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Tuesday, January 13, 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 “M”. With a total of 42 words to find resulting in 188 total possible points, we are looking at an average number of points. 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 :

42

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

188

Genius Score :

132

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
?????????
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 8 9 10 11 Σ
E 1 1 1 2 1 1 7
I 1 1 1 3
L 2 1 1 1 5
M 13 4 5 22
T 2 1 2 5
Σ 19 6 7 3 4 1 1 1 42

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

  • EL 1
  • EM 3
  • EN 3
  • IM 2
  • IT 1
  • LI 5
  • ME 8
  • MI 13
  • MY 1
  • TE 2
  • TI 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

EL

  1. EL7 — one of the parts that make up a whole; general or basic truths on which other truths or theories can be based; a region of activity, knowledge, or influence; building block; component

EM

  1. EM7 — standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement; astral; bright; distinguished; illustrious sounds like immanent, imminent
  2. EM9 — to a great degree; achingly; almighty; archly; awful sounds like imminently
  3. EM4 — to throw or give off; to send forth using the vocal cords; cast; discharge; emanate sounds like mitt, omit

EN

  1. EN5 — one that is hostile toward another; adversary; antagonist; foe; hostile sounds like annum, any, crummy, dummy, ebony
  2. EN6 — a deep-seated ill will; animosity; animus; antagonism; antipathy
  3. EN11 — a sum of money allotted for a specific use by official or formal action; allocation; allotment; annuity; appropriation

IM

  1. IM8 — giving signs of immediate occurrence; being soon to appear or take place; impending; looming; pending sounds like eminent
  2. IM10 — as in soon, shortly; anon; before long; by and by; directly sounds like eminently

IT

  1. IT4 — a separate part in a list, account, or series; a report of recent events or facts not previously known; detail; particular; point sounds like atom, autumn

LI

  1. LI4 — as in limey; limey; powerboater; sailboater; able-bodied seaman sounds like chime, climb, c****, dime, lamb
  2. LI5 — to set bounds or an upper limit for; to mark the limits of; cap; circumscribe; confine sounds like bigot, billet, climate, comet, demote
  3. LI4 — to give a representation or account of in words; delineate; depict; describe; draw sounds like lymph
  4. LI7sounds like alignment, fireman, gunman, lawman, layman
  5. LI8 — a liquid that is rubbed on your skin to relieve pain or stiffness in your muscles; embrocation; lotion; ointment; potion

ME

  1. ME4 — to come upon face-to-face or as if face-to-face; to come together into one body or place; to come upon unexpectedly or by chance; catch; chance (upon) sounds like beat, beet, cheat, eat, feat
  2. ME5 — a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people; affray; brawl; broil; donnybrook sounds like mail, mailed, male
  3. ME4 — to cease to be visible; to go from a solid to a liquid state; dematerialize; disappear; dissolve sounds like belt, dealt, felt, knelt, malt
  4. ME5
  5. ME4sounds like beam, deem, mien, mom
  6. ME6sounds like many
  7. ME4 — to give out (something) to appropriate individuals; administer; allocate; apportion; deal (out) sounds like beat, beet, cheat, eat, feat
  8. ME6 — strength of spirit; ability to continue despite difficulties; main; might; muscle; potency sounds like kettle, mottle, myrtle, nettle, petal

MI

  1. MI4 — the outward form of someone or something especially as indicative of a quality; appearance; aspect; dress; figure sounds like bean, dean, gene, keen, lean
  2. MI4 — a long distance; afar; country mile; far cry; long haul sounds like aisle, bile, file, guile, isle
  3. MI4 — a building or set of buildings for the manufacturing of goods; factory; manufactory; plant; shop sounds like bill, chill, dill, fill, hill
  4. MI6sounds like billet
  5. MI4 — an actor in a story performed silently and entirely by body movements; a movement of the body or limbs that expresses or emphasizes an idea or feeling; mimic; mummer; pantomime sounds like chime, dime, lime, mom, mum
  6. MI4 — an abundant source; a usually concealed explosive device designed to go off when disturbed; argosy; cornucopia; gold mine sounds like dine, fine, line, main, man
  7. MI4 — a very small automobile; compact; coupe; intermediate; limousine sounds like genie, many, mealy, mean, meaner
  8. MI5 — as in tiny, minuscule; bitty; inappreciable; infinitesimal; little bitty
  9. MI4 — being in an original and unused or unspoiled state; brand-new; fresh; pristine; span-new sounds like hint, lint, meant
  10. MI5 — a very large amount of money; big bucks; bomb; boodle; bundle
  11. MI4 — a very small sum of money; something (such as an animal) much smaller than others of its kind; a very small amount; chicken feed; chump change sounds like bite, byte, cite, fight, height
  12. MI4sounds like bit, chit, emit, fit, hit
  13. MI6sounds like bitten, kitten, mutton, s******, written

MY

  1. MY6sounds like maudlin, melon, sellin, violin

TE

  1. TE4 — to be copiously supplied; abound; brim; bristle; bulge sounds like beam, deem, ream, seam, seem
  2. TE8 — a room or set of rooms in a private house or a block used as a separate dwelling place; apartment; diggings; digs; flat sounds like element, ornament, regiment, sediment, sentiment

TI

  1. TI4 — a particular point at which an event takes place; an exciting or noteworthy event that one experiences firsthand; an extent of time associated with a particular person or thing; moment; occasion sounds like chime, dime, lime, rhyme, tam
  2. TI8sounds like byline, guideline, hemline, lifeline, limelight
  3. TI6 — especially suitable for a certain time; done, carried out, or given without delay; opportune; seasonable; well-timed

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • emit
  • item
  • lime
  • limn
  • meet
  • melt
  • meme
  • mete
  • mien
  • mile
  • mill
  • mime
  • mine
  • mini
  • mint
  • mite
  • mitt
  • teem
  • time

  • element
  • eminent
  • eminently
  • enemy
  • enmity
  • entitlement
  • imminent
  • imminently
  • limit
  • linemen
  • liniment
  • melee
  • melty
  • mentee
  • mettle
  • millet
  • minim
  • minty
  • mitten
  • myelin
  • tenement
  • timeline
  • timely

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.

  • ELEMI
  • ELMEN
  • ELMY
  • EMETIN
  • EMETINE
  • EMMET
  • EMMY
  • ILMENITE
  • IMINE
  • IMMIT
  • IMMY
  • INTIME
  • INTIMITY
  • LEME
  • LEMEL
  • LIMELIT
  • LIMEN
  • LIMEY
  • LIMY
  • LYME
  • MEEMIE
  • MEETLY
  • MEIN
  • MEINEY
  • MEINIE
  • MEINT
  • MEINY
  • MELILITE
  • MELINITE
  • MELITTIN
  • MELL
  • MELLITE
  • MELTEMI
  • MENE
  • MENILITE
  • MENT
  • MENYIE
  • MEYNT
  • MIELIE
  • MILLE
  • MILLIE
  • MILLIEME
  • MILLIME
  • MILLINE
  • MILT
  • MILTY
  • MIMETITE
  • MINETTE
  • MINIMENT
  • MINIMILL
  • MINNIE
  • MINNY
  • MINY
  • MITY
  • MNEME
  • MYELINE
  • NEEM
  • NEMN
  • NIMIETY
  • TELEMEN
  • TEME
  • TEMENE
  • TINMEN
  • TITMEN
  • YELM
  • YLEM