide sounds like knoll, null
  2. NO5 — as in occasional, infrequent; inconstant; infrequent; intermittent; irregular sounds like nuance
  3. NO4 — certainly not; not in any degree, way, or under any condition; hardly; ill; no sounds like bun, done, dun, eon, fun
  4. NO8
  5. NO4 — the middle of the day; the highest part or point; high noon; lunch time; midday sounds like boon, dune, goon, knew, known

OC

  1. OC5 — the whole body of salt water that covers nearly three-fourths of the earth; an immeasurable depth or space; blue; brine; deep sounds like ashen, lotion, motion, notion, omen

OL

  1. OL4sounds like polio

ON

  1. ON4 — at an earlier or previous time; erstwhile; formerly; onetime sounds like whence, wince, won

WA

  1. WA6 — a sunken and often wet area like that used by animals to roll in; borehole; chuckhole; crater; posthole sounds like follow, hollow, s******, willow

WO

  1. WO4 — the hairy covering of a mammal especially when fine, soft, and thick; coat; fleece; fur; hair sounds like bull, full, pull, wail, wale
  2. WO6

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • aeon
  • aloe
  • anon
  • coal
  • coca
  • cola
  • cone
  • cool
  • cowl
  • loan
  • loco
  • loll
  • lone
  • loon
  • neon
  • noel
  • none
  • noon
  • oleo
  • once
  • wool

  • allow
  • allowance
  • alone
  • cacao
  • callaloo
  • callow
  • cannon
  • canoe
  • canola
  • canon
  • cello
  • cloaca
  • clone
  • clown
  • cocoa
  • cocoon
  • colcannon
  • colleen
  • colon
  • colonel
  • conceal
  • llano
  • local
  • locale
  • neocon
  • nonce
  • nonlocal
  • ocean
  • wallow
  • woolen

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 69 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.

  • ALCO
  • ALCOOL
  • ALENCON
  • ALOO
  • ALOW
  • ALOWE
  • ANCON
  • ANCONAL
  • ANCONE
  • ANCONEAL
  • ANNO
  • ANNONA
  • ANOA
  • ANOLE
  • ANOW
  • AWOL
  • CACOON
  • CALALOO
  • CALO
  • CANNELON
  • CLOACAE
  • CLOACAL
  • CLON
  • CLONAL
  • CLOW
  • COALA
  • COCCAL
  • COCCO
  • COCO
  • COENACLE
  • COLE
  • COLL
  • COLONE
  • CONN
  • CONNE
  • COOCOO
  • COOEE
  • COON
  • COONCAN
  • COWAL
  • COWAN
  • ECCO
  • ENOL
  • ENOW
  • ENWALLOW
  • EOAN
  • EOCENE
  • LENO
  • LEONE
  • LOANEE
  • LOCA
  • LOWAN
  • LOWE
  • LOWN
  • LOWNE
  • NOLE
  • NOLL
  • NOLO
  • NONA
  • NONANE
  • NONCOLA
  • NONWOOL
  • NOWL
  • NOWN
  • OLEA
  • OLLA
  • WOOLLEN
  • WOON
  • WOWEE