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Wednesday, January 14, 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 “O”. With a total of 56 words to find resulting in 175 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 :

56

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

175

Genius Score :

122

Pangram

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

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
A 1 1 1 3
B 8 3 3 14
C 8 3 3 1 15
E 1 1
L 6 1 2 9
O 3 3
P 7 2 1 1 11
Σ 33 10 9 2 1 1 56

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

  • AL 3
  • BA 1
  • BE 1
  • BL 3
  • BO 9
  • CA 3
  • CE 1
  • CL 2
  • CO 9
  • EL 1
  • LO 9
  • OB 1
  • OL 1
  • OP 1
  • PA 1
  • PE 1
  • PL 2
  • PO 7

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AL

  1. AL7
  2. AL9 — to give as a share or portion; to give out (something) to appropriate individuals; to keep or intend for a special purpose; allot; allow sounds like applicable
  3. AL4sounds like ago, blow, flow, glow, hello

BA

  1. BA6sounds like blob, blobby, bobby, bombast, buyback

BE

  1. BE5sounds like bop

BL

  1. BL4 — a small uneven mass; the quantity of fluid that falls naturally in one rounded mass; chunk; clod; clot sounds like lob, slob
  2. BL4 — a group of people acting together within a larger group; an association of persons, parties, or states for mutual assistance and protection; block; body; coalition sounds like brok, clock, flock
  3. BL5sounds like loop, sloop

BO

  1. BO4
  2. BO6 — an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy; blunder; boo-boo; boob; brick sounds like babble, bauble, bible, bubble, cobble
  3. BO5sounds like base, bass, beau
  4. BO4sounds like cola
  5. BO4sounds like bail, bale, ball, bawl, beau
  6. BO4 — as in machete, dagger; bayonet; bodkin; bowie knife; cutlass sounds like bellow, below, billow, blow, follow
  7. BO4 — an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy; blunder; bobble; boo-boo; brick sounds like babe, bib, buoy
  8. BO6 — an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy; blunder; bobble; boob; brick
  9. BO4sounds like beep, buoy, burp

CA

  1. CA5sounds like cocaine, coco, cocoa, cocoon, cuckoo
  2. CA8
  3. CA4sounds like cop, copper, copy

CE

  1. CE5sounds like bellow, fellow, mellow, self, sell

CL

  1. CL6sounds like coca
  2. CL4 — as in clap, crash; clap; clip-clop; crack; crash sounds like cop, crop, flop, glop, lop

CO

  1. CO4sounds like boll, bowl, call
  2. CO6 — to make or assemble roughly or hastily; jury-rig; patch (together); throw up sounds like cable, gobble, hobble, wobble
  3. CO4
  4. CO5
  5. CO4
  6. CO6sounds like alas, bulb, cab, canal, clad
  7. CO4 — being in the latest or current fashion; having or showing a lack of friendliness or interest in others; free from emotional or mental agitation; à la mode; au courant sounds like call, cul
  8. 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
  9. CO4 — something that covers or conceals like a piece of cloth; blanket; cloak; cover; cover-up sounds like cap, cape

EL

  1. EL5 — as in escape, abscond; abscond; clear out; decamp; escape sounds like alone, lope, slope

LO

  1. LO4sounds like g****, lab
  2. LO4
  3. LO5 — as in regional; regional; aboriginal; autochthonous; born sounds like focal, vocal
  4. LO6 — the area or space occupied by or intended for something; the place and time in which the action for a portion of a dramatic work (as a movie) is set; emplacement; locality; location
  5. LO4 — unable to think in a clear or sensible way; bats; batty; bonkers; brainsick sounds like coco, cocoa
  6. 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
  7. LO6 — to move with a light springing step; bounce; bound; hop; lope sounds like dollop, wallop
  8. LO4 — a circular strip; band; circle; eye; hoop sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, hoop, lap
  9. LO4 — to move with a light springing step; bounce; bound; hop; lollop sounds like cope, dope, hope, lap, leap

OB

  1. OB4sounds like beau, lobo

OL

  1. OL4sounds like polio

OP

  1. OP4sounds like apple, ogle, oval

PA

  1. PA5sounds like polio

PE

  1. PE6 — human beings in general; the body of the community as contrasted with the elite; a group of persons who come from the same ancestor; folks; humanity sounds like papal, purple

PL

  1. PL7sounds like casino, libido, policy, procedure, proceed
  2. PL4 — to throw or set down clumsily or casually; flop; flump; plank; plump sounds like flop, glop, lop, pop, prop

PO

  1. PO4 — as in center, capital; capital; center; cynosure; epicenter sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dole, foal
  2. PO4 — the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth; bean; block; dome; head sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dole, foal
  3. PO4sounds like pillow, solo
  4. PO4 — a small often deep body of water; billabong; mere; puddle; stank sounds like cool, fool, pail, pal, pale
  5. PO4 — solid matter discharged from an animal’s alimentary canal; dirt; doo-doo; dropping; dung sounds like coop, coupe, dupe, hoop, loop
  6. PO4 — as in bishop, archbishop; abbot; archbishop; archpriest; bishop sounds like cope, dope, hope, lope, pap
  7. 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.

  • aloe
  • blob
  • bloc
  • boba
  • bola
  • boll
  • bolo
  • boob
  • boop
  • capo
  • clop
  • coal
  • coca
  • cola
  • cool
  • coop
  • cope
  • lobe
  • lobo
  • loco
  • loll
  • loop
  • lope
  • oboe
  • oleo
  • opal
  • plop
  • pole
  • poll
  • polo
  • pool
  • poop
  • pope

  • alcopop
  • allocable
  • baobab
  • bebop
  • bloop
  • bobble
  • bocce
  • booboo
  • cacao
  • callaloo
  • cello
  • cloaca
  • cobble
  • cocoa
  • collab
  • elope
  • local
  • locale
  • lollop
  • paleo
  • people
  • placebo
  • poppa

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 73 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.

  • ABOLLA
  • ABOLLAE
  • ALCO
  • ALCOOL
  • ALOO
  • APOCOPE
  • APOLLO
  • APOOP
  • BABACO
  • BABOO
  • BABOOL
  • BACALAO
  • BACCO
  • BALBOA
  • BALOO
  • BOAB
  • BOBAC
  • BOBOL
  • BOCCA
  • BOEP
  • BOLE
  • BOOCOO
  • BOOL
  • BOPEEP
  • CABOB
  • CABOC
  • CALALOO
  • CALLOP
  • CALO
  • CLOACAE
  • CLOACAL
  • CLOOP
  • COALA
  • COALBALL
  • COBAEA
  • COBB
  • COBLE
  • COCCAL
  • COCCO
  • COCO
  • COCOBOLA
  • COCOBOLO
  • COLE
  • COLL
  • COLLOP
  • COOCOO
  • COOEE
  • COPAL
  • COPPLE
  • ECBOLE
  • ECCO
  • EPOPEE
  • LOBOLA
  • LOBOLO
  • LOCA
  • OBOL
  • OBOLE
  • OLEA
  • OLLA
  • OLPAE
  • OLPE
  • OPEPE
  • OPPO
  • PACO
  • PALOLO
  • PAOLO
  • PEPO
  • POCO
  • POEP
  • POEPOL
  • POLACCA
  • POLLEE
  • POPPLE