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Saturday, January 3, 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 “C”. With a total of 43 words to find resulting in 207 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 :

43

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

207

Genius Score :

145

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
?????????
8-letter pangram 0 / 8 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
C 8 9 3 2 1 23
I 1 2 2 5
L 2 2
N 1 1
O 2 2
R 2 1 3
U 1 3 1 2 7
Σ 12 15 10 3 2 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.

  • CI 1
  • CL 1
  • CO 15
  • CR 3
  • CU 3
  • IC 2
  • IN 1
  • IO 1
  • IR 1
  • LO 2
  • NU 1
  • OC 2
  • RI 1
  • RO 1
  • RU 1
  • UN 6
  • UR 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

CI

  1. CI5sounds like airy, brie, eerie, free, sari

CL

  1. CL6 — a place for the treatment of those who are ill or injured; an intensive educational or training program; hospital; infirmary; medical center sounds like chronic

CO

  1. CO5sounds like catchy
  2. CO6 — something that encloses another thing especially to protect it; something that serves as a protective barrier; armor; capsule; case sounds like cuckoo
  3. CO4 — a state of noisy, confused activity; ado; alarums and excursions; ballyhoo; blather sounds like boil, call, cul, cull, curl
  4. CO4 — something (as pieces of stamped metal or printed paper) customarily and legally used as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment; bread; bucks; cabbage; cash sounds like can, cane, join, keen, kin
  5. CO4sounds like car
  6. CO5 — as in cramps, gripes; cramps; gripes; bellyache; collywobbles sounds like click
  7. CO5
  8. CO7sounds like chronic, clinic
  9. CO5 — a property that becomes apparent when light falls on an object and by which things that are identical in form can be distinguished; a substance used to color other materials; the hue or appearance of the skin and especially of the face; cast; hue sounds like caller, cul, cull
  10. CO6 — to have or come to the same opinion or point of view; to occur or exist at the same time; to participate or assist in a joint effort to accomplish an end; agree; coincide
  11. CO5sounds like chronic, ionic, phonic, sonic, tonic
  12. 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
  13. CO4 — something (as a work of literature or music) that is too sentimental; goo; mush; schmaltz; sludge sounds like a****, born, chord
  14. CO7 — a coming together of a number of persons for a specified purpose; a group of persons formally joined together for some common interest; a meeting featuring a group discussion; assembly; congress sounds like cancel
  15. CO9

CR

  1. CR4sounds like brok, clock, cock
  2. CR5
  3. CR5 — to produce low, soft musical tones with the voice; belt; harmonize; hum; lilt sounds like prune

CU

  1. CU4 — something separated from a group or lot for not being as good as the others; discard; reject; rejection; second sounds like call, coal, coil, color, come
  2. CU5 — a small object displayed for its attractiveness or interest; something strange or unusual that is an object of interest; bauble; bibelot; curiosity sounds like bureau, fury
  3. CU4 — a length of hair that forms a loop or series of loops; frizz; frizzle; ringlet sounds like burl, call, coal, coil, cool

IC

  1. IC4 — a person who is the object of extreme or uncritical devotion; a written or printed mark that is meant to convey information to the reader; a visible representation of something abstract (as a quality); god; hero sounds like con
  2. IC6sounds like ionic, ironic

IN

  1. IN5 — as in catch, contract; catch; contract; accept; court

IO

  1. IO5sounds like ironic, phonic, sonic, tonic

IR

  1. IR6 — marked by an often negative or mocking form of wit in which words are used to express something different to their literal meaning; cynical; dry; wry; brisk sounds like chronic, ionic

LO

  1. LO4 — a thing or place that is of greatest importance to an activity or interest; the area or space occupied by or intended for something; axes; bases; capitals sounds like fussy, gussy, lacey, lacy, lucky
  2. LO4 — unable to think in a clear or sensible way; bats; batty; bonkers; brainsick sounds like coco, cocoa

NU

  1. NU6 — as in deputy, diplomat; attaché; chargé d’affaires; consul; deputy sounds like conceal, concede, conceit, conceive, unseal

OC

  1. OC5 — to take place; be; befall; betide; chance sounds like acre, other, succor, sucker, upper
  2. OC5sounds like acutely, coolly, cruelly

RI

  1. RI5sounds like christen, listen, written

RO

  1. RO6 — as in baroque, arabesque; arabesque; baroque; bedizened; florid sounds like coco, cocoa

RU

  1. RU5 — a composition using rhythm and often rhyme to create a lyrical effect; lyric; poem; song; verse sounds like tunic

UN

  1. UN6 — as in unwind, unroll; unroll; unwind; straighten; unbend sounds like annoy, annoyed, coil, recoil
  2. UN6 — as in unhip, untrendy; out; unhip; untrendy; geeky
  3. UN6 — to cause to follow a line that is without bends or curls; straighten; unbend; unkink
  4. UN8
  5. UN7
  6. UN8sounds like euphoric, supersonic

UR

  1. UR4sounds like attic, baroque, brick, career, chick

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • coil
  • coin
  • coir
  • cool
  • corn
  • croc
  • cull
  • curl
  • icon
  • loci
  • loco
  • uric

  • cirri
  • clinic
  • cocci
  • cocoon
  • colic
  • colon
  • colonic
  • color
  • concur
  • conic
  • council
  • councilor
  • croci
  • croon
  • curio
  • iconic
  • incur
  • ionic
  • ironic
  • nuncio
  • occur
  • oculi
  • ricin
  • rococo
  • runic
  • uncoil
  • uncool
  • uncurl
  • unicolor
  • unicorn
  • unironic

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 54 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.

  • CILL
  • CION
  • CIRL
  • CLON
  • CLONIC
  • CLOU
  • CLOUR
  • COCCIC
  • COCCO
  • COCO
  • COLICIN
  • COLIN
  • COLL
  • COLLICULI
  • COLONI
  • COLOUR
  • CONCOLOR
  • CONI
  • CONIN
  • CONN
  • COOCOO
  • COON
  • CORNI
  • CORNO
  • CORNU
  • COROCORO
  • COULOIR
  • COUNCILLOR
  • COUR
  • CRIOLLO
  • CROOL
  • CRUOR
  • CULLION
  • CURCULIO
  • CURLI
  • CURN
  • CURR
  • INCONNU
  • LOCULI
  • LORIC
  • NICOL
  • NONCOLOR
  • NONCONCUR
  • NONIONIC
  • ONIRIC
  • ORCIN
  • ORCINOL
  • RORIC
  • ROUCOU
  • ULICON
  • UNCI
  • UNCINI
  • UNCO
  • UNICOLOUR