A
C
I
L
D
Y
R

Sunday, March 15, 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 “L”. With a total of 62 words to find resulting in 296 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. Impressively, there are 2 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 :

62

Total Pangrams :

2

Total Points:

296

Genius Score :

207

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
???????
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 11 Σ
A 2 1 2 3 8
C 3 2 1 2 1 9
D 2 5 1 1 1 10
I 3 3 1 1 8
L 9 2 1 1 1 14
R 3 2 3 2 2 1 13
Σ 22 15 8 8 4 2 2 1 62

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 4
  • AI 1
  • AL 2
  • AR 1
  • CA 3
  • CI 1
  • CL 2
  • CY 3
  • DA 3
  • DI 5
  • DR 2
  • IC 1
  • ID 5
  • IL 2
  • LA 7
  • LI 4
  • LY 3
  • RA 10
  • RI 3

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AC

  1. AC6 — causing or characterized by the one of the four basic taste sensations that is produced chiefly by acids; having or showing a habitually bad temper; marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings; acidic; acidulous sounds like avidly
  2. AC7 — having or showing deep-seated resentment; marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings; acrimonious; bitter; embittered sounds like avidly, crudely, cuddly
  3. AC7 — as in watercolor, gouache; aquarelle; gouache; watercolor; diptych sounds like critic
  4. AC7sounds like adjective, angelic, citric, civic, click

AI

  1. AI6 — in a quick and spirited manner; animatedly; animately; bouncily; buoyantly sounds like eerily, merrily, orally, warily, wearily

AL

  1. AL5 — to make more bearable or less severe; alleviate; assuage; ease; help sounds like away, clay, fillet, lay, play
  2. AL4 — someone associated with another to give assistance or moral support; abettor; backer; bedfellow; confederate sounds like fly, lie, lye, ply, sleigh

AR

  1. AR4sounds like addle, agile, annul, apple, aural

CA

  1. CA4 — to speak so as to be heard at a distance; to make a telephone call to; to make a brief visit; bawl; bay sounds like all, ball, bawl, coal, cog
  2. CA5 — to speak so as to be heard at a distance; to make a telephone call to; to make a brief visit; bawl; bay sounds like cola, gala
  3. CA8 — a bag carried by hand and designed to hold a traveler’s clothing and personal articles; carry-on; grip; handbag; holdall

CI

  1. CI5sounds like psyllium, sillier, silly

CL

  1. CL4 — to cover with something that protects; face; sheathe sounds like glad, lad, plaid
  2. CL4 — the set of qualities that makes a person, a group of people, or a thing different from others; character; colors; complexion; constitution sounds like allay, lay, play, slay

CY

  1. CY6 — happening again and again in the same order; alternate; intermittent; periodic; recurrent sounds like psychic
  2. CY8 — happening again and again in the same order; alternate; intermittent; periodic; recurrent sounds like psychical
  3. CY10 — happening again and again in the same order; alternate; intermittent; periodic; recurrent sounds like slickly

DA

  1. DA5 — occurring, done, produced, or appearing every day; day-to-day; diurnal; quotidian sounds like duly, gaily
  2. DA5 — to engage in activity for amusement; to move or act slowly; to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun; disport; frolic sounds like alley, duly, galley, rally, sally
  3. DA7sounds like fatally, racially

DI

  1. DI4 — to make a telephone call to; call; phone; ring (up); telephone sounds like dowel, dual, duel, dull, vial
  2. DI6 — the smallest amount or part imaginable; beans; bubkes; continental; damn sounds like deadly, dearly
  3. DI4sounds like bill, chill, dale, deal, dear
  4. DI5 — something very good of its kind; beaut; beauty; bee’s knees; cat’s meow sounds like chili, chilly, daily, dally, dearly
  5. DI10 — to move or act slowly; to spend time doing nothing; crawl; creep; dally sounds like illegally

DR

  1. DR5 — an established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity; something done over and over in order to develop skill; grind; groove; lockstep sounds like dill, frill, grill, grille, rill
  2. DR5 — marked by little or no precipitation or humidity; causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest; having or showing a lack of friendliness or interest in others; arid; droughty sounds like wryly

IC

  1. IC5 — having a low or subnormal temperature; lacking in friendliness or warmth of feeling; algid; arctic; bitter sounds like acidly, easily, eerily, finally, gulley

ID

  1. ID4 — as in inactively; inactively; lifelessly; sleepily sounds like oddly, widely
  2. ID4 — a time or instance of carefree fun; binge; fling; frisk; frolic sounds like addle, aisle, awhile, beguile, bile
  3. ID5 — a time or instance of carefree fun; binge; fling; frisk; frolic sounds like addle, dull, sidle, tidal
  4. ID7sounds like italic
  5. ID11sounds like publicly, slickly, smilingly, stylishly

IL

  1. IL5sounds like black, bleak, clique, elite, flak
  2. IL4sounds like alley, chili, ch****, early, eerie

LA

  1. LA4 — as in frilly, flowery; flowery; frilly; adorned; arrayed sounds like lucy, racy
  2. LA4 — an adult female human being; a female partner in a marriage; a woman of high birth or social position; female; woman sounds like shady
  3. LA4 — as in lay, nonclerical; lay; nonclerical; atheistic; godless sounds like lick
  4. LA6 — as in lay, nonclerical; lay; nonclerical; atheistic; godless sounds like cul, cull, local, loyal, lull
  5. LA4 — to arrange something in a certain spot or position; to cause to come to rest at the bottom (as of a liquid); to establish or apply as a charge or penalty; deposed; deposited sounds like aid, aide, bade, blade, fade
  6. 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
  7. LA4 — as in weave, interline; as in pitch, tar; interfile; interline; weave sounds like bard, card, charred, guard, hard

LI

  1. LI4 — a person who tells lies; fabricator; fabulist; fibber; prevaricator sounds like buyer, fire, flier, flyer, higher
  2. LI5sounds like black, buyback, eyelash, flak, hijack
  3. LI4 — having or showing a shameful lack of courage; chicken; chicken-livered; chickenhearted; cowardly sounds like chili, chilly, filly, hilly, leery
  4. LI4sounds like leery

LY

  1. LY5 — a composition using rhythm and often rhyme to create a lyrical effect; a short musical composition for the human voice often with instrumental accompaniment; poem; rune; song sounds like brick, citric, civic, clearing, cleric
  2. LY7 — having a pleasantly flowing quality suggestive of music; having qualities suggestive of poetry; euphonious; lyric; mellifluent sounds like cynical, logical, miracle, physical, trickle
  3. LY9 — having a pleasantly flowing quality suggestive of music; having qualities suggestive of poetry; euphonious; lyric; mellifluent sounds like heroically, logically, prickly, typically

RA

  1. RA6 — of, relating to, or reflecting the traits exhibited by a group of people with a common ancestry and culture; ethnic; ethnical; tribal sounds like facial
  2. RA8 — of, relating to, or reflecting the traits exhibited by a group of people with a common ancestry and culture; ethnic; ethnical; tribal
  3. RA6 — as in effervescently, springily; briskly; crisply; effervescently; energetically sounds like acidly, castle, family, gasoline, ghastly
  4. RA6
  5. RA8
  6. RA7 — being very far from the center of public opinion; not bound by traditional ways or beliefs; of the very best kind; extreme; extremist sounds like medical, readable, redouble
  7. RA9 — as in completely, entirely; absolutely; altogether; completely; downright sounds like erratically, graphically, tragically
  8. 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
  9. RA7
  10. RA5 — an act of gathering forces together to renew or attempt an effort; a mass meeting for the purpose of displaying or arousing support for a cause or person; the process or period of gradually regaining one’s health and strength; marshaling; mobilization sounds like alley, dally, galley, really, sally

RI

  1. RI4sounds like dial, royal, t****, vial
  2. RI4 — a natural body of running water smaller than a river; beck; bourn; brook; brooklet sounds like bill, chill, dill, d****, fill
  3. RI5sounds like regal, renal

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • ally
  • aril
  • call
  • clad
  • clay
  • dial
  • dill
  • idly
  • idyl
  • illy
  • lacy
  • lady
  • laic
  • laid
  • lair
  • lard
  • liar
  • lily
  • lira
  • rail
  • rial
  • rill

  • acidly
  • acridly
  • acrylic
  • acyclic
  • airily
  • allay
  • calla
  • carryall
  • cilia
  • cyclic
  • cyclical
  • cyclically
  • daily
  • dally
  • daylily
  • diddly
  • dilly
  • dillydally
  • drill
  • dryly
  • icily
  • idyll
  • idyllic
  • idyllically
  • iliac
  • laical
  • lilac
  • lyric
  • lyrical
  • lyrically
  • racial
  • racially
  • racily
  • radial
  • radially
  • radical
  • radically
  • railcar
  • rally
  • riyal

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 79 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.

  • AALII
  • ACARICIDAL
  • ACIDICALLY
  • ACRYLYL
  • ACYL
  • ALALIA
  • ALAR
  • ALARY
  • ALAY
  • ALCAIC
  • ALCID
  • ALICYCLIC
  • ALIDAD
  • ALIYA
  • ALLYL
  • ALLYLIC
  • ARALIA
  • ARIDLY
  • ARILLARY
  • ARILLI
  • ARRAYAL
  • ARYL
  • CALCAR
  • CALCARIA
  • CALCIC
  • CALDARIA
  • CALID
  • CALLID
  • CARACAL
  • CARDIACAL
  • CARL
  • CICALA
  • CILIARY
  • CILL
  • CIRL
  • CLARY
  • CRAAL
  • CYCLICLY
  • DAAL
  • DALI
  • DIARIAL
  • DICYCLIC
  • DICYCLY
  • DILLI
  • DIRL
  • DRAIL
  • DRILY
  • DYADICALLY
  • ILIA
  • ILIAD
  • ILIAL
  • ILLIAD
  • IRIDAL
  • IRIDIAL
  • LAARI
  • LACILY
  • LAICALLY
  • LAIDLY
  • LAIRD
  • LAIRDLY
  • LAIRY
  • LALDY
  • LALL
  • LARDY
  • LARI
  • LIARD
  • LIDAR
  • LILL
  • LIRI
  • LYARD
  • LYCRA
  • LYRA
  • RADIALIA
  • RAILCARD
  • RAILLY
  • RYAL
  • YALD
  • YCLAD
  • YILL