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Thursday, February 26, 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 “I”. With a total of 51 words to find resulting in 238 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. 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 :

51

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

238

Genius Score :

167

Pangram

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

8-letter pangram 0 / 8 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
A 2 4 2 8
C 2 2 1 2 7
I 2 2 1 1 6
M 6 5 2 1 1 15
N 1 1 2
T 2 5 4 1 1 13
Σ 14 17 12 5 2 1 51

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

  • AC 2
  • AM 1
  • AN 3
  • AT 2
  • CA 5
  • CI 1
  • CY 1
  • IM 1
  • IN 4
  • IT 1
  • MA 6
  • MI 9
  • NI 2
  • TA 7
  • TI 6

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC6sounds like occasion
  2. AC4sounds like occur, sky

AM

  1. AM5 — kindly concern, interest, or support; benevolence; brotherhood; charity; cordiality sounds like ante, city, committee, ditty, emit

AN

  1. AN5sounds like alma, asthma, edema, prima
  2. AN4 — opposed to; not for; against; agin; contra sounds like aunt, p****e, shanty
  3. AN5 — causing or intended to cause laughter; given to good-natured joking or teasing; chucklesome; comedic; comic sounds like attic

AT

  1. AT6 — to obtain (as a goal) through effort; to receive as return for effort; achieve; bag; chalk up sounds like obtain, stain
  2. AT5 — a room or unfinished space directly beneath the roof of a building; cockloft; garret; loft sounds like antic, stick, tick

CA

  1. CA5
  2. CA6sounds like common, omen
  3. CA4sounds like balmy, cocky, coffee, collie, comma
  4. CA7 — a place of business where alcoholic beverages are sold to be consumed on the premises; bar; barroom; café; dramshop
  5. CA7sounds like chemist, claimant, comment, commit, culminate

CI

  1. CI4 — a thickly settled, highly populated area; asphalt jungle; burg; cosmopolis; megacity sounds like ditty, kitty, pity, silly, sit

CY

  1. CY5 — a person who distrusts other people and believes that everything is done for selfish reasons; misanthrope; naysayer; pessimist sounds like civic, scenic, sinning, sonic

IM

  1. IM4sounds like mom

IN

  1. IN7 — a foolish act or idea; lack of good sense or judgment; absurdity; asininity; bêtise
  2. IN6sounds like can’t, decant, enact, encamp, enchant
  3. IN6 — not lacking any part or member that properly belongs to it; compleat; complete; comprehensive; entire sounds like enact
  4. IN8 — the state of being in a very personal or private relationship; belonging; chumminess; closeness; familiarity

IT

  1. IT4 — very small in size; atomic; bitsy; bitty; infinitesimal sounds like city, d****, eerie, eighty, iffy

MA

  1. MA4 — to cause severe or permanent injury to; cripple; disable; incapacitate; lame sounds like aim, came, dame, fame, game
  2. MA4 — coming before all others in importance; arch; big; capital; cardinal sounds like arraign, bane, cane, chain, feign
  3. MA8 — to keep in good condition; to continue to declare to be true or proper despite opposition or objections; to pay the living expenses of; conserve; keep up sounds like contain, mountain, mundane
  4. MA5 — a serious mental disorder that prevents one from living a safe and normal life; something about which one is constantly thinking or concerned; aberration; dementia; derangement
  5. MA6 — a person who lacks good sense or judgment; a person with a strong and habitual liking for something; berk; booby; charlie
  6. MA5sounds like panic

MI

  1. MI4sounds like mecca
  2. MI5 — to copy or exaggerate (someone or something) in order to make fun of; to use (someone or something) as the model for one’s speech, mannerisms, or behavior; burlesque; caricature; do sounds like gimmick, mythic
  3. MI4 — a very small automobile; compact; coupe; intermediate; limousine sounds like genie, many, mealy, mean, meaner
  4. MI7sounds like cynical, income, modicum
  5. MI5 — as in tiny, minuscule; bitty; inappreciable; infinitesimal; little bitty
  6. MI6 — as in semblances, modicums; hoots; iotas; jots; minims sounds like cinema, edema, mania
  7. MI4 — being in an original and unused or unspoiled state; brand-new; fresh; pristine; span-new sounds like hint, lint, meant
  8. MI5 — a very large amount of money; big bucks; bomb; boodle; bundle
  9. MI4sounds like bit, chit, emit, fit, hit

NI

  1. NI6sounds like basic, basin, casing, chasten, evasive
  2. NI5 — a person who lacks good sense or judgment; a stupid person; berk; booby; charlie sounds like guinea, nanny, tinny

TA

  1. TA5 — understood although not put into words; implicit; implied; unexpressed; unspoken sounds like asset, cast, caste, facet, facile
  2. TA6 — something done to achieve a particular goal; means; method; technique; way sounds like acting, active, antic, arctic, attic
  3. TA9sounds like technician
  4. TA5 — a mark of guilt or disgrace; blot; brand; onus; slur sounds like faint, feint, paint, saint, tent
  5. TA6sounds like manic, panic, tonic, tunic
  6. TA6
  7. TA6sounds like anatomy, atom, balmy, battery, catty

TI

  1. TI5 — as in colored, hued; colored; colorized; dyed; hued sounds like linked
  2. TI5 — as in thin, peeping; peeping; thin; high-pitched; piping sounds like guinea, tony, tourney
  3. TI4 — a property that becomes apparent when light falls on an object and by which things that are identical in form can be distinguished; cast; color; hue; shade sounds like hint, lint, mint, s****, taint
  4. TI4 — very small in size; atomic; bitsy; bitty; infinitesimal sounds like shiny, tony, tourney
  5. TI5 — something that is unusually large and powerful; behemoth; blockbuster; colossus; dinosaur sounds like heighten, lighten
  6. TI7 — unusually large; astronomical; Brobdingnagian; bumper; colossal sounds like italic

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • acai
  • anti
  • cami
  • city
  • imam
  • itty
  • maim
  • main
  • mica
  • mini
  • mint
  • mitt
  • tint
  • tiny

  • acacia
  • amity
  • anima
  • antic
  • attain
  • attic
  • cacti
  • caiman
  • cantina
  • catmint
  • cynic
  • inanity
  • incant
  • intact
  • intimacy
  • maintain
  • mania
  • maniac
  • manic
  • mimic
  • minicam
  • minim
  • minima
  • minty
  • niacin
  • ninny
  • tacit
  • tactic
  • tactician
  • taint
  • tannic
  • tannin
  • tatami
  • tinct
  • tinny
  • titan
  • titanic

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 92 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.

  • ACINI
  • ACINIC
  • ACMATIC
  • ACMIC
  • ACTIN
  • ACTINIA
  • ACTINIAN
  • ACTINIC
  • AMAIN
  • AMANITA
  • AMANITIN
  • AMIA
  • AMICI
  • AMIN
  • AMINIC
  • AMINITY
  • AMNIA
  • AMNIC
  • ANICCA
  • ANIMACY
  • ANIMATIC
  • ANIMI
  • ANTICITY
  • ANTIMAN
  • ANTIMYCIN
  • ATACTIC
  • ATIMY
  • ATTAINT
  • AYIN
  • CAIMAC
  • CAIMACAM
  • CAIN
  • CANINITY
  • CANTIC
  • CINCT
  • CINNAMIC
  • CYANIC
  • CYANIN
  • CYANITIC
  • CYMATIA
  • ICTIC
  • IMITANCY
  • IMITANT
  • IMMANITY
  • IMMIT
  • IMMY
  • INCITANT
  • INIA
  • INNIT
  • INTI
  • INTIMA
  • INTIMITY
  • MAMMATI
  • MANAIA
  • MANATI
  • MANI
  • MANNITIC
  • MANTIC
  • MATAI
  • MATIN
  • MATTIN
  • MINA
  • MINACITY
  • MINCY
  • MINNY
  • MINY
  • MINYAN
  • MINYANIM
  • MITY
  • NAIANT
  • NAIN
  • NICTITANT
  • NITTY
  • TACTICITY
  • TAIN
  • TAIT
  • TAMIN
  • TANTI
  • TIAN
  • TICCA
  • TICTAC
  • TINA
  • TINMAN
  • TINTY
  • TITANIA
  • TITI
  • TITIAN
  • TITMAN
  • TITTY
  • TIYIN
  • TYIN
  • TYIYN