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Sunday, January 11, 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 “P”. With a total of 31 words to find resulting in 153 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 :

31

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

153

Genius Score :

107

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 10 Σ
A 1 1
C 4 2 1 1 1 9
M 1 1
N 1 1
O 1 1
P 6 4 6 1 1 18
Σ 10 7 6 3 2 2 1 31

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

  • AP 1
  • CA 5
  • CI 1
  • CO 3
  • MI 1
  • NI 1
  • OP 1
  • PA 6
  • PI 6
  • PO 6

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AP

  1. AP5sounds like alien, paean

CA

  1. CA4 — a place where a group of people live for a short time in tents or cabins; a small, simply constructed, and often temporary dwelling; an often small house for recreational or seasonal use; bivouac; campground sounds like champ, clamp, cramp, damp, lamp
  2. CA5 — a broad area of level or rolling treeless country; champaign; down(s); grassland; heath
  3. CA7sounds like economic, kinetic, phenolic
  4. CA4sounds like cop, copper, copy
  5. CA5sounds like common, cotton

CI

  1. CI8sounds like cheapen, choppy

CO

  1. CO4 — something given to someone without expectation of a return; bestowal; donation; donative; fairing sounds like calm, calmer, camp, carp, chomp
  2. CO9 — a person frequently seen in the company of another; one that accompanies another for protection, guidance, or as a courtesy; either of a pair matched in one or more qualities; associate; cohort
  3. CO4 — a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody; an enclosure with an open framework for keeping animals; bastille; big house; bridewell sounds like cap, cape, cup, dupe, hoop

MI

  1. MI8sounds like encamp

NI

  1. NI10 — a person who lacks good sense or judgment; a stupid person; berk; booby; charlie sounds like encamp, encompass, income, incoming, incomplete

OP

  1. OP7 — an idea that is believed to be true or valid without positive knowledge; a position arrived at after consideration; belief; conviction; eye sounds like dominion, minion, onion

PA

  1. PA4 — a sharp unpleasant sensation usually felt in some specific part of the body; a state of great suffering of body or mind; strict attentiveness to what one is doing; ache; pang sounds like arraign, bane, cane, chain, feign
  2. PA5 — a broad area of level or rolling treeless country; campo; champaign; down(s); grassland
  3. PA6 — as in sombrero, beret; baseball cap; beret; billycock; biretta
  4. PA5 — the emotion experienced in the presence or threat of danger; alarm; anxiety; dread; fear sounds like manic
  5. PA6sounds like bikini, canine, dainty, faintly, genie
  6. PA4 — a male human parent; dad; daddy; father; old man sounds like pop, poppy

PI

  1. PI5sounds like keno, paean, pan, pant, peony
  2. PI4sounds like peak, peaked, peek
  3. PI6 — a situation or state of carefree comfort; something that is easy to do; beer and skittles; easy street; fun and games sounds like cynic, panic
  4. PI4 — a man who solicits clients for a woman who is willing to engage in sexual activities for money; cadet; fancy man; pander; procurer sounds like chimp, limp, pomp, pump, wimp
  5. PI6 — to confine or restrain with or as if with chains; bind; chain; enchain; enfetter sounds like minion, o******
  6. PI6 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like begin, bidden, herein, kingpin, poplin

PO

  1. PO9sounds like banana
  2. PO4 — the impressive decorations, music, clothing etc., that are part of some formal events; dazzle; fanfare; foofaraw; pageantry sounds like chomp, palm, pimp, pump, romp
  3. PO7
  4. PO6
  5. PO4 — solid matter discharged from an animal’s alimentary canal; dirt; doo-doo; dropping; dung sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, hoop, loop
  6. PO5 — a male human parent; dad; daddy; father; old man

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • camp
  • capo
  • comp
  • coop
  • pain
  • papa
  • pica
  • pimp
  • pomp
  • poop

  • apian
  • campo
  • canopic
  • capon
  • cioppino
  • companion
  • minicamp
  • nincompoop
  • opinion
  • pampa
  • panama
  • panic
  • panini
  • piano
  • picnic
  • pinion
  • pippin
  • poinciana
  • pompano
  • pompom
  • poppa

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 57 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.

  • ACAPNIA
  • ANOPIA
  • APICIAN
  • APIMANIA
  • APOCOPIC
  • APOOP
  • CAMPANA
  • CAMPI
  • CAMPION
  • CAPA
  • CAPI
  • CIPPI
  • COCOPAN
  • COINOP
  • COMPO
  • COPPIN
  • IMPI
  • IOPANOIC
  • IPPON
  • MOOP
  • MOPANI
  • NAPA
  • NAPOO
  • NAPPA
  • NICOMPOOP
  • NIPA
  • NOOP
  • OPPO
  • PAAN
  • PACA
  • PACO
  • PAINIM
  • PANIM
  • PANINO
  • PAPAIN
  • PAPPI
  • PIAN
  • PIANI
  • PIANIC
  • PIANINO
  • PICCANIN
  • PIMA
  • PINA
  • PINNA
  • PINON
  • PION
  • PIONIC
  • PIOPIO
  • PIPA
  • PIPI
  • POCO
  • POMO
  • POMPION
  • POMPON
  • POMPOON
  • POON
  • POONAC