B
E
O
D
Y
T
C

Monday, January 26, 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 “D”. With a total of 43 words to find resulting in 186 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 :

43

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

186

Genius Score :

130

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
B 2 2 3 1 8
C 3 3 6
D 6 3 5 2 2 18
E 2 1 3
O 1 1
T 2 4 1 7
Σ 15 13 10 2 2 1 43

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 1
  • BO 7
  • CE 2
  • CO 4
  • DE 12
  • DO 5
  • DY 1
  • EB 1
  • ED 1
  • EY 1
  • OB 1
  • TE 2
  • TO 5

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

BE

  1. BE6 — to go to one’s bed in order to sleep; to set solidly in or as if in surrounding matter; crashed; dossed (down); retired sounds like wedded

BO

  1. BO6 — to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument; clipped; cropped; cut; cut back sounds like barbed, bard
  2. BO4 — to show signs of a favorable or successful outcome; augur; forebode; promise sounds like a****, bad, bade, bead, beau
  3. BO5 — to show signs of a favorable or successful outcome; augured; foreboded; promised
  4. BO4 — the main or greater part of something as distinguished from its subordinate parts; a distinct and separate portion of matter; a group of people acting together within a larger group; brunt; bulk sounds like balmy, bawdy, beady, birdie, buddy
  5. BO5 — as in jeered, hooted; hissed; hooted; jeered; bad-mouthed sounds like bad, bade, bead, bed, bid
  6. BO6 — to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way; blew; bobbled; boggled; bollixed (up) sounds like bated, batted
  7. BO9 — as in blackballed, blacked; blackballed; blacked sounds like blunted, coated, located, pointed

CE

  1. CE4 — to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress; to give over the legal possession or ownership of; to give up (as a position of authority) formally; cough up; deliver sounds like bead, deed, feed, heed, keyed
  2. CE5 — to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress; to give over the legal possession or ownership of; to give up (as a position of authority) formally; coughed up; delivered sounds like faded, jaded

CO

  1. CO4 — a collection or system of rules of conduct; canon; constitution; decalogue; law sounds like bode
  2. CO5 — as in encrypted, encoded; ciphered; enciphered; encoded; encrypted
  3. CO4 — as in undergraduate, postgraduate; collegian; postgraduate; undergraduate; pupil
  4. CO5 — as in curred; curred; fizzed; hissed; murmured sounds like crude, curd

DE

  1. DE4 — something (as money) which is owed; a breaking of a moral or legal code; arrearage; arrears; indebtedness sounds like bet, dare, date
  2. DE4sounds like echo
  3. DE6 — as in reduce, boil down; boil down; reduce; clarify; clean
  4. DE8 — as in reduced, boiled down; boiled down; reduced; clarified; cleaned
  5. DE6 — to change (as a secret message) from code into ordinary language; to have a clear idea of; break; crack; decipher sounds like code
  6. DE7 — to change (as a secret message) from code into ordinary language; to have a clear idea of; broke; cracked; deciphered sounds like divided, eroded
  7. DE5 — something used to attract animals to a hook or into a trap; bait; lure sounds like duck, duct
  8. DE7 — to lead away from a usual or proper course by offering some pleasure or advantage; allured; baited; beguiled; betrayed
  9. DE4 — an act of notable skill, strength, or cleverness; something done by someone; exploit; feat; number sounds like bead, cede, dad, did, dud
  10. DE6 — to give over the legal possession or ownership of; alienated; aliened; assigned; ceded sounds like needed
  11. DE6 — to come upon after searching, study, or effort; ascertain; descry; determine; dig out
  12. DE8 — as in identified, discovered; discovered; identified; bustling; busy sounds like affected, connected, directed, protected, selected

DO

  1. DO4 — a person with old-fashioned ideas; a stupid person; antediluvian; Colonel Blimp; fogy sounds like bode, coco, cocoa, code, dad
  2. DO4 — to love or admire too much; adore; adulate; canonize; deify sounds like boat, coat, date, debt, dirt
  3. DO5 — to love or admire too much; adore; adulate; canonize; deify sounds like coated, noted
  4. DO6 — marked with spots; dappled; flecked; freckled; mottled sounds like adopted, bottle, bottled, bottom, cheated
  5. DO5 — showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment; absurd; asinine; balmy; barmy sounds like dirty, ditty, duty, knotty, potty

DY

  1. DY4 — as in stained, marked; discolored; marked; stained; stippled sounds like bide, chide, dad, dead, deed

EB

  1. EB5 — to become worse or of less value; to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually; atrophied; crumbled; decayed sounds like bed

ED

  1. ED4 — a circular movement of air or water; swirl; gyration; pirouette; reel sounds like airy, any, heady, ready, t****

EY

  1. EY4 — to keep one’s eyes on; to make note of (something) through the use of one’s eyes; to give serious and careful thought to; followed; observed sounds like add, aid, aide, awe, awed

OB

  1. OB6 — to act according to the commands of; adhered (to); complied (with); conformed (to); followed sounds like ode, old, owned

TE

  1. TE5sounds like heady, ready, steady, tarry, tidy
  2. TE4 — feeling or showing anger; subjected to and reacting with irritation; angered; angry; apoplectic sounds like bead, cede, deed, feed, heed

TO

  1. TO5sounds like body, shoddy, tardy, teddy, tidy
  2. TO4sounds like bode, code, goad, load, mode
  3. TO6sounds like rooted
  4. TO5 — to support and take from one place to another; bore; carried; carted; conveyed sounds like coated, noted
  5. TO5 — to engage in activity for amusement; to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun; dallied; disported; frolicked sounds like tad, tide, tied, void

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • bode
  • body
  • cede
  • code
  • coed
  • debt
  • deco
  • deed
  • dodo
  • dote
  • dyed
  • eddy
  • eyed
  • teed
  • toed

  • bedded
  • bobbed
  • boded
  • booed
  • booted
  • boycotted
  • ceded
  • coded
  • cooed
  • decoct
  • decocted
  • decode
  • decoded
  • decoy
  • decoyed
  • deeded
  • detect
  • detected
  • doted
  • dotted
  • dotty
  • ebbed
  • obeyed
  • teddy
  • toddy
  • tooted
  • toted
  • toyed

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.

  • BEDE
  • BEDOTTED
  • BEDYDE
  • BEDYE
  • BEDYED
  • BEETED
  • BETED
  • BETTED
  • BOOBED
  • BOODY
  • BOTTED
  • BOYED
  • BYDE
  • BYDED
  • COBBED
  • CODDED
  • CODEC
  • COOEED
  • COOEYED
  • COTED
  • COTTED
  • COYED
  • CYTODE
  • DEBBY
  • DEBE
  • DEBTED
  • DEBTEE
  • DEBYE
  • DECTET
  • DEEDY
  • DEET
  • DOBBED
  • DOBBY
  • DOBY
  • DOCO
  • DODDED
  • DODDY
  • DOOB
  • DOOCE
  • DOOCED
  • DOOCOT
  • DOODOO
  • DOODY
  • DOTY
  • ECOD
  • EDDO
  • OBTECTED
  • TEDDED
  • TEDY
  • TODDE
  • TODDED
  • TODY
  • TOTTED
  • TYDE
  • TYED
  • YEDE
  • YEED
  • YODE