B
E
C
K
D
L
O

Friday, January 23, 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 “K”. With a total of 38 words to find resulting in 173 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 :

38

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

173

Genius Score :

121

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 10 Σ
B 3 2 2 1 1 9
C 3 1 3 1 2 1 1 12
D 3 1 3 7
E 1 1
K 2 1 3
L 3 2 1 6
Σ 15 4 11 2 4 1 1 38

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

  • BE 3
  • BL 3
  • BO 3
  • CE 1
  • CL 2
  • CO 9
  • DE 5
  • DO 2
  • EK 1
  • KE 2
  • KO 1
  • LE 1
  • LO 5

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

BE

  1. BE4 — a natural body of running water smaller than a river; bourn; brook; brooklet; burn sounds like back, bake, balk, bare
  2. BE6 — to make more attractive by adding something that is beautiful or becoming; to outfit with clothes and especially fine or special clothes; adorn; array; beautify sounds like budding
  3. BE8 — as in dressed, decorated; adorned; arrayed; beautified; decked sounds like addict

BL

  1. BL5 — a number of things considered as a unit; something that makes movement or progress difficult; the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth; array; assemblage sounds like brok, clock, flock
  2. BL7 — as in hindered, impeded; hindered; impeded; obstructed; excluded sounds like locked
  3. BL5 — an adult male human being; bastard; buck; cat; chap sounds like baroque, broke

BO

  1. BO4sounds like back, bake, balk, balm, bar
  2. BO4 — a set of printed sheets of paper bound together between covers and forming a work of fiction or nonfiction; a book made up of the writings accepted by Christians as coming from God; a publication that appears at regular intervals; tome; volume sounds like back, bake, balk, beak, bike
  3. BO6 — to arrange to have something (as a hotel room) held for one’s future use; to leave a place often for another; bespoke; reserved; bailed sounds like backed, baked, hooked

CE

  1. CE9sounds like selfless

CL

  1. CL5 — a device to measure time; chronometer; timekeeper; timepiece; timer sounds like bloc, block, cock
  2. CL7 — to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner; banged; bashed; batted; belted sounds like blocked, locked

CO

  1. CO4 — to set or cause to be at an angle; angle; cant; heel; incline sounds like cake, calm, car, caught, cause
  2. CO6 — as in tilted, inclined; angled; canted; heeled; inclined sounds like cart, caught, khaki, locked, shocked
  3. CO6
  4. CO4sounds like cake, choke, cloak
  5. CO8sounds like clock, goldstock
  6. CO10
  7. CO4 — to change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of; to take place; bend; color; distort sounds like book, cake, crook, hook, kick
  8. CO8sounds like checkbook, kickback
  9. CO6 — as in fried, baked; baked; boiled; braised; broiled sounds like hooked

DE

  1. DE4 — a flat roofless structure attached to a building; balcony; sundeck; terrace sounds like check, dare, dick
  2. DE6 — as in dressed, decorated; adorned; arrayed; beautified; bedecked sounds like checked, direct, duct, sect, wrecked
  3. DE6sounds like heckle
  4. DE4 — to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement; fake; fake out; juke sounds like buck, chuck, dick, dike, dock
  5. DE5 — to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement; faked; faked out; juked sounds like duck, dust

DO

  1. DO4 — a structure used by boats and ships for taking on or landing cargo and passengers; float; jetty; landing; levee sounds like chalk, cock, dark, deck, dick
  2. DO6 — to make less in extent or duration; to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument; abbreviated; abridged; curtailed sounds like dart, duct, locked, shocked

EK

  1. EK4 — to get with great difficulty; scrape (up or together); scrounge; squeeze; wrest sounds like act, east, eat, peaked

KE

  1. KE4 — a large craft for travel by water; boat; ship; vessel sounds like call, coal, coil, cool, cul
  2. KE6 — as in dropped, collapsed; collapsed; crumpled; dropped; flumped sounds like called, cold, cooled, field, sealed

KO

  1. KO4 — a person of odd or whimsical habits; character; codger; crack; crackbrain sounds like cake, cock, coke, cook, cool

LE

  1. LE4sounds like beak, bleak, cheek, chic, clique

LO

  1. LO4 — as in bar, latch; as in wrap, fold; bar; batten (down); bolt sounds like bloc, b****, chalk, c****, cock
  2. LO6 — as in barred, latched; as in wrapped, folded; barred; battened (down); bolted sounds like b******, lat, shocked
  3. LO4 — to give the impression of being; to make known (as an idea, emotion, or opinion); to have in mind as a purpose or goal; act; appear sounds like book, cook, hook, lack, lak
  4. LO8sounds like cookbook
  5. LO6 — to give the impression of being; to make known (as an idea, emotion, or opinion); to have in mind as a purpose or goal; acted; appeared sounds like hooked

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • beck
  • bock
  • book
  • cock
  • coke
  • cook
  • deck
  • deke
  • dock
  • eked
  • keel
  • kook
  • leek
  • lock
  • look

  • bedeck
  • bedecked
  • block
  • blocked
  • bloke
  • booked
  • cellblock
  • clock
  • clocked
  • cocked
  • cockle
  • coldcock
  • coldcocked
  • cookbook
  • cooked
  • decked
  • deckle
  • deked
  • docked
  • keeled
  • locked
  • lookbook
  • looked

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 58 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.

  • BECKE
  • BECKED
  • BELLEEK
  • BELLOCK
  • BELLOCKED
  • BLOOK
  • BOCKED
  • BOKE
  • BOKED
  • BOKO
  • BOLLOCK
  • BOLLOCKED
  • BOOBOOK
  • BOOKOO
  • CLECK
  • CLECKED
  • CLEEK
  • CLEEKED
  • CLOKE
  • CLOKED
  • COCKLED
  • CODEBOOK
  • COKED
  • DECKEL
  • DECKLED
  • DECKO
  • DECKOED
  • DECOKE
  • DECOKED
  • DEEK
  • DEKKO
  • DEKKOED
  • DOEK
  • DOOK
  • DOOKED
  • EBOOK
  • KEBBED
  • KEBBOCK
  • KEBELE
  • KEBOB
  • KEBOBBED
  • KECK
  • KECKED
  • KECKLE
  • KECKLED
  • KEEK
  • KEEKED
  • KELL
  • KOBO
  • KOBOLD
  • KOEL
  • KOLO
  • KOODOO
  • KOOKED
  • LEBBEK
  • LEKE
  • LEKKED
  • LOKE