D
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V
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Friday, February 13, 2026

Welcome to today’s New York Times Spelling Bee hints and answers. Today’s puzzle features a substantially larger than average board today, promising plenty of opportunities with a center letter of “L”. With a total of 59 words to find resulting in 272 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. 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 :

59

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

272

Genius Score :

190

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
?????????
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
D 5 2 6 3 1 17
E 1 3 1 5
L 11 3 3 1 1 19
N 2 1 3 2 1 9
O 1 2 3
U 2 1 3
V 2 1 3
Σ 21 9 16 9 3 1 59

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 7
  • DO 6
  • DU 4
  • EL 3
  • EV 2
  • LE 5
  • LO 10
  • LU 4
  • NE 2
  • NO 6
  • NU 1
  • OL 2
  • OV 1
  • UN 3
  • VE 2
  • VO 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

DE

  1. DE4 — as in canyon, rift valley; canyon; combe; depression; dingle sounds like bell, cell, dale, dare
  2. DE6 — to cause to believe what is untrue; bamboozle; beguile; bluff; buffalo sounds like elude
  3. DE7 — as in duped, deceived; deceived; duped; tricked; erroneous sounds like gilded, secluded
  4. DE5 — a naturally formed underground chamber with an opening to the surface; antre; cave; cavern; grot sounds like shelve
  5. DE6 — as in dug, excavated; dug; excavated; shoveled; burrowed sounds like shelved
  6. DE7 — to become worse or of less value; atrophy; crumble; decay; decline sounds like dissolve, evolve, involve, revolve
  7. DE8 — to become worse or of less value; atrophied; crumbled; decayed; declined sounds like evolved, involved

DO

  1. DO4 — the giving of necessities and especially money to the needy; almsgiving; charity; philanthropy sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dale, deal
  2. DO5 — to give out (something) to appropriate individuals; administered; allocated; apportioned; dealt (out) sounds like bold, cold, fold, gold, hold
  3. DO4 — a small figure often of a human being used especially as a child’s plaything; a physically attractive person; action figure; dolly; poppet sounds like dale, deal, dell, dill
  4. DO6 — as in formal, elegant; dressy; elegant; formal; spiffed-up
  5. DO6 — to spend time in aimless activity; fiddle (around); fool around; fribble; goof (around) sounds like dawdle, dual, duel, noodle, poodle
  6. DO7 — to spend time in aimless activity; fiddled (around); fooled around; fribbled; goofed (around) sounds like addled, dawdle, dazzled, dual, duel

DU

  1. DU4 — an earnest effort for superiority or victory over another; ball game; battle; combat; competition sounds like dial, dowel, jewel
  2. DU6 — as in fought, battled; battled; clashed (with); combated; contended
  3. DU4 — lacking sharpness of edge or point; causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest; covered over by clouds; blunt; blunted sounds like addle, cul, cull, dale, deal
  4. DU6 — lacking a surface luster or gloss; lacking intensity of color; lacking sharpness of edge or point; dim; dull sounds like addled

EL

  1. EL6sounds like leaven
  2. EL5 — to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery; avoid; dodge; duck; escape sounds like allude, d*****, issued, lewd
  3. EL6 — to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery; avoided; dodged; ducked; escaped sounds like allude, allusion, avoided, fluid, loaded

EV

  1. EV6 — to gradually become clearer or more detailed; to throw or give off; develop; elaborate; unfold sounds like involve
  2. EV7 — being far along in development; advanced; developed; forward; high sounds like involved

LE

  1. LE4sounds like bead, bleed, cede, deed, feed
  2. LE4 — to give to another for temporary use with the understanding that it or a like thing will be returned; advance; loan sounds like bend, b****, end, fend, land
  3. LE5 — a bank of earth constructed to control water; a structure used by boats and ships for taking on or landing cargo and passengers; dam; dike; embankment sounds like bevy, heavy
  4. LE5 — the placement of someone or something in relation to others in a vertical arrangement; degree; echelon; footing; place sounds like bevel, devil, revel
  5. LE7 — to make equal in amount, degree, or status; to make free from breaks, curves, or bumps; to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal; balanced; equalized

LO

  1. LO4 — a mass or quantity of something taken up and carried, conveyed, or transported; a considerable amount; burden; cargo; draft sounds like bode, code, goad, lad, lade
  2. LO4 — to be limp from lack of water or vigor; to refrain from labor or exertion; to spend time doing nothing; droop; flag sounds like doll, lat, lull, pall
  3. LO6 — to be limp from lack of water or vigor; to refrain from labor or exertion; to spend time doing nothing; drooped; flagged sounds like lard
  4. LO4 — being the one or ones of a class with no other members; not being in the company of others; alone; one; one-off sounds like a****, blown, bone, c****, c****s
  5. LO4 — a person of odd or whimsical habits; a stupid person; character; codger; crack sounds like boon, dune, goon, lain, lane
  6. LO4 — marked by a high volume of sound; excessively showy; blaring; blasting; booming sounds like allowed, a****, bowed, c****, lad
  7. LO6sounds like laden, leaden
  8. LO8sounds like hadn’t, laden, leaden, leavened, legend
  9. LO4 — to feel passion, devotion, or tenderness for; to hold dear; to take pleasure in; adore; cherish sounds like dove, g****, leave, live, luck
  10. LO5 — granted special treatment or attention; beloved; cherished; darling; dear sounds like g*****, lived

LU

  1. LU4 — a momentary halt in an activity; break; breath; breather; interruption sounds like cul, cull, dull, gull, hull
  2. LU6 — to free from distress or disturbance; becalmed; calmed; composed; lullabied sounds like loved
  3. LU4 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like blew, blue, clue, cool, cooled
  4. LU4sounds like boon, dune, goon, lain, lane

NE

  1. NE6 — a slender hollow instrument by which material is put into or taken from the body through the skin; an arrow-shaped piece on a dial or scale for registering information; hype; hypodermic; hypodermic needle sounds like beadle, noodle
  2. NE7 — to attack repeatedly with mean put-downs or insults; to subject (someone) to constant scoldings and sharp reminders; baited; hassled; hazed

NO

  1. NO6 — a small rounded mass of swollen tissue; bump; knot; lump; node sounds like module
  2. NO4 — the season celebrating Christmas; Christmastide; Christmastime; yuletide sounds like knoll, null
  3. NO6 — a stupid person; the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth; airhead; birdbrain; blockhead sounds like needle, poodle
  4. NO7
  5. NO8 — as in fashionable, stylish; fashionable; happening; in; modish sounds like knell, naval, navel, nutshell
  6. NO5 — as in story, tale; as in pulp, novelette; anecdote; narrative; story sounds like naval, navel

NU

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

OL

  1. OL5 — as in traditional, historic; historic; historical; traditional; antiquated sounds like g*****
  2. OL4sounds like polio

OV

  1. OV5sounds like mule, view, viewer

UN

  1. UN9sounds like involved
  2. UN7sounds like upheaval
  3. UN7 — as in wretched, unlovable; appalling; awful; dreadful; foul sounds like beloved, gloved, loved

VE

  1. VE4 — a broad area of level or rolling treeless country; campo; champaign; down(s); grassland sounds like felled, held, meld, shelled, weld
  2. VE6sounds like ennui, fennel, kennel

VO

  1. VO4sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dole, foal

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • dell
  • dole
  • doll
  • duel
  • dull
  • lede
  • lend
  • lode
  • loll
  • lone
  • loon
  • loud
  • love
  • lull
  • lulu
  • lune
  • noel
  • null
  • oleo
  • veld
  • vole

  • delude
  • deluded
  • delve
  • delved
  • devolve
  • devolved
  • doled
  • dolled
  • doodle
  • doodled
  • dueled
  • dulled
  • eleven
  • elude
  • eluded
  • evolve
  • evolved
  • levee
  • level
  • leveled
  • lolled
  • louden
  • loudened
  • loved
  • lulled
  • needle
  • needled
  • nodule
  • noodle
  • noodled
  • nouvelle
  • novel
  • olden
  • ovule
  • unevolved
  • unlevel
  • unloved
  • venule

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 77 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.

  • DELE
  • DELED
  • DELO
  • DEVEL
  • DEVELED
  • DEVELLED
  • DEVVEL
  • DEVVELLED
  • DODDLE
  • DOOL
  • DOOLE
  • DOOLEE
  • DUELLED
  • DUELLO
  • DULE
  • ELEVON
  • ENLEVE
  • ENOL
  • EVOLUE
  • LEDDEN
  • LEED
  • LENO
  • LEONE
  • LEUD
  • LEVE
  • LEVEED
  • LEVELLED
  • LEVO
  • LODEN
  • LOOED
  • LOUED
  • LOUN
  • LOUND
  • LOUNDED
  • LOUNED
  • LUDE
  • LUDO
  • LUNULE
  • NEELD
  • NEELE
  • NEVEL
  • NEVELLED
  • NODDLE
  • NODDLED
  • NODULED
  • NOLE
  • NOLL
  • NOLO
  • NONLEVEL
  • NONNOVEL
  • NOUL
  • NOULD
  • NOULDE
  • NOULE
  • NOVELLE
  • NULLED
  • OLDE
  • OLDENED
  • OULD
  • OVEL
  • OVOLO
  • UNDELUDED
  • UNDULLED
  • UNLED
  • UNLEVELED
  • UNLEVELLED
  • UNLOVE
  • VELE
  • VELL
  • VELLON
  • VENNEL
  • VOLED
  • VOLVE
  • VOLVED
  • VOULU
  • VULN
  • VULNED