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Friday, March 13, 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 “I”. With a total of 59 words to find resulting in 299 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. Impressively, there are 3 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 :

59

Total Pangrams :

3

Total Points:

299

Genius Score :

209

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
???????
7-letter pangram 0 / 7 letters revealed
???????
8-letter pangram 0 / 8 letters revealed
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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
A 2 2 3 1 1 9
C 6 9 3 3 1 1 23
H 1 1 1 3
I 2 1 3
O 2 2
R 3 2 1 1 7
T 2 5 2 1 1 1 12
Σ 16 20 9 7 4 3 59

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
  • AO 1
  • AR 4
  • AT 2
  • CA 2
  • CH 11
  • CI 4
  • CO 4
  • CR 2
  • HA 2
  • HI 1
  • IC 1
  • IO 1
  • IT 1
  • OR 2
  • RA 2
  • RH 1
  • RI 3
  • RO 1
  • TA 2
  • TH 1
  • TI 1
  • TO 3
  • TR 5

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC6sounds like occasion
  2. AC4sounds like occur, sky

AO

  1. AO6sounds like aborted, abortive, ascetic, assorted, mortis

AR

  1. AR7 — having passed its time of use or usefulness; antiquated; dated; démodé; demoded
  2. AR6 — having a low or subnormal temperature; lacking in friendliness or warmth of feeling; algid; bitter; bone-chilling
  3. AR4 — a melody in an opera sung by one person; art song; barcarole; blues; chanson
  4. AR9 — as in rheumatic; rheumatic; compact; dense; substantial sounds like critic

AT

  1. AT5 — as in peristyles, gallerias; gallerias; parvises; peristyles; closes sounds like area, aria, outreach, streak, stream
  2. AT5 — a room or unfinished space directly beneath the roof of a building; cockloft; garret; loft sounds like antic, stick, tick

CA

  1. CA5
  2. CA9 — bringing about a relief from strong emotions usually by expressing them; cleansing; purificatory; purifying; affecting sounds like lethargic

CH

  1. CH4sounds like awry, buy, die, dye
  2. CH5 — a person in charge of a meeting; the place of leadership or command; chairman; chairperson; moderator sounds like air, bare, bear, care
  3. CH7 — lacking in order, neatness, and often cleanliness; cluttered; confused; disarranged; disarrayed sounds like aquatic, caustic, comic, critic, erotic
  4. CH7 — a vehicle with two wheels that was pulled by horses and was raced and used in battle in ancient times; barouche; brougham; buckboard; buggy sounds like aerial, area, barium, beret, burial
  5. CH4sounds like keel, keen, keep, key, keyed
  6. CH4 — being in the latest or current fashion; à la mode; au courant; cool; exclusive sounds like beak, eke, geek, leak, meek
  7. CH5
  8. CH6 — as in extravagant, ostentatious; extravagant; exuberant; fancified; flamboyant
  9. CH4 — as in sister, lass; bird; filly; lass; lassie sounds like bit, fit
  10. CH8 — friendly, informal conversation or an instance of this; backchat; cackle; causerie; chat sounds like begat, detach, detached, detect, detest
  11. CH5 — an organized group of singers; chorale; chorus; consort; glee club sounds like acquire, quite, wire

CI

  1. CI4sounds like cheap, cheat, cheek, cheese, chief
  2. CI5 — not far from (something) in time; alongside; beside; about; around
  3. CI5sounds like airy, brie, eerie, free, sari
  4. CI6sounds like cynic, cystic, lyric, metric, satiric

CO

  1. CO5sounds like catty, caught, clot
  2. CO5sounds like catchy
  3. CO7 — as in copresident, cochairwoman; cochairman; cochairperson; cochairwoman; copresident sounds like care, nowhere
  4. CO4sounds like car

CR

  1. CR6 — a person given to harsh judgments and to finding faults; a person who makes or expresses a judgment on the quality of offerings in some field of endeavor; carper; castigator; caviler
  2. CR5

HA

  1. HA4 — a very small distance or degree; a thin, flexible structure that resembles a hair; the hairy covering of a mammal especially when fine, soft, and thick; ace; hairbreadth sounds like air, bare, bear, care, c****
  2. HA7sounds like cricket

HI

  1. HI5 — a danger or difficulty that is hidden or not easily recognized; a fixed period of time during which a person holds a job or position; booby trap; catch; catch-22 sounds like bitch, ditch, hatch, hear, here

IC

  1. IC5sounds like acre, ochre, other, succor, sucker

IO

  1. IO4 — the smallest amount or part imaginable; beans; bubkes; continental; damn sounds like aroma, beta, boa, boat, boater

IT

  1. IT4 — sexual appetite; a strong wish for something; intense sexual desire; concupiscence; desire sounds like b****, d****, each, ear, etch

OR

  1. OR8 — as in mass; mass; Gloria Patri; hallelujah; paean
  2. OR8sounds like erotic

RA

  1. RA5sounds like beta
  2. RA5 — the relationship in quantity, amount, or size between two or more things; proportion; rate

RH

  1. RH6sounds like erotic

RI

  1. RI4 — having goods, property, or money in abundance; containing much seasoning, fat, or sugar; having an abundance of some characteristic quality (as flavor); affluent; deep-pocketed sounds like bitch, ditch, hitch, itch, niche
  2. RI7sounds like remote
  3. RI4 — someone or something that is very funny; hoot; knee-slapper; laugh; scream sounds like diet, rut, write

RO

  1. RO4sounds like goatee, ratty, wrote

TA

  1. TA5 — understood although not put into words; implicit; implied; unexpressed; unspoken sounds like asset, cast, caste, facet, facile
  2. TA6 — something done to achieve a particular goal; means; method; technique; way sounds like acting, active, antic, arctic, attic

TH

  1. TH8sounds like courtship, erratic, graphic, horrific, organic

TI

  1. TI5 — as in anadem; anadem; chaplet; coronal; coronet sounds like rearm, tar, tarred, tart, zebra

TO

  1. TO4sounds like gory, story, talky, tarry, tawdry
  2. TO5sounds like trick
  3. TO5sounds like boring, corny, forage, foresee, gory

TR

  1. TR5 — something that sets apart an individual from others of the same kind; affection; attribute; attribution; character sounds like crate, freight, grate, great, irate
  2. TR7 — one who betrays a trust or an allegiance; apostate; backstabber; betrayer; double-crosser sounds like crater, freighter, greater, straighter
  3. TR9sounds like oratorio, oratory, territorial, territory, tutorial
  4. TR6sounds like cricket, ticket
  5. TR4 — a group of three; threesome; triad; trifecta; trinity

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • acai
  • aria
  • chai
  • chia
  • chic
  • chit
  • ciao
  • coir
  • hair
  • iota
  • itch
  • rich
  • riot
  • roti
  • tori
  • trio

  • acacia
  • aortic
  • archaic
  • arctic
  • arthritic
  • atria
  • attic
  • cacti
  • cathartic
  • chair
  • chaotic
  • chariot
  • chica
  • chichi
  • chitchat
  • choir
  • circa
  • cirri
  • citric
  • coati
  • cocci
  • cochair
  • critic
  • croci
  • haricot
  • hitch
  • ichor
  • oratorio
  • orthotic
  • raita
  • ratio
  • rhotic
  • ricotta
  • tacit
  • tactic
  • thoracic
  • tiara
  • toric
  • torii
  • trait
  • traitor
  • trattoria
  • tricot

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 104 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.

  • AARTI
  • ACARI
  • ACRATIC
  • ACRITARCH
  • ACROTIC
  • AIRCOACH
  • AIRT
  • AIRTH
  • AITCH
  • ARIOT
  • ARTI
  • ARTIC
  • ATACTIC
  • ATARACTIC
  • ATOCIA
  • ATTRIT
  • CACCIATORA
  • CARIOCA
  • CARRITCH
  • CHATTI
  • CHIAO
  • CHICH
  • CHICHA
  • CHICO
  • CHIRO
  • CHIRR
  • CHIRT
  • CHORIA
  • CHORIC
  • CIRCAR
  • CIRRHOTIC
  • CITATOR
  • CITHARA
  • CITO
  • COAITA
  • COCCIC
  • COIT
  • CORIA
  • CRAIC
  • CRIA
  • CRIT
  • CRITH
  • HAITH
  • HARIRA
  • HIOI
  • HORI
  • IATRIC
  • ICHTHIC
  • ICTIC
  • IRITIC
  • IRRITATOR
  • OCICAT
  • OCTROI
  • OHIA
  • OITICICA
  • ORARIA
  • ORCHITIC
  • OTIC
  • OTITIC
  • RACHITIC
  • RAIA
  • RAIT
  • RIATA
  • RICHT
  • RICRAC
  • RIRORIRO
  • RITT
  • RORIC
  • TAIAHA
  • TAIHOA
  • TAIRA
  • TAIT
  • TARTARIC
  • THIO
  • THIR
  • THORIA
  • THORIC
  • TIAR
  • TICCA
  • TICH
  • TICTAC
  • TICTOC
  • TIRITI
  • TIRO
  • TIRR
  • TIRRIT
  • TITCH
  • TITI
  • TITRATOR
  • TOIT
  • TOITOI
  • TRIAC
  • TRIACT
  • TRIARCH
  • TRIATIC
  • TRICAR
  • TRICHITIC
  • TRICHROIC
  • TRICROTIC
  • TRICTRAC
  • TRIOR
  • TROCHAIC
  • TROCHI
  • TROTTOIR