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Thursday, March 12, 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 39 words to find resulting in 231 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!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

39

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

231

Genius Score :

162

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 9 10 12 Σ
C 3 2 2 1 8
D 1 2 2 3 1 1 10
E 1 1 2
I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
L 1 1 2
N 1 1 2
P 2 3 2 1 8
Σ 8 7 8 6 5 1 3 1 39

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 5
  • CL 3
  • DE 8
  • DI 2
  • EP 2
  • IC 2
  • IN 5
  • LE 1
  • LI 1
  • NI 2
  • PE 5
  • PI 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

CE

  1. CE4 — to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress; to give over the legal possession or ownership of; to give up (as a position of authority) formally; cough up; deliver sounds like bead, deed, feed, heed, keyed
  2. CE5 — to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress; to give over the legal possession or ownership of; to give up (as a position of authority) formally; coughed up; delivered sounds like faded, jaded
  3. CE4 — an area within a building that has been set apart from surrounding space by a wall; one of the parts into which an enclosed space is divided; a local unit of an organization; apartment; chamber sounds like bell, dell, fell, gel, hell
  4. CE6sounds like felled, held, meld, said, sealed
  5. CE5sounds like belly, jelly, sally, self, sell

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
  2. CL4 — to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument; to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner; bob; crop; cut sounds like blip, flip, lip, quip, slip
  3. CL7 — to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument; to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner; bobbed; cropped; cut sounds like crypt, quipped

DE

  1. DE6 — to come to a judgment about after discussion or consideration; to give an opinion about (something at issue or in dispute); to come to an agreement or decision concerning the details of; choose; conclude sounds like beside, divide
  2. DE7 — not subject to misinterpretation or more than one interpretation; apparent; bald; bald-faced; barefaced sounds like divided, dividing, misguided, un*******
  3. DE7 — to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to; to be unwilling to grant; to go to a lower level especially abruptly; balk (at); deselect sounds like recline
  4. DE8 — bending downward or forward; bowed; bowing; declining; descendant
  5. DE5sounds like bus, dice, done, dose, douse
  6. DE6 — as in heated, defrosted; defrosted; thawed; unfrozen; liquefied sounds like date, dirt, dot, doubt, dust
  7. DE7
  8. DE10 — the quality or state of needing something or someone; something or someone to which one looks for support; a physiological need for certain drugs; dependency; reliance

DI

  1. DI4 — a small cube marked on each side with one to six spots and usually played in pairs in various games; bones; die sounds like dose, douse, dye, dyke
  2. DI5 — to cut into small pieces; chopped; hashed; minced sounds like cyst, dust, fist, gist, hissed

EP

  1. EP4 — large and impressive in size, grandeur, extent, or conception; august; baronial; gallant; glorious sounds like ethic, pick
  2. EP7 — of or relating to a man who has or displays qualities traditionally considered more suitable for women; effeminate; effete; sissified; sissy sounds like ethylene, kerosene

IC

  1. IC4 — as in frozen, refrigerated; frore; frosted; frozen; refrigerated sounds like east, eyesight, heist, oust
  2. IC6 — a cold aloof person; cold fish; cold turkey; iceberg sounds like bicycle, sickle

IN

  1. IN9 — the rate at which something happens; appearance; occurrence; chronicity; constancy
  2. IN10 — the point at which something begins; alpha; baseline; beginning; birth
  3. IN7 — the degree to which something rises up from a position level with the horizon; cant; diagonal; grade; gradient
  4. IN8 — having a desire or inclination (as for a specified course of action); having a liking or affection; having a tendency to be or act in a certain way; amenable; disposed
  5. IN12 — the ability to care for one’s self; the state of being free from the control or power of another; self-dependence; self-reliance; self-subsistence

LE

  1. LE8 — kind, gentle, or compassionate treatment especially towards someone who is undeserving of it; charity; clemency; forbearance; leniency

LI

  1. LI4 — a person whose behavior is offensive to others; bastard; beast; bleeder; blighter sounds like dice, ice, lace, lass, lease

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

PE

  1. PE8sounds like pickle
  2. PE5sounds like dense, fence, hence, pounce, sense
  3. PE6 — as in ink, crayon; crayon; ink; caricature; cartoon sounds like tensile
  4. PE8 — as in inked, crayoned; crayoned; inked; caricatured; cartooned
  5. PE10sounds like venison

PI

  1. PI6 — a situation or state of carefree comfort; something that is easy to do; beer and skittles; easy street; fun and games sounds like cynic, panic
  2. PI5 — a broken or irregular part of something that often remains incomplete; a literary, musical, or artistic production; a portable weapon from which a shot is discharged by gunpowder; bit; fraction sounds like a*****, cease, eye*****, lease, niece
  3. PI6 — to form by putting together parts or materials; assembled; built; confected; constructed sounds like beast, east, feast, leased, least

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • cede
  • cell
  • clip
  • dice
  • epic
  • iced
  • lice
  • nice

  • ceded
  • celled
  • celli
  • clinic
  • clipped
  • decide
  • decided
  • decline
  • declined
  • deice
  • deiced
  • deicide
  • dependence
  • diced
  • epicene
  • icicle
  • incidence
  • incipience
  • incline
  • inclined
  • independence
  • lenience
  • niece
  • pellicle
  • pence
  • pencil
  • penciled
  • penicillin
  • picnic
  • piece
  • pieced

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 53 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.

  • CEDI
  • CEIL
  • CEILED
  • CEILI
  • CEPE
  • CIDE
  • CIDED
  • CIEL
  • CIELED
  • CILICE
  • CILL
  • CINE
  • CIPPI
  • CLEEP
  • CLEEPED
  • CLEPE
  • CLEPED
  • CLIED
  • CLINE
  • CLIPE
  • CLIPED
  • CLIPPIE
  • DECCIE
  • DECILE
  • DELICE
  • DINIC
  • ECCE
  • EDENIC
  • EPICEDE
  • ICICLED
  • INCEDE
  • INCEDED
  • INCLE
  • INCLIP
  • INCLIPPED
  • LICENCE
  • LICENCED
  • LICENCEE
  • LIPIDIC
  • NINEPENCE
  • PEDICEL
  • PEDICLE
  • PEDICLED
  • PEECE
  • PENCEL
  • PENCILLED
  • PENDICLE
  • PENICIL
  • PICE
  • PICENE
  • PICINE
  • PIECEN
  • PIECENED