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Thursday, January 22, 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 “G”. With a total of 45 words to find resulting in 225 total possible points, we are looking at an average number of points. 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 :

45

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

225

Genius Score :

158

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
???????
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 10 Σ
A 1 2 1 4
E 1 1 2
G 8 4 5 17
M 3 3 3 3 1 13
N 3 1 4
T 1 2 3
U 1 1 2
Σ 13 10 12 8 2 45

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

  • AG 3
  • AU 1
  • EN 2
  • GA 12
  • GE 2
  • GN 1
  • GU 2
  • MA 10
  • ME 1
  • MU 2
  • NA 1
  • NE 1
  • NU 2
  • TA 2
  • TE 1
  • UN 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AG

  1. AG5sounds like abbot, gut, maggot
  2. AG5 — something used to achieve an end; a person who acts or does business for another; a person sent on a mission to represent another; agency; instrument sounds like urgent
  3. AG4sounds like ahs, are, awe, bog, egg

AU

  1. AU7 — to make greater in size, amount, or number; accelerate; add (to); aggrandize; amplify sounds like cement, comment, dement, ferment, foment

EN

  1. EN6 — to hold the attention of; to enter into contest or conflict with; to obligate by prior agreement; absorb; bemuse
  2. EN10 — the act or state of being engaged to be married; an agreement to be present at a specified time and place; the state of being provided with a paying job; betrothal; espousal

GA

  1. GA4 — showing urgent desire or interest; showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment; agog; antsy; anxious sounds like goggle, saga
  2. GA4 — something given or held to assure that the giver will keep a promise; guarantee; guaranty; pawn; pledge sounds like age, cage
  3. GA4 — a competitive encounter between individuals or groups carried on for amusement, exercise, or in pursuit of a prize; a method worked out in advance for achieving some objective; an attitude or manner not to be taken seriously; bout; competition sounds like aim, came, dame, fame
  4. GA6
  5. GA5
  6. GA5 — the distance or extent between possible extremes; diapason; range; scale; spectrum
  7. GA4 — a group of people working together on a task; a group of people sharing a common interest and relating together socially; a group involved in secret or criminal activities; army; band sounds like bang, dang, fang
  8. GA6sounds like granite
  9. GA4 — a barrier by which an entry is closed and opened; the opening through which one can enter or leave a structure; a fixture for controlling the flow of a liquid; door; hatch sounds like ate, bait, date, eight, fate
  10. GA6 — as in cake, galette; cake; croquette; cutlet; fritter sounds like ghetto
  11. GA5 — to decide the size, amount, number, or distance of (something) without actual measurement; to find out the size, extent, or amount of; calculate; call; conjecture sounds like age, cage
  12. GA5 — suffering extreme weight loss as a result of hunger or disease; cadaverous; emaciated; haggard; skeletal sounds like daunt, gone, haunt, jaunt, taunt

GE

  1. GE4sounds like bean, dean, gin, jeans, jeep
  2. GE4 — an adult male human being; bastard; bloke; buck; cat sounds like bent, cent, dent, jaunt, jest

GN

  1. GN4sounds like bat, cat, chat, fat, hat

GU

  1. GU6 — as in perpetrator, felon; as in gun, gunner; assassin; bandit; bravo sounds like dungeon, lineman, luncheon, onion, penman
  2. GU6 — as in perpetrators, felons; as in guns, gunners; assassins; bandits; bravos sounds like dungeon, lineman, luncheon, onion, penman

MA

  1. MA4 — a person skilled in using supernatural forces; charmer; conjurer; enchanter; Magian sounds like badge
  2. MA7sounds like agenda
  3. MA5sounds like alma, asthma, dogma, gamma
  4. MA7 — a person of rank, power, or influence in a particular field; baron; captain; czar; king
  5. MA6 — something that attracts interest; attraction; draw; lodestone
  6. MA6 — something (as a work of art) that is a great achievement and often its creator’s greatest achievement; chef d’oeuvre; classic; masterpiece; masterwork
  7. MA6 — to deal with (something) usually skillfully or efficiently; to look after and make decisions about; to meet one’s day-to-day needs; address; contend (with)
  8. MA10 — the act or activity of looking after and making decisions about something; administration; care; charge; conduct sounds like adamant, animate, arrangement, banishment, battlement
  9. MA5sounds like mega, mingle, saga
  10. MA5sounds like arrange, change, range

ME

  1. ME4 — unusually large; astronomical; Brobdingnagian; bumper; colossal

MU

  1. MU4sounds like among, dung, hung, lung, monk
  2. MU7

NA

  1. NA7sounds like amateur, amity, amortize, asset, gamut

NE

  1. NE6 — to declare not to be true; to put an end to by formal action; to think not to be true or real; contradict; deny sounds like begat, beget, berate, bigot, elate

NU

  1. NU6 — a small piece or quantity of food; a small uneven mass; a very small piece; bite; morsel sounds like budget, bugging, commit, dugout, knit
  2. NU6sounds like nightmare

TA

  1. TA4 — an almost imperceptible sign of something; the quality or state of being stimulating to the mind or senses; breath; flicker; glimmer sounds like bang, dang, fang, gang, hang
  2. TA7 — a departure from the subject under consideration; aside; digression; divagation; excursion sounds like pageant, pungent, tenant, transient

TE

  1. TE7 — as in underage, preteen; ephebic; minor; preteen; subadult

UN

  1. UN7 — as in cream, ointment; balm; cream; embrocation; liniment sounds like account, adjust, adult, affront, agent
  2. UN5sounds like attach, attack, nag, snag, stag

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • ague
  • gaga
  • gage
  • game
  • gang
  • gate
  • gene
  • gent
  • gnat
  • mage
  • mega
  • mung
  • tang

  • agate
  • agent
  • augment
  • engage
  • engagement
  • gamete
  • gamma
  • gamut
  • gannet
  • gateau
  • gauge
  • gaunt
  • gunman
  • gunmen
  • magenta
  • magma
  • magnate
  • magnet
  • magnum
  • manage
  • management
  • manga
  • mange
  • mutagen
  • nametag
  • negate
  • nugget
  • nutmeg
  • tangent
  • teenage
  • unguent
  • untag

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 114 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.

  • AGAMA
  • AGAMETE
  • AGEE
  • AGEMATE
  • AGEN
  • AGENE
  • AGMA
  • AGNAME
  • AGNATE
  • AGUNA
  • AMENAGE
  • ANGA
  • EATAGE
  • EGMA
  • EMUNGE
  • ENGAGEE
  • ENNAGE
  • ETAGE
  • EUGE
  • EUMUNG
  • GAEN
  • GAGMAN
  • GAGMEN
  • GAMA
  • GAMGEE
  • GAMMAT
  • GAMME
  • GANE
  • GANGUE
  • GANT
  • GATEMAN
  • GATEMEN
  • GAUM
  • GAUN
  • GEAN
  • GEAT
  • GEMMA
  • GEMMAE
  • GEMMAN
  • GEMMATE
  • GEMMEN
  • GENA
  • GENET
  • GENETTE
  • GENNET
  • GENU
  • GENUA
  • GETA
  • GEUM
  • GNAMMA
  • GUAN
  • GUANA
  • GUGA
  • GUMMA
  • GUMMATA
  • GUMNUT
  • GUNG
  • GUNGE
  • GUNNAGE
  • GUNNEN
  • GUTTA
  • GUTTAE
  • GUTTATE
  • MAGG
  • MAGMATA
  • MANEGE
  • MANG
  • MANGANATE
  • MANGEMANGE
  • MEGAGAMETE
  • MENAGE
  • MENG
  • MENGE
  • METAGE
  • METATAG
  • MGANGA
  • MUGG
  • MUGGA
  • MUGGEE
  • MUNGA
  • MUNGE
  • NAGA
  • NAGANA
  • NANG
  • NGANA
  • NUGAE
  • TAGGANT
  • TAGGEE
  • TAGMA
  • TAGMATA
  • TAGMEME
  • TAGUAN
  • TANGA
  • TANGUN
  • TANNAGE
  • TAUTAUG
  • TEGG
  • TEGMEN
  • TEGMENTA
  • TEGMENTUM
  • TEGU
  • TEGUA
  • TEGUMEN
  • TEGUMENT
  • TENGE
  • TENTAGE
  • TUNG
  • TUNNAGE
  • TUTENAG
  • UNGAG
  • UNGET
  • UNGUENTA
  • UNGUENTUM
  • UNGUM