D
E
N
P
U
M
L

Wednesday, January 7, 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 “P”. With a total of 56 words to find resulting in 269 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. 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!

Rather see todays puzzle?

Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

56

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

269

Genius Score :

188

Pangram

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

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 Σ
D 3 2 3 2 10
E 1 1
L 1 1 2
P 11 4 16 3 2 36
U 4 1 2 7
Σ 16 10 20 4 6 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.

  • DE 5
  • DU 5
  • EP 1
  • LU 2
  • PE 16
  • PL 7
  • PU 13
  • UM 1
  • UN 3
  • UP 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

DE

  1. DE4 — extending far downward; having a low musical pitch or range; being beyond one’s powers to know, understand, or explain; abysmal; bottomless sounds like beep, cheap, dip, dope
  2. DE6 — to make markedly greater in measure or degree; accentuate; amp (up); amplify; beef (up) sounds like cheapen
  3. DE8 — as in aggravated, concentrated; accentuated; aggravated; concentrated; acute
  4. DE6 — to be determined by, based on, or subject (to); to place reliance or trust; hang; hinge; ride
  5. DE8 — to be determined by, based on, or subject (to); to place reliance or trust; hinged; hung; rode sounds like offended, suspended

DU

  1. DU4 — to end a usually intimate relationship with; to get rid of as useless or unwanted; blow off; break off (with); ditch sounds like bump, chump, damp, hump, jump
  2. DU6 — to end a usually intimate relationship with; to get rid of as useless or unwanted; blew off; broke off (with); ditched sounds like humped
  3. DU4 — one who is easily deceived or cheated; chump; gull; mug; patsy sounds like coop, coupe, deep, dew, dip
  4. DU5 — as in tricked, deluded; deceived; deluded; tricked; erroneous sounds like doped
  5. DU5

EP

  1. EP4sounds like easy, pea

LU

  1. LU4 — a small uneven mass; a small rounded mass of swollen tissue; an abnormal mass of tissue; blob; chunk sounds like bump, chump, c****, dump, hump
  2. LU6 — to bring together in one body or place; to move heavily or clumsily; accumulated; amassed; assembled sounds like humped

PE

  1. PE6 — to sell from place to place usually in small quantities; hawk sounds like medal, meddle, paddle, poodle, puddle
  2. PE7 — to sell from place to place usually in small quantities; hawked
  3. PE4sounds like bead, cede, deed, feed, heed
  4. PE4 — to remove the natural covering of; bark; flay; hull; husk sounds like appeal, deal, eel, feel, heal
  5. PE6 — lacking a usual or natural covering; bald; bare; denuded; exposed sounds like field, paled, piled, pooled, sealed
  6. PE4sounds like bean, dean, gene, keen, lean
  7. PE4 — an instance of looking especially briefly; cast; eye; gander; glance sounds like beep, cheap, deep, heap, jeep
  8. PE6 — to make a short sharp sound like a small bird; cheeped; chirped; chirruped; chittered
  9. PE4sounds like ap****, bend, end, fend, lend
  10. PE6sounds like ended, tended
  11. PE8
  12. PE6 — a person who creates a written work; one who writes from dictation or copies manuscripts; authors; litterateurs; pens
  13. PE5sounds like den, hen, pain, pair, pan
  14. PE6 — as in imprisoned, caged; caged; chained; enclosed; immured sounds like append, bend, end, fend, lend
  15. PE6sounds like bedlam, epsom, plum, plumb, septum
  16. PE6 — to give life, vigor, or spirit to; amp (up); animate; brace; energize sounds like kept, leapt, wept

PL

  1. PL4 — to state (something) as a reason in support of or against something under consideration; argued; asserted; contended; maintained sounds like bled, fled, lead, led, sled
  2. PL6sounds like venom
  3. PL4 — someone or something unusually desirable; catch; gem; jewel; pearl sounds like alum, glum, poem
  4. PL5 — something given in recognition of achievement; accolade; award; blue ribbon; decoration sounds like bloom, gloom, loom
  5. PL6 — to think highly of (oneself); flattered; piqued; prided
  6. PL5 — having an excess of body fat; blubbery; chubby; corpulent; fat sounds like clump, lump, pump, slump
  7. PL7 — to throw or set down clumsily or casually; flopped; flumped; planked; plopped

PU

  1. PU6 — a small often deep body of water; billabong; mere; pool; stank sounds like cuddle, huddle, muddle, paddle, pedal
  2. PU7 — as in murky, muddied; inky; muddied; muddled; murky sounds like huddled
  3. PU4 — to utter feeble plaintive cries; bleat; mewl; whimper sounds like mule, pew, pool
  4. PU5 — to utter feeble plaintive cries; bleated; mewled; whimpered sounds like pooled
  5. PU4 — to cause to follow by applying steady force on; to draw out by force or with effort; to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure; drag; draw sounds like bull, full, pail, pal, pale
  6. PU6 — to cause to follow by applying steady force on; to draw out by force or with effort; to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure; dragged; drew sounds like paled, piled, pooled
  7. PU4 — to cause to become a pulpy mass; crush; mash; squash sounds like gulp
  8. PU6 — to cause to become a pulpy mass; crushed; mashed; squashed sounds like polite, pollute
  9. PU6 — to strike repeatedly; bash; baste; bat; batter
  10. PU8 — to strike repeatedly; bashed; basted; batted; battered
  11. PU4 — to make short up-and-down movements; to put a series of questions to; to remove (liquid) gradually or completely; bob; bobble sounds like bump, chump, dump, hump, jump
  12. PU6 — showing urgent desire or interest; agog; antsy; anxious; ardent sounds like humped
  13. PU6sounds like fund, pained, pond, pound

UM

  1. UM5sounds like h*****, upped

UN

  1. UN8
  2. UN5sounds like onion
  3. UN8

UP

  1. UP5 — to achieve a victory over; to fix in an upright position; beat; best; conquer sounds like amend, ascend, attend, offend, spend
  2. UP7 — as in elevated, lifted; elevated; lifted; upraised; erect sounds like offended
  3. UP5 — to make greater in size, amount, or number; to move from a lower to a higher place or position; to move or extend upward; accelerated; added (to) sounds like apt, opt

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • deep
  • dump
  • dupe
  • epee
  • lump
  • peed
  • peel
  • peen
  • peep
  • pend
  • pled
  • plum
  • pule
  • pull
  • pulp
  • pump

  • deepen
  • deepened
  • depend
  • depended
  • dumped
  • duped
  • duple
  • lumped
  • peddle
  • peddled
  • peeled
  • peeped
  • pended
  • pendulum
  • penmen
  • penne
  • penned
  • peplum
  • pepped
  • plenum
  • plume
  • plumed
  • plump
  • plumped
  • puddle
  • puddled
  • puled
  • pulled
  • pulped
  • pummel
  • pummeled
  • pumped
  • punned
  • umped
  • unpeeled
  • unpen
  • unpenned
  • upend
  • upended
  • upped

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 45 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.

  • DEPLUME
  • DEPLUMED
  • DUMPEE
  • DUMPLE
  • DUMPLED
  • DUPPED
  • ELPEE
  • EMPLUME
  • EMPLUMED
  • LEEP
  • LEEPED
  • LEPPED
  • LUMPEN
  • LUPPEN
  • MUMP
  • MUMPED
  • NEEP
  • PEENED
  • PEEPE
  • PEEPUL
  • PELE
  • PELL
  • PELLMELL
  • PELLUM
  • PENDU
  • PENDULE
  • PENE
  • PENED
  • PEPLUMED
  • PLUE
  • PLUMPEN
  • PLUMPENED
  • PLUMULE
  • PUDDEN
  • PUDENDUM
  • PUDU
  • PULLUP
  • PULU
  • PUMMELLED
  • PUPPED
  • PUPU
  • UNPLUME
  • UNPLUMED
  • UNPULLED
  • UPLED