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Saturday, January 24, 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 “E”. With a total of 43 words to find resulting in 188 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 :

43

Total Pangrams :

1

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.

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
C 3 1 4
E 1 3 1 1 6
F 5 2 1 1 1 10
I 1 3 1 1 6
N 4 1 1 6
T 5 2 1 8
U 2 1 3
Σ 17 10 9 2 2 1 1 1 43

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

  • CE 1
  • CI 1
  • CU 2
  • EF 3
  • EN 3
  • FE 5
  • FI 5
  • IN 6
  • NE 1
  • NI 5
  • TE 4
  • TI 1
  • TU 3
  • UN 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

CE

  1. CE4 — of or relating to money, banking, or investments; financial; fiscal; monetary; pecuniary sounds like as****, assent, bent, dent, lent

CI

  1. CI4 — to give as an example; to make reference to or speak about briefly but specifically; adduce; instance; mention sounds like bite, byte, eyesight, fight, height

CU

  1. CU4 — very pleasing to look at; clever at attaining one’s ends by indirect and often deceptive means; making light of something usually regarded as serious or sacred; aesthetic; attractive sounds like a****, mute, queue
  2. CU5 — an attractive woman; a physically attractive person; babe; beauty; beauty queen sounds like beauty, catty, cavity, clubby, clutter

EF

  1. EF6 — a condition or occurrence traceable to a cause; the power to bring about a result on another; transportable items that one owns; aftereffect; aftermath sounds like affect, eject, elect, erect, infect
  2. EF6 — having lost forcefulness, courage, or spirit; lacking bodily strength; lacking strength of will or character; decadent; decayed sounds like feat
  3. EF9 — producing or capable of producing a desired result; effective; effectual; efficacious; fruitful sounds like deficient

EN

  1. EN5 — the state of being bored; blahs; boredom; doldrums; listlessness sounds like any
  2. EN7 — as in entente cordiale; entente cordiale; accord; alliance; compact sounds like intent, intently
  3. EN6 — to lead away from a usual or proper course by offering some pleasure or advantage; allure; bait; beguile; betray

FE

  1. FE4 — the lowest part, place, or point; basements; bases; bottoms; nadirs sounds like beat, beet, cheat, eat, effete
  2. FE5 — a quick movement that you make to trick an opponent; bluff; end run; artifice; device sounds like fainter, fate, font, paint, saint
  3. FE5 — a physical object that blocks the way; barricade; barrier; hedge; wall sounds like dense, hence, offense, pence, sense
  4. FE4 — a social gathering; a time or program of special events and entertainment in honor of something; affair; bash; binge sounds like ate, bait, date, eight, face
  5. FE10

FI

  1. FI4 — a region of activity, knowledge, or influence; area; arena; bailiwick; barony sounds like beef, chief, feat, fee, feed
  2. FI4sounds like knife, life, rife, wife
  3. FI7
  4. FI4 — consisting of very small particles; made or done with extreme care and accuracy; being of less than usual width; dusty; floury sounds like dine, fan, fawn, feign, fern
  5. FI6 — having a limit; having distinct or certain limits; limited; bounded; circumscribed sounds like eyesight, faint, feint, fenced

IN

  1. IN6 — to bring (something volatile or intense) into being; to rouse to strong feeling or action; abet; brew; ferment sounds like excite
  2. IN11 — not producing the desired result; counterproductive; feckless; hamstrung; ineffective sounds like deficient, efficient
  3. IN6 — to pass something harmful (such as a disease) to someone or something else; contaminate; poison; communicate; conduct sounds like effect
  4. IN8 — being or seeming to be without limits; bottomless; boundless; endless; fathomless
  5. IN5sounds like any, eerie, guinea, iffy, itchy
  6. 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

NE

  1. NE4sounds like bean, dean, gene, keen, knead

NI

  1. NI4 — giving pleasure or contentment to the mind or senses; following the established traditions of refined society and good taste; hard to please; agreeable; blessed sounds like dice, ice, knife, knight, lice
  2. NI5sounds like cease, knead, knee, kneel, lease
  3. NI4 — as in last word, hot ticket; buzz; chic; craze; dernier cri sounds like been, bin, chin, din, fin
  4. NI8
  5. NI4sounds like bite, byte, cite, fight, height

TE

  1. TE4 — someone who is between 13 and 19 years old; preteen; preteen-ager; subteen; teenager sounds like bean, dean, gene, keen, lean
  2. TE4sounds like chef, deaf, tiff, tough, turf
  3. TE5 — an idea that is very important to a group; precept; principle; rule; standard sounds like senate
  4. TE4 — a raised covering over something for decoration or protection; awning; canopy; ceiling; cover sounds like bent, cent, dent, lent, meant

TI

  1. TI4 — as in prong; prong; pinpoint; barb; jag sounds like dine, fine, line, mine, pine

TU

  1. TU6
  2. TU4 — a rhythmic series of musical tones arranged to give a pleasing effect; a state of consistency; an approximate amount, extent, or degree; air; lay sounds like at****, boon, dune, goon, loon
  3. TU5sounds like booty, duty, sooty

UN

  1. 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
  2. UN5 — to disengage the knotted parts of; unbind; undo; unfasten; unlash
  3. UN6sounds like attune

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • cent
  • cite
  • cute
  • feet
  • fete
  • fief
  • fife
  • fine
  • nene
  • nice
  • nine
  • nite
  • teen
  • teff
  • tent
  • tine
  • tune

  • cutie
  • effect
  • effete
  • efficient
  • ennui
  • entente
  • entice
  • feint
  • fence
  • fettuccine
  • fifteen
  • finite
  • incite
  • inefficient
  • infect
  • infinite
  • innie
  • intent
  • niece
  • nineteen
  • tenet
  • tuffet
  • tutee
  • unite
  • untie
  • untune

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 61 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.

  • CENTU
  • CETE
  • CICUTINE
  • CINE
  • CTENE
  • CUNEI
  • CUNETTE
  • ECCE
  • EFFICIENCE
  • EINE
  • ENCEINTE
  • ENTETE
  • ENTETEE
  • ENUF
  • ETEN
  • ETIC
  • ETTIN
  • ETUI
  • EUTECTIC
  • FECIT
  • FEEN
  • FENI
  • FENNEC
  • FENT
  • FETT
  • FETTUCCINI
  • FETTUCINE
  • FETTUCINI
  • FICE
  • FIENT
  • FITTE
  • INCENT
  • INFEFT
  • INFICETE
  • INTINE
  • NEIF
  • NEINEI
  • NETE
  • NETT
  • NETTIE
  • NIEF
  • NIFE
  • TECTITE
  • TEENE
  • TEIN
  • TENE
  • TENNE
  • TENTIE
  • TENUE
  • TENUTI
  • TETE
  • TICE
  • TINNIE
  • TITE
  • TITTIE
  • TUFFE
  • UNCE
  • UNCUTE
  • UNFENCE
  • UNFINE
  • UNTENT