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Saturday, February 28, 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 “I”. With a total of 38 words to find resulting in 161 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:

161

Genius Score :

113

Pangram

Finding the nyt pangram is key to reaching “Genius” status.
Below is progressive reveal to help you achieve it.

10-letter pangram 0 / 10 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
D 4 2 1 2 – 9
E – 1 2 – – 3
H 3 1 2 – – 6
I 2 1 1 – – 4
K 2 1 4 – – 7
L 2 1 1 – 1 5
O 1 3 – – – 4
Σ 14 10 11 2 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.

  • DE 1
  • DI 7
  • DO 1
  • ED 1
  • EL 2
  • HI 5
  • HO 1
  • ID 3
  • IO 1
  • KE 1
  • KI 6
  • LI 5
  • OI 1
  • OL 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

DE

  1. DE4 — sounds like daily, dally, doubly, dull, duller

DI

  1. DI6 — to move or act slowly; to rob by the use of trickery or threats; crawl; creep; dally sounds like dawdle, fiddle, middle, riddle
  2. DI7 — to move or act slowly; to rob by the use of trickery or threats; crawled; crept; dallied sounds like riddled
  3. DI4 — to stop living; to come to an end; to stop functioning; checked out; conked (out) sounds like bide, chide, dad, dead, deed
  4. DI4 — a bank of earth constructed to control water; a long narrow channel dug in the earth; dam; embankment; head sounds like bike, deck, dock
  5. DI5 — sounds like below, billed, billow, build, builder
  6. DI4 — sounds like bill, chill, dale, deal, dear
  7. DI5 — sounds like abode, anode, bide, bind, bio

DO

  1. DO7 — sounds like bleed, bodied, bullied, colleague, collie

ED

  1. ED6 — as in swirled, purled; purled; swirled; bubbled; dribbled sounds like deed, readied

EL

  1. EL5 — to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it; to make less in extent or duration; blue-pencil; cancel; cross (out) sounds like allied, flied, glide, lied, slide
  2. EL6 — to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it; to make less in extent or duration; blue-penciled; canceled; crossed (out) sounds like ended, guided, lighted, lipid, loaded

HI

  1. HI4 — to put into a hiding place; to keep secret or shut off from view; to remain out of sight; bury; cache sounds like bide, c****, guide, had, hadd
  2. HI4 — as in increase, raise; as in trip, trek; boost; increase; raise sounds like bike, dike, dyke, hack, hawk
  3. HI5 — to travel by foot for exercise or pleasure; to move from a lower to a higher place or position; ambled; perambulated; rambled sounds like height, heist, hooked
  4. HI4 — an upward slope; a quantity of things thrown or stacked on one another; an area of high ground; acclivity; ascent sounds like bill, c****, dill, fill, hail
  5. HI6 — to form into a pile or ridge of earth; banked; mounded sounds like billed, build, c******, filled, guild

HO

  1. HO6 — sounds like goody, heady

ID

  1. ID4 — not being in a state of use, activity, or employment; not easily aroused to action or work; dead; dormant; fallow sounds like addle, dull, s****, tidal
  2. ID5 — to spend time doing nothing; bummed; chilled; dallied; dawdled sounds like addled
  3. ID4 — a person who is the object of extreme or uncritical devotion; god; hero; icon sounds like addle, dull, sidle, tidal

IO

  1. IO6 —

KE

  1. KE6 — sounds like called, clad, cloud, cloy, cold

KI

  1. KI6 — to make fun of in a good-natured way; to make jokes; chaffed; jived; joked sounds like added, bearded, candid, coated, coddle
  2. KI6 — a young person who is between infancy and adulthood; bairn; bambino; bud; chap sounds like giddy
  3. KI5 — a young person who is between infancy and adulthood; bairn; bambino; bud; chap sounds like kudo, widow
  4. 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
  5. KI6 — 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; carried off; claimed sounds like billed, build, called, chilled, cold
  6. KI4 — sounds like keel, keno

LI

  1. LI6 — sounds like loaded
  2. LI4 — to make a statement one knows to be untrue; fabricated; fibbed; prevaricated sounds like al****, bide, chide, f****, glide
  3. LI4 — to wish to have; to show partiality toward; to take pleasure in; care (for); want sounds like a****, bike, dike, dyke, hike
  4. LI5 — as in wanted, desirable; desirable; wanted; preferred; selected sounds like locked
  5. LI10 — the quality or state of being likely to occur; liability; probability

OI

  1. OI5 — having or being a surface so smooth as to greatly reduce traction; being under the influence of alcohol; greased; greasy; lubricated sounds like b*****, f*****, old, s*****

OL

  1. OL5 — sounds like moldy
  2. OL4 — an unorganized collection or mixture of various things; agglomerate; agglomeration; alphabet soup; assortment sounds like audio
  3. OL5 — sounds like alley, awfully, c*****, early, flea

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • deli
  • died
  • dike
  • dill
  • hide
  • hike
  • hill
  • idle
  • idol
  • kill
  • kilo
  • lied
  • like
  • olio

  • diddle
  • diddled
  • dildo
  • diode
  • dollied
  • eddied
  • elide
  • elided
  • hiked
  • hilled
  • hoodie
  • idled
  • iodide
  • keloid
  • kidded
  • kiddie
  • kiddo
  • killed
  • lidded
  • liked
  • likelihood
  • oiled
  • oldie
  • ollie

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 66 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.

  • DEID
  • DEIL
  • DIDIE
  • DIDO
  • DIEL
  • DIKDIK
  • DIKED
  • DILDOE
  • DILLED
  • DILLI
  • DIOL
  • DOILED
  • DOOLIE
  • EDILE
  • EELLIKE
  • EIDE
  • EIKED
  • EILD
  • ELHI
  • HEID
  • HEIL
  • HEILED
  • HELIO
  • HIDED
  • HIED
  • HIKOI
  • HIKOIED
  • HILD
  • HILI
  • HILLO
  • HILLOED
  • HIOI
  • HOELIKE
  • HOIK
  • HOIKED
  • HOKI
  • HOODLIKE
  • HOOKLIKE
  • HOOLIE
  • IDEE
  • IDLEHOOD
  • IODID
  • KEELIE
  • KIDDIED
  • KIDDLE
  • KIDEL
  • KIDLIKE
  • KIEKIE
  • KIKE
  • KIKOI
  • KILD
  • KILLDEE
  • KILLIE
  • KLIK
  • KOOKIE
  • LIDO
  • LILIED
  • LILL
  • LILLED
  • LILO
  • LOID
  • LOIDED
  • LOOIE
  • OIDIOID
  • OILHOLE
  • OLID