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U

Sunday, February 8, 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 60 words to find resulting in 284 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 :

60

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

284

Genius Score :

199

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
????????
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 4 4 2 1 3 14
E 2 1 1 4
I 3 2 2 7
L 6 2 4 2 14
N 2 3 1 6
T 5 2 1 8
U 1 5 1 7
Σ 18 18 12 7 4 1 60

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 4
  • BI 6
  • BL 2
  • BU 2
  • EB 1
  • EL 1
  • EN 2
  • IN 7
  • LE 2
  • LI 12
  • NI 4
  • NU 2
  • TI 7
  • TU 1
  • UN 6
  • UT 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

BE

  1. BE7 — a quickly followed straight or direct course; dash; scramble; stampede; haste sounds like byline, feline
  2. BE5 — to give a misleading impression of; to prove to be false; to keep secret or shut off from view; misrepresent; confound sounds like bilk, bill, billed, billow, build
  3. BE8 — to express scornfully one’s low opinion of; bad-mouth; cry down; decry; denigrate
  4. BE8sounds like airline, baseline, byline, coastline, deadline

BI

  1. BI5 — a book made up of the writings accepted by Christians as coming from God; Book; Good Book; Holy Writ; Scripture sounds like babble, bauble, bubble, libel
  2. BI4 — biting sharpness of feeling or expression; acidity; acidness; acridity; acridness sounds like aisle, bail, bale, ball, bawl
  3. BI4 — a record of goods sold or services performed together with the costs due; a piece of printed paper used as money in the United States; a sheet bearing an announcement for posting in a public place; account; check sounds like bail, bale, ball, bawl, been
  4. BI6 — a straight piece (as of wood or metal) that is longer than it is wide; bar; rod sounds like ballot, built, bullet
  5. BI4 — a harsh or sharp quality; a small piece or quantity of food; an uncomfortable degree of coolness; acerbity; acidity sounds like bait, bat, beat, beet, bet
  6. BI6 — to be objectionable or unsatisfactory; smelled; stunk; sucked sounds like beaten, begun, button, kitten, mitten

BL

  1. BL4 — as in crepe, blintze; blintze; crepe; oatcake; wheat cake sounds like been, bin
  2. BL5 — as in crepes, blintzes; blintzes; crepes; oatcakes; wheat cakes sounds like baloney, beady, bean, beefy, bikini

BU

  1. BU5 — as in ample, curvy; ample; bosomy; busty; buxom sounds like belie, below, belt, bilk, bill
  2. BU8 — a publication that appears at regular intervals; a published statement informing the public of a matter of general interest; book; diurnal; gazette sounds like belittle, bitten

EB

  1. EB9 — filled with life and enthusiasm; boisterous; bubbly; exuberant; high-spirited sounds like abundant, billion, blunt, brilliant, bullion

EL

  1. EL5 — as in exclusive; exclusive; better; exceptional; fancy sounds like cleat, delete, fleet, pleat, sleet

EN

  1. EN5 — the state of being bored; blahs; boredom; doldrums; listlessness sounds like any
  2. EN7 — to give a right to; to give a name to; authorize; privilege; qualify sounds like title

IN

  1. IN7sounds like built, rebuilt
  2. IN5 — a part of a body of water that extends beyond the general shoreline; arm; bay; bight; cove
  3. IN5sounds like any, eerie, guinea, iffy, itchy
  4. IN5sounds like entail, entice, entire, excel, hotel
  5. IN6 — something that one hopes or intends to accomplish; the idea that is conveyed or intended to be conveyed to the mind by language, symbol, or action; aim; ambition; aspiration
  6. IN6 — to have a clear idea of; appreciate; apprehend; assimilate; behold
  7. IN7sounds like brutal, enamel, futile, natal, nettle

LE

  1. LE7 — allowing a lot of freedom and not punishing bad behavior in a strong way; clement; forbearing; forgiving; merciful sounds like deviant
  2. LE6sounds like dental, gentle, mental, rental

LI

  1. LI5 — the making of false statements that damage another’s reputation; aspersing; blackening; calumniation; calumny sounds like bible, label
  2. LI7
  3. LI4sounds like bean, clean, dean, gene, glean
  4. LI4 — as a substitute; first; instead; rather sounds like leach, leaf, league, leak, lean
  5. LI4 — the attractive quality of speech or music that rises and falls in a pleasing pattern; movement; sway; swing; beat sounds like built, gilt, guilt, hilt, jilt
  6. LI4 — a series of persons or things arranged one behind another; a way of acting or proceeding; the activity by which one regularly makes a living; column; cue sounds like align, dine, fine, lain, lane
  7. LI5 — as in dirty laundry; dirty laundry; dirt; gossip; scuttlebutt
  8. LI6
  9. LI4 — a soft airy substance or covering; down; floss; fluff; fur sounds like f****, g****, hint, leant, learnt
  10. LI6sounds like lentil
  11. LI4 — as in light; light; natural; plain; simple sounds like alight, bite, blight, byte, cite
  12. LI6 — having relatively little height; lacking importance; not broad or open in views or opinions; low; low-lying sounds like whittle

NI

  1. NI6 — a small piece or quantity of food; bite; morsel; mouthful; nugget sounds like noble
  2. NI4 — as in last word, hot ticket; buzz; chic; craze; dernier cri sounds like been, bin, chin, din, fin
  3. NI8
  4. NI4sounds like bite, byte, cite, fight, height

NU

  1. NU6 — a very small piece; the central part or aspect of something under consideration; atom; bit; crumb sounds like above, abuzz, baboon, bourbon, bubble
  2. NU6 — sexually attractive; desirable; dishy; dollish; foxy sounds like bile, nibble, noble, noodle, ruble

TI

  1. TI4 — as in drain, hydrant; drain; drainpipe; funnel; hydrant sounds like aisle, bile, file, guile, isle
  2. TI4 — to work by plowing, sowing, and raising crops on; cultivate; farm; tend sounds like bill, chill, dill, fill, hill
  3. TI4 — the act of positioning or an instance of being positioned at an angle; angling; bend; cock; inclination sounds like built, gilt, guilt, hilt, jilt
  4. TI4 — as in prong; prong; pinpoint; barb; jag sounds like dine, fine, line, mine, pine
  5. 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
  6. TI5 — a word or combination of words by which a person or thing is regularly known; a word or series of words often in larger letters placed at the beginning of a passage or at the top of a page in order to introduce or categorize; the position occupied by the one who comes in first in a competition; appellation; appellative sounds like litle, total, turtle, vital
  7. TI6 — a very small piece; the smallest amount or part imaginable; atom; bit; crumb sounds like little, total, turtle, whittle

TU

  1. TU5sounds like nutty, putty, touchy

UN

  1. UN7 — to destroy (as a building) completely by knocking down or breaking to pieces; demolished; leveled; pulled down; razed sounds like built, rebuilt
  2. UN4 — as in item, single; entity; item; single
  3. UN5 — to come together to form a single unit; to bring (something) to a central point or under a single control; to form or enter into an association that furthers the interests of its members; associate; coalesce
  4. UN5 — being without light or without much light; black; caliginous; dark; darkened
  5. UN5 — to disengage the knotted parts of; unbind; undo; unfasten; unlash
  6. UN5 — up to (a particular time); till; up till; up to; afore sounds like annoying, antic, entail, instill, still

UT

  1. UT5sounds like f*****

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • bile
  • bill
  • bite
  • blin
  • lien
  • lieu
  • lilt
  • line
  • lint
  • lite
  • nine
  • nite
  • tile
  • till
  • tilt
  • tine
  • tint
  • unit

  • beeline
  • belie
  • belittle
  • beltline
  • bible
  • billet
  • bitten
  • blini
  • built
  • bulletin
  • ebullient
  • elite
  • ennui
  • entitle
  • inbuilt
  • inlet
  • innie
  • intel
  • intent
  • intuit
  • inutile
  • lenient
  • lentil
  • libel
  • libelee
  • linen
  • linnet
  • lintel
  • little
  • nibble
  • nineteen
  • nubbin
  • nubile
  • title
  • tittle
  • tutti
  • unbuilt
  • unite
  • unlit
  • untie
  • until
  • utile

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 81 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.

  • BEIN
  • BENI
  • BENNI
  • BETITLE
  • BIBB
  • BIBBLE
  • BIEN
  • BILLETEE
  • BILLIE
  • BINE
  • BINIT
  • BINT
  • BITT
  • BITTE
  • BITTIE
  • BLIT
  • BLITE
  • BLUEBILL
  • BLUELINE
  • BLUETIT
  • BUIBUI
  • BULBIL
  • BUNTLINE
  • EINE
  • ELINT
  • ENLIT
  • ETTIN
  • ETUI
  • ILLITE
  • INBENT
  • INNIT
  • INTENIBLE
  • INTI
  • INTIL
  • INTINE
  • INTITLE
  • INTITULE
  • INULIN
  • LENITE
  • LENTI
  • LIBELLEE
  • LILL
  • LININ
  • LINN
  • LINTIE
  • LITTEN
  • LITTLIE
  • LITTLIN
  • LITU
  • LUIT
  • LUITEN
  • LULIBUB
  • LUTEIN
  • LUTITE
  • NEINEI
  • NELLIE
  • NETTIE
  • NIELLI
  • NILL
  • TEIL
  • TEIN
  • TELLIN
  • TENTIE
  • TENUTI
  • TILLITE
  • TINNIE
  • TITBIT
  • TITE
  • TITI
  • TITTIE
  • TITULE
  • TITULI
  • TUBULIN
  • TUILLE
  • TUILLETTE
  • TULLIBEE
  • UNBITT
  • UNBITTEN
  • UNLINE
  • UNTILE
  • UNTIN