G
I
N
L
R
U
K

Sunday, February 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 “L”. With a total of 42 words to find resulting in 212 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 :

42

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

212

Genius Score :

148

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 9 Σ
G 4 1 1 2 4 12
I 1 1
K 2 2 1 5
L 6 4 5 1 16
N 1 1 2
R 1 2 3
U 1 1 1 3
Σ 14 3 8 9 7 1 42

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

  • GI 4
  • GL 3
  • GR 2
  • GU 3
  • IN 1
  • KI 3
  • KN 1
  • KR 1
  • LI 5
  • LU 11
  • NI 1
  • NU 1
  • RI 2
  • RU 1
  • UN 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

GI

  1. GI8 — as in smiling, amused; amused; beaming; chuckling; smiling sounds like beguiling, guzzling, middling, piddling, sizzling
  2. GI4 — a female romantic companion; gal; girl; girlfriend; inamorata sounds like bill, chill, dill, fill, gal
  3. GI7sounds like billing, chilling, galling, killing, schilling
  4. GI4 — a young unmarried woman; a female person who has not yet reached adulthood; a female romantic companion; damsel; demoiselle sounds like burl, curl, earl, gal, gale

GL

  1. GL4sounds like lug, plug, slug
  2. GL8sounds like bugging, flagging, galloping, grudging, lagging
  3. GL6 — as in cementing; cementing; adhesiveness; attachment; cohesiveness sounds like bluing

GR

  1. GR5 — to put a series of questions to; to put a question or questions to; catechize; examine; interrogate sounds like drill, frill, rill
  2. GR8 — as in challenge, cross-examination; challenge; cross-examination; going-over; quiz sounds like drilling, thrilling

GU

  1. GU4 — one who is easily deceived or cheated; chump; dupe; mug; patsy sounds like cul, cull, dull, eagle, gal
  2. GU7 — to cause to believe what is untrue; bamboozling; beguiling; bluffing; buffaloing sounds like galling
  3. GU8 — to flow in a broken irregular stream; bubbling; dribbling; guggling; lapping

IN

  1. IN7 — a slight or indirect pointing to something (as a solution or explanation); clue; cue; hint; indication sounds like cling, duckling, sinking, thinking

KI

  1. KI4 — to deprive of life; to reject by or as if by a vote; to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it; carry off; claim sounds like bill, call, chill, coal, coil
  2. KI7 — causing or intended to cause laughter; requiring much time, effort, or careful attention; antic; chucklesome; comedic sounds like billing, chilling, cling, schilling, shilling
  3. KI4 — as in cremate, incinerate; ash; cremate; incinerate; burn

KN

  1. KN5 — as in bump, knob; blob; bump; dilatation; gibbosity sounds like burl, curl, earl, girl, hurl

KR

  1. KR5sounds like crawl, crib, drill, frill, grill

LI

  1. LI6 — positive regard for something; appetite; fancy; favor; fondness sounds like biking, lacking, locking, looking
  2. LI8sounds like bikini, singly
  3. LI6 — as in quilting, interlining; interlining; quilting; packing; buffer sounds like dining, fining, shining
  4. LI4 — to put or bring together so as to form a new and longer whole; to think of (something) in combination; catenate; chain; compound sounds like b****, ink, jink, mink, pink
  5. LI7 — the act or an instance of joining two or more things into one; combination; combining; connecting; connection sounds like b*******, p*******, sinking, thinking

LU

  1. LU7 — to cause to follow by applying steady force on; to support and take from one place to another; dragging; drawing; haling sounds like bugging, lagging, logging, loving, mugging
  2. LU6sounds like lodging, losing
  3. LU4 — a momentary halt in an activity; break; breath; breather; interruption sounds like cul, cull, dull, gull, hull
  4. LU7 — tending to calm the emotions and relieve stress; calming; comforting; dreamy; narcotic sounds like loving
  5. LU4 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like blew, blue, clue, cool, cooled
  6. LU4sounds like c****, dung, f****, hung, long
  7. LU7 — as in plunging, diving; diving; plunging; settling; sinking sounds like bulging, fudging, lodging, longing, loving
  8. LU4sounds like bunk, chunk, dunk, f****, funk
  9. LU6 — having an often mysterious or magical power to attract; alluring; appealing; attractive; bewitching sounds like bring, earring, ring, wring
  10. LU4 — to move about in a sly or secret manner; to remain out of sight; mooch; mouse; pussyfoot sounds like clerk, irk, jerk, lack, lak
  11. LU7 — to move about in a sly or secret manner; to remain out of sight; mooching; mousing; pussyfooting sounds like lacking, locking, looking, working

NI

  1. NI8 — so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention; chicken; de minimis; footling; inconsequential sounds like beguiling, middling, piddling, sizzling

NU

  1. NU4 — having no legal or binding force; having no usefulness; bad; inoperative; invalid sounds like annul, cul, cull, dull, gull

RI

  1. RI6 — causing annoyance; abrasive; aggravating; annoying; bothersome sounds like filing, piling, railing, roiling, rolling
  2. RI4 — a natural body of running water smaller than a river; beck; bourn; brook; brooklet sounds like bill, chill, dill, d****, fill

RU

  1. RU6 — a decision made by a court or tribunal regarding a case it has heard; an order publicly issued by an authority; doom; finding; holding sounds like railing, roiling, rolling, roofing

UN

  1. UN8sounds like obliging
  2. UN6 — to set or force apart; break up; decouple; disassociate; disconnect sounds like annoying, blink, link
  3. UN9 — to set or force apart; breaking up; decoupling; disassociating; disconnecting

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • gill
  • girl
  • glug
  • gull
  • kill
  • kiln
  • link
  • lull
  • lulu
  • lung
  • lunk
  • lurk
  • null
  • rill

  • giggling
  • gilling
  • glugging
  • gluing
  • grill
  • grilling
  • gulling
  • gurgling
  • inkling
  • killing
  • knurl
  • krill
  • liking
  • linguini
  • lining
  • linking
  • lugging
  • luging
  • lulling
  • lunging
  • luring
  • lurking
  • niggling
  • riling
  • ruling
  • unliking
  • unlink
  • unlinking

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 43 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.

  • GINGILI
  • GINGILLI
  • GRRL
  • GRRRL
  • GUGGLING
  • GUILING
  • GURL
  • GURLING
  • IGLU
  • INULIN
  • KILNING
  • KINGLING
  • KLIK
  • KLUGING
  • KNURLING
  • LIGGING
  • LIGNIN
  • LIKIN
  • LILL
  • LILLING
  • LING
  • LININ
  • LINN
  • LINNING
  • LIRI
  • LIRK
  • LIRKING
  • LUNGI
  • LURGI
  • NILL
  • NILLING
  • NIRL
  • NIRLING
  • NULLING
  • NURL
  • NURLING
  • RIGLIN
  • RIGLING
  • RILLING
  • RUNKLING
  • ULLING
  • UNGLUING
  • UNLINING