A
C
E
H
D
P
I

Friday, January 9, 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 “H”. With a total of 37 words to find resulting in 174 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 :

37

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

174

Genius Score :

122

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
?????????

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 Σ
A 1 3 4
C 6 5 3 4 18
D 1 1 1 3
E 1 1
H 4 4 1 1 10
P 1 1
Σ 12 10 7 4 2 1 1 37

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

  • AC 2
  • AH 1
  • AP 1
  • CA 2
  • CH 16
  • DA 1
  • DE 2
  • EA 1
  • HE 8
  • HI 2
  • PE 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC4 — a sharp unpleasant sensation usually felt in some specific part of the body; pain; pang; prick; shoot sounds like age, aid, aide, ail, aim
  2. AC5 — to feel or cause physical pain; hurt; pained; smarted sounds like ant, apt, aunt, matched, patched

AH

  1. AH5 — so as to precede something in order of time; toward a point ahead in space or time; toward or at a point lying in advance in space or time; afore; already sounds like head

AP

  1. AP5sounds like abide, abode, above, abuzz, acid

CA

  1. CA5 — a collection of things kept available for future use or need; a supply stored up and often hidden away; deposit; hoard; reserve sounds like ash, bash
  2. CA6 — to put (something of future use or value) in a safe or secret place; to put into a hiding place; hoarded; laid away; laid by sounds like matched, patched

CH

  1. CH4sounds like add, bad, dad, fad, had
  2. CH4sounds like awry, buy, die, dye
  3. CH4 — an adult male human being; a young person who is between infancy and adulthood; bastard; bloke; buck sounds like cap, gap, lap
  4. CH7sounds like apt, lapped, rapped, rapt
  5. CH5 — costing little; of low quality; giving or sharing as little as possible; affordable; bargain-basement sounds like beep
  6. CH7 — costing little; affordable; bargain-basement; budget; cheap
  7. CH5 — to make a short sharp sound like a small bird; chirp; chirrup; chitter; jargon sounds like beep
  8. CH7 — to make a short sharp sound like a small bird; chirped; chirruped; chittered; jargoned
  9. CH4sounds like keel, keen, keep, key, keyed
  10. CH4 — being in the latest or current fashion; à la mode; au courant; cool; exclusive sounds like beak, eke, geek, leak, meek
  11. CH5
  12. CH6 — as in extravagant, ostentatious; extravagant; exuberant; fancified; flamboyant
  13. CH5 — to criticize (someone) usually gently so as to correct a fault; admonish; rebuke; reprimand; reproach sounds like bide, guide, hide, lied, ride
  14. CH6 — to criticize (someone) usually gently so as to correct a fault; admonished; rebuked; reprimanded; reproached sounds like guided
  15. CH4 — a small flat piece separated from a whole; a V-shaped cut usually on an edge or a surface; 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; flake; sliver
  16. CH7 — as in sliced, ground; grated; ground; kibbled; mashed sounds like shipped, sipped, whipped

DA

  1. DA5 — as in summerhouse; summerhouse; bach; cabin; camp sounds like batch, catch, catcher, catchup, catchy

DE

  1. DE8 — a stupid person; airhead; birdbrain; blockhead; bonehead sounds like redhead
  2. DE10sounds like redheaded

EA

  1. EA4 — being one of a group; any; every sounds like b****, beech, eel, eke, etch

HE

  1. HE4 — the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth; the place of leadership or command; a light mass of fine bubbles formed in or on a liquid; bean; block sounds like a****, bed, dead, fed, had
  2. HE8 — a dull, unpleasant, or difficult piece of work; something that is a source of irritation; bear; beast; chore sounds like haddock, medic
  3. HE6 — to go on a specified course or in a certain direction; to be at the front of; to be in charge of; bore; made sounds like wedded
  4. HE9 — a covering for the head usually having a shaped crown; the ability to learn and understand or to deal with problems; cap; chapeau; hat
  5. HE4 — a considerable amount; a quantity of things thrown or stacked on one another; abundance; barrel; basketful sounds like beep, c****, deep, hip
  6. HE6 — to give readily and in large quantities; to lay or throw on top of one another; to put into (something) as much as can be held or contained; lavished; poured
  7. HE4 — a state of being aware; strict attentiveness to what one is doing; advertence; advertency; attention sounds like bead, cede, deed, feed, had
  8. HE6 — to take notice of and be guided by; to pay attention especially through the act of hearing; followed; listened (to); minded sounds like needed

HI

  1. HI4 — to put into a hiding place; to keep secret or shut off from view; to remain out of sight; bury; cache sounds like bide, c****, guide, had, hadd
  2. HI6sounds like happy

PE

  1. PE5 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like beach, beech, each, leach, leech

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • ache
  • chad
  • chai
  • chap
  • chia
  • chic
  • chip
  • each
  • head
  • heap
  • heed
  • hide

  • ached
  • ahead
  • aphid
  • cache
  • cached
  • chapped
  • cheap
  • cheapie
  • cheep
  • cheeped
  • chica
  • chichi
  • chide
  • chided
  • chipped
  • dacha
  • deadhead
  • deadheaded
  • headache
  • headed
  • headpiece
  • heaped
  • heeded
  • hippie
  • peach

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 56 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.

  • AAHED
  • ACIDHEAD
  • AHEAP
  • AHED
  • APACHE
  • APHICIDE
  • APHIDICIDE
  • APPEACH
  • APPEACHED
  • CACHACA
  • CAPH
  • CEPHEID
  • CHACE
  • CHACED
  • CHAPE
  • CHAPPIE
  • CHEAPED
  • CHECHIA
  • CHICH
  • CHICHA
  • CHID
  • CHIPPIE
  • DADAH
  • DEPECHE
  • DICH
  • ECHAPPE
  • ECHE
  • ECHED
  • EDAPHIC
  • EECH
  • EECHED
  • EHED
  • EPEDAPHIC
  • EPHA
  • EPHAH
  • HADDIE
  • HADE
  • HADED
  • HADEDAH
  • HAED
  • HAHA
  • HAPPED
  • HAPPIED
  • HEADPEACE
  • HECH
  • HEID
  • HIDED
  • HIED
  • HIPPED
  • HIPPIC
  • ICHED
  • PACHA
  • PEACHED
  • PECH
  • PECHED
  • PHAEIC