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Saturday, January 31, 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 “R”. With a total of 36 words to find resulting in 134 total possible points, we are looking at a lower point cap, so every word counts. 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 :

36

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

134

Genius Score :

94

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 Σ
A 4 1 1 2 – 8
F 2 7 2 – 1 12
L 3 – – – – 3
O 1 – – – – 1
R 8 – 1 – 1 10
W – – – 1 1 2
Σ 18 8 4 3 3 36

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 3
  • AI 2
  • AR 3
  • FA 3
  • FL 4
  • FO 2
  • FR 3
  • LA 1
  • LI 2
  • OR 1
  • RA 2
  • RI 4
  • RO 4
  • WA 2

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AF

  1. AF4 — a long distance; country mile; far cry; long haul; mile sounds like ajar, far
  2. AF6 — a brief romantic relationship; a social gathering; something produced by physical or intellectual effort; amour; fling sounds like aware, fair, fare, unfair
  3. AF4 — sounds like arrow

AI

  1. AI7 — as in air, wind; blast; blow; flurry; gale sounds like flow, inflow, outflow
  2. AI7 — sounds like aerial, broil, careful, earful, foil

AR

  1. AR4 — a melody in an opera sung by one person; art song; barcarole; blues; chanson
  2. AR4 — sounds like addle, agile, annul, apple, aural
  3. AR5 — as in beeline; beeline; catch up; fast-forward; outpace sounds like ammo, b*****, crow, grow, h*****

FA

  1. FA4 — not stormy or cloudy; marked by justice, honesty, and freedom from bias; following or according to the rules; bright; clear sounds like af****, air, bare, bear, care
  2. FA5 — sounds like borrow, follow, morrow, sorrow
  3. FA6 — sounds like borrow, follow, morrow, sorrow

FL

  1. FL5 — a special and usually inborn ability; aptitude; bent; endowment; faculty sounds like blare, fair, fare, glare
  2. FL5 — the surface upon which a body of water lies; bed; bottom sounds like for, fore, four, lore
  3. FL5 — green leaves or plants; foliage; green; greenery; herbage
  4. FL6 — of or relating to flowers; flowered; flowery sounds like laurel

FO

  1. FO8 — a state of noisy, confused activity; ado; alarums and excursions; ballyhoo; blather sounds like afar, euphoric, far, farce, farm
  2. FO4 — a meeting featuring a group discussion; a place or opportunity for communicating ideas and information; an assembly of persons for the administration of justice; colloquies; conferences sounds like aura, fauna, flora

FR

  1. FR5 — easily broken; easily injured without careful handling; lacking bodily strength; breakable; delicate sounds like fail, flail, phrase, rail, trail
  2. FR5 — as in monk, mendicant; brother; mendicant; monastic; monk sounds like drier, dryer, fire, flier, flyer
  3. FR5 — a strip of fabric gathered or pleated on one edge and used as trimming; something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary; something that decorates or beautifies; flounce; furbelow sounds like drill, fill, grill, grille, rill

LA

  1. LA4 — a place where a person goes to hide or to avoid others; the shelter or resting place of a wild animal; a place set aside for sleeping; concealment; covert sounds like air, bare, bear, blare, care

LI

  1. LI4 — a person who tells lies; fabricator; fabulist; fibber; prevaricator sounds like buyer, fire, flier, flyer, higher
  2. LI4 — sounds like leery

OR

  1. OR4 — expressed or communicated by voice; made or carried on through speaking rather than in writing; spoken; uttered; vocal sounds like aura, ch****, c****, laurel, m****

RA

  1. RA6 — sounds like caffeine, hafta, mafia, taffy
  2. RA4 — a protective barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and its supports; a roadway overlaid with parallel steel rails over which trains travel; balustrade; banister; guardrail sounds like ail, ale, bail, bale, dale

RI

  1. RI4 — sounds like dial, royal, t****, vial
  2. RI4 — a distinct treatment of something (as a story or a play); interpretation; take; variation sounds like rear, reef
  3. RI8 — discarded or useless material; people looked down upon as ignorant and of the lowest class; chaff; deadwood; debris sounds like refrain, refresh
  4. RI4 — a natural body of running water smaller than a river; beck; bourn; brook; brooklet sounds like bill, chill, dill, d****, fill

RO

  1. RO4 — a violent shouting; loud, confused, and usually inharmonious sound; clamor; howl; hubbub sounds like boar, bore, chore, core, door
  2. RO4 — to be in a state of violent rolling motion; to make angry; boil; churn; moil sounds like boil, b****, coil, foil, oil
  3. RO4 — to form into a round compact mass; to make a low heavy rolling sound; to make a series of unsteady side-to-side motions; agglomerate; ball sounds like boll, bowl, coal, dole, foal
  4. RO4 — a raised covering over something for decoration or protection; the place where one lives; awning; canopy; ceiling sounds like goof, hoof, poof, p****, reef

WA

  1. WA8 — sounds like altar, alter, altered, caller, falter
  2. WA7 — a person engaged in military service; dogface; fighter; legionary; legionnaire

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • afar
  • afro
  • aria
  • aril
  • fair
  • fora
  • lair
  • liar
  • lira
  • oral
  • rail
  • rial
  • riff
  • rill
  • roar
  • roil
  • roll
  • roof

  • affair
  • airflow
  • airfoil
  • arrow
  • farro
  • farrow
  • flair
  • floor
  • flora
  • floral
  • foofaraw
  • frail
  • friar
  • frill
  • raffia
  • riffraff
  • wallaroo
  • warrior

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 46 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.

  • AFARA
  • ALAR
  • ALFILARIA
  • ARAARA
  • ARALIA
  • ARAR
  • ARILLI
  • AROLLA
  • AROW
  • FARFAL
  • FARL
  • FARO
  • FIAR
  • FILAR
  • FILARIA
  • FILARIAL
  • FLIR
  • FLOR
  • FOLIAR
  • FORFAIR
  • FROW
  • ILLAWARRA
  • LAARI
  • LARI
  • LIRI
  • LOIR
  • LOOR
  • LORAL
  • OORALI
  • OORIAL
  • ORARIA
  • ORRA
  • RAFF
  • RAIA
  • RIFFOLA
  • RIRORIRO
  • ROLF
  • RORAL
  • WAIR
  • WARWOLF
  • WIRRA
  • WOORALI
  • WOORARA
  • WOORARI
  • WORRAL
  • WRAWL