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Tuesday, January 20, 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 “A”. With a total of 68 words to find resulting in 347 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. Impressively, there are 3 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 :

68

Total Pangrams :

3

Total Points:

347

Genius Score :

243

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
???????
8-letter pangram 0 / 8 letters revealed
????????
11-letter pangram 0 / 11 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 11 Σ
A 4 3 3 2 1 13
F 6 7 3 4 3 23
I 1 1 2 1 1 6
L 1 2 1 1 5
N 4 3 1 1 1 10
T 3 5 2 1 11
Σ 18 21 11 11 5 1 1 68

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

  • AF 2
  • AL 4
  • AN 5
  • AT 2
  • FA 11
  • FI 7
  • FL 5
  • IN 6
  • LA 4
  • LI 1
  • NA 10
  • TA 9
  • TI 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AF

  1. AF7
  2. AF8 — a habitual attraction to some activity or thing; the fact or state of having something in common; affection; aptitude; bent sounds like ability, acidity, agility, amenity, finicky

AL

  1. AL7
  2. AL4 — to come to rest after descending from the air; to come down from something (as a vehicle); landed; lit; perched sounds like eyelet, glut, gullet
  3. AL5 — to make more bearable or less severe; alleviate; assuage; ease; help sounds like away, clay, fillet, lay, play
  4. AL4 — someone associated with another to give assistance or moral support; abettor; backer; bedfellow; confederate sounds like fly, lie, lye, ply, sleigh

AN

  1. AN4 — extremely or overly neat, careful, or precise; anal-retentive; obsessive; adamant; adamantine sounds like addle, agile, apple, channel, null
  2. AN6
  3. AN5sounds like addle, agile, apple, channel, null
  4. AN4 — opposed to; not for; against; agin; contra sounds like aunt, p****e, shanty
  5. AN6

AT

  1. AT5 — inclined or twisted to one side; askew; aslant; awry; cock-a-hoop sounds like stilt, tilt
  2. AT6 — to obtain (as a goal) through effort; to receive as return for effort; achieve; bag; chalk up sounds like obtain, stain

FA

  1. FA4 — to stop functioning; to be unsuccessful; to fall short in satisfying the expectation or hope of; break; break down sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  2. FA5 — not seen or understood clearly; lacking bodily strength; blear; bleary; blurry sounds like feign, feigned, fete, font, paint
  3. FA7 — as in quietly, softly; feebly; low; noiselessly; quietly sounds like saintly
  4. FA4 — to go down from an upright position suddenly and involuntarily; to yield to the control or power of enemy forces; to go to a lower level especially abruptly; slip; stumble sounds like all, ball, bawl, call, feel
  5. FA5 — the part of the body upon which someone sits; backside; behind; booty; bottom sounds like canny, funny, nanny, phoney, phony
  6. FA7sounds like entail, mantel, mantle, phantom
  7. FA5 — bringing about ruin or misfortune; likely to cause or capable of causing death; calamitous; cataclysmal; catastrophic sounds like fertile, fetal, natal
  8. FA8 — a person or thing harmed, lost, or destroyed; casualty; loss; prey; victim sounds like fertility, fidelity, finality, totality, vitality
  9. FA7
  10. FA5 — in a luxurious manner; expensively; extravagantly; grandly; high sounds like flatly
  11. FA5 — containing animal fat especially in unusual amounts; adipose sounds like catty, chatty, natty, patty, ratty

FI

  1. FI4 — an order publicly issued by an authority; bull; decree; diktat; directive sounds like fat, flat
  2. FI6sounds like bilious, cereal, ciliate, fearful
  3. FI8
  4. FI5 — following all others of the same kind in order or time; having been established and usually not subject to change; bottommost; closing; concluding sounds like fennel, funnel, vinyl
  5. FI8 — as in eventuality; eventuality; by-and-by; future; futurity sounds like fatality, tonality, vitality
  6. FI7 — at a later time; eventually; someday; sometime; sooner or later
  7. FI6sounds like lineal

FL

  1. FL5 — to move or cause to move with a striking motion; to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible; beat; flap; flop sounds like fail, frail
  2. FL4sounds like clan, fan, plan
  3. FL4 — being neither more nor less than a certain amount, number, or extent; causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest; having a surface without bends, breaks, or irregularities; even; exact sounds like fat, fiat
  4. FL6 — being neither more nor less than a certain amount, number, or extent; causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest; having a surface without bends, breaks, or irregularities; even; exact
  5. FL4 — to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings; to remove the natural covering of; baste; bawl out; berate sounds like allay, clay, filet, fillet

IN

  1. IN7 — a foolish act or idea; lack of good sense or judgment; absurdity; asininity; bêtise
  2. IN6 — a recently born person; babe; baby; bambino; child
  3. IN11 — having or showing the annoying qualities (as silliness) associated with children; adolescent; babyish; childish; immature
  4. IN7 — coming before all others in time or order; earliest; first; foremost; headmost
  5. IN9 — in the beginning; firstly; originally; primarily
  6. IN5 — as in install, inset; cut in; inset; install; edge in

LA

  1. LA4 — to be positioned along a certain course or in a certain direction; to occupy a place or location; to remain out of sight; borne; extended sounds like arraign, bane, cane, chain, feign
  2. LA5 — the people of a religion who are not priests, ministers, etc.; flock; parish; assembly; church sounds like dainty, deity, eighty, hasty
  3. LA5 — a covered structure adjoining an entrance to a building; gallery; piazza; porch; stoop sounds like cannot
  4. LA7sounds like antenna

LI

  1. LI6 — a long stated list of things one after another; an address to a deity or religious figure; enumeration; recital; recitation sounds like bitten, botany, gluttony, kitten, latent

NA

  1. NA4sounds like con, don, john, knob, knock
  2. NA4 — lacking in worldly wisdom or informed judgment; aw-shucks; dewy; dewy-eyed; green sounds like chafe, knife, safe, waif
  3. NA4 — to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner; to make final, definite, or beyond dispute; to reveal the true nature of; bang; bash sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  4. NA4sounds like manna
  5. NA5 — a girl or woman employed to care for a young child or children; babysitter; dry nurse; nurse; nursemaid sounds like canny, fanny
  6. NA5sounds like fatal, nettle
  7. NA8sounds like fatality, neutrality, totality, vitality
  8. NA6sounds like latent
  9. NA7 — in a strikingly neat and trim manner; dashingly; sharply; smartly; snappily sounds like anatomy, battle, cattle, family, fatally
  10. NA5 — being strikingly neat and trim in style or appearance; dapper; sharp; smart; snappy sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, knotty, nutty

TA

  1. TA5 — excessive praise; adulation; blarney; butter; flannel sounds like toffee
  2. TA4 — a body of employees or servants who accompany and wait on a person; the part of the body upon which someone sits; a behind part or surface; cortege; entourage sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale
  3. TA5 — a mark of guilt or disgrace; blot; brand; onus; slur sounds like faint, feint, paint, saint, tent
  4. TA4sounds like collie, folly, golly, jolly, toffee
  5. TA4 — extending to a great distance upward; requiring considerable physical or mental effort; altitudinous; high; lofty sounds like all, ball, bawl, call, fall
  6. TA6
  7. TA5 — a total number obtained or recorded by noting each thing as it was being added; census; count; tale sounds like alley, dally, galley, rally, sally
  8. TA6
  9. TA5 — showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect; beat-up; bombed-out; dilapidated; dog-eared sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, natty, patty

TI

  1. TI7sounds like tyranny
  2. TI5 — something that is unusually large and powerful; behemoth; blockbuster; colossus; dinosaur sounds like heighten, lighten

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • alit
  • ally
  • anal
  • anti
  • fail
  • fall
  • fiat
  • flan
  • flat
  • flay
  • lain
  • naan
  • naif
  • nail
  • nana
  • tail
  • tali
  • tall

  • affiant
  • affinity
  • alfalfa
  • allay
  • anally
  • annal
  • antifa
  • atilt
  • attain
  • faint
  • faintly
  • fanny
  • fantail
  • fatal
  • fatality
  • fatally
  • fatly
  • fatty
  • filial
  • filially
  • final
  • finality
  • finally
  • finial
  • flail
  • flatly
  • inanity
  • infant
  • infantility
  • initial
  • initially
  • inlay
  • laity
  • lanai
  • lantana
  • litany
  • nanny
  • natal
  • natality
  • natant
  • nattily
  • natty
  • taffy
  • taint
  • tallit
  • tally
  • tannin
  • tatty
  • tiffany
  • titan

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 104 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.

  • AALII
  • AFFINAL
  • AFFY
  • ALALIA
  • ALAN
  • ALANIN
  • ALANT
  • ALANYL
  • ALAY
  • ALFA
  • ALIF
  • ALIYA
  • ALLYL
  • ANALITY
  • ANAN
  • ANANA
  • ANATA
  • ANATTA
  • ANIL
  • ANILIN
  • ANILITY
  • ANNA
  • ANNAT
  • ANNATTA
  • ANTA
  • ANTIFAT
  • ANTLIA
  • ATAATA
  • ATALAYA
  • ATLATL
  • ATTAINT
  • AYIN
  • FAAN
  • FAFF
  • FAIN
  • FAINLY
  • FAINTY
  • FALLAL
  • FANAL
  • FATTILY
  • FILA
  • FINNAN
  • FITNA
  • FLAFF
  • FLANNY
  • FLATTY
  • ILIA
  • ILIAL
  • INFALL
  • INFANTA
  • INFINITANT
  • INIA
  • INYALA
  • LALL
  • LALLAN
  • LANA
  • LANITAL
  • LANT
  • LATI
  • LATILLA
  • LATINA
  • LATINITY
  • LATITANT
  • LATITAT
  • LATTIN
  • LAYIN
  • LIANA
  • LITAI
  • LYTTA
  • NAFF
  • NAFFLY
  • NAIANT
  • NAIFLY
  • NAIN
  • NALA
  • NALLA
  • NANNA
  • NATALITIAL
  • NATANTLY
  • NIFFNAFF
  • NYAFF
  • NYALA
  • TAAL
  • TAATA
  • TAFFIA
  • TAFIA
  • TAILFAN
  • TAILFIN
  • TAILFLY
  • TAIN
  • TAIT
  • TALA
  • TALANT
  • TALLAT
  • TANA
  • TANNA
  • TANTI
  • TATT
  • TATTILY
  • TIAN
  • TINA
  • TITANIA
  • TITIAN
  • YAFF