B
E
D
F
L
O
U

Tuesday, March 17, 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 “F”. With a total of 50 words to find resulting in 215 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 :

50

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

215

Genius Score :

151

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 Σ
B 2 2 4 1 2 1 12
D 2 3 1 6
F 15 2 9 4 30
L 1 1
O 1 1
Σ 20 5 16 6 2 1 50

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

  • BE 7
  • BL 2
  • BO 1
  • BU 2
  • DO 3
  • DU 3
  • FE 7
  • FL 10
  • FO 8
  • FU 5
  • LU 1
  • OF 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

BE

  1. BE4 — an expression of dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment; muscular strength; bitch; bleat; carp
  2. BE6 — to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely; bellyached; bitched; bleated; carped
  3. BE6 — to take place; betided; came; came about; came down
  4. BE6 — to make dirty; to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable; begrime; bemire; besmirch sounds like buffoon
  5. BE8 — not clean; bedraggled; begrimed; bemired; besmirched sounds like baffled, buckled, buffalo, buffoon, fouled
  6. BE8 — to throw into a state of mental uncertainty; addle; baffle; bamboozle; beat sounds like billable
  7. BE9 — suffering from mental confusion; addle; addled; addlepated; bedeviled

BL

  1. BL5 — being or characterized by direct, brief, and potentially rude speech or manner; abrupt; blunt; brusque; crusty sounds like bailiff, buff, fluff, slough
  2. BL7 — to cause to believe what is untrue; to present a false appearance of; bamboozled; beguiled; buffaloed

BO

  1. BO5 — of the very best kind; A-OK; A1; awesome; bang-up sounds like auto, bald, balk, ball, barrow

BU

  1. BU4 — a person with a strong and habitual liking for something; the state of having no clothes on one’s body; addict; aficionado; bug sounds like beef, bluff
  2. BU6 — having a shiny surface or finish; burnished; glistening; glossy; lustrous sounds like tuft

DO

  1. DO4 — to rid oneself of (a garment); douse; peel (off); put off; remove sounds like daub, dawn, deaf, off
  2. DO6 — to rid oneself of (a garment); doused; peeled (off); put off; removed sounds like daft, dart, deft, soft, waft
  3. DO7 — expressing or suggesting mourning; feeling unhappiness; aching; agonized; anguished sounds like soulful

DU

  1. DU4 — the part of the body upon which someone sits; backside; behind; booty; bottom sounds like buff, cuff, deaf, doff, done
  2. DU6 — as in backpack, tote; backpack; barracks bag; haversack; knapsack sounds like double, muffle, ruffle, shuffle
  3. DU6sounds like double, muffle, ruffle, shuffle

FE

  1. FE6 — lacking bodily strength; asthenic; debilitated; delicate; down-and-out sounds like fable, foible
  2. FE4 — to provide food or meals for; to put (something) into the possession of someone for use or consumption; to take a meal; board; cater sounds like bead, cede, deed, fad, fade
  3. FE4 — to have a vague awareness of; to come into bodily contact with (something) so as to perceive a slight pressure on the skin; to come to a knowledge of (something) by living through it; perceive; scent sounds like deal, eel, fail, fall, field
  4. FE4 — to strike (someone) so forcefully as to cause a fall; to bring down by cutting; to deprive of life; bowl (down or over); down sounds like bell, cell, dell, fail, fair
  5. FE6 — to strike (someone) so forcefully as to cause a fall; to bring down by cutting; to deprive of life; bowled (down or over); downed sounds like failed, field, filled, foiled
  6. FE4 — a long and angry conflict between two people or two groups; vendetta; argument; altercation; argle-bargle sounds like food, fume, fuse
  7. FE6 — a long and angry conflict between two people or two groups; vendetta; argument; altercation; argle-bargle sounds like faded

FL

  1. FL4 — to cease to be visible; to get free from a dangerous or confining situation; to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening; dematerialized; disappeared sounds like bled, fed
  2. FL4 — to cease to be visible; to get free from a dangerous or confining situation; to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening; dematerialize; disappear sounds like alley, awfully, early, fee, filly
  3. FL4sounds like blow, fallow, fellow
  4. FL5 — a great flow of water or of something that overwhelms; alluvion; bath; cataclysm; cataract sounds like blood
  5. FL7 — as in inundated, drowned; deluged; drowned; inundated; overflowed sounds like bloodied, faded, folded, founded, funded
  6. FL4 — an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy; blunder; bobble; boo-boo; boob sounds like club
  7. FL7 — to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way; to make a mistake; blew; bobbled; boggled sounds like clubbed
  8. FL4 — as in chimney, smokestack; chimney; chimney stack; smokestack; channel sounds like blew, blue, clue, few
  9. FL5 — a soft airy substance or covering; an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy; down; floss; fur sounds like bluff, slough
  10. FL7 — to make a mistake; to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way; blundered; boobed; erred

FO

  1. FO6 — to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable; foisted; palmed; palmed off; passed off
  2. FO4 — to lay one part over or against another part of; to be unsuccessful; double; bomb; collapse sounds like bold, cold, failed, felled, field
  3. FO6 — to lay one part over or against another part of; to be unsuccessful; doubled; bombed; collapsed sounds like molded
  4. FO4 — substances intended to be eaten; something that maintains or stimulates the intellect; bread; chow; chuck sounds like fad, fade, fed, feed, feud
  5. FO4 — a person who lacks good sense or judgment; a person formerly kept in a royal or noble household to amuse with jests and pranks; a person with a strong and habitual liking for something; berk; booby sounds like cool, fail, fall, feel, fell
  6. FO6 — to cause to believe what is untrue; to make jokes; bamboozled; beguiled; bluffed sounds like cooled, failed, felled, field, filled
  7. FO4 — causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment; marked by wet and windy conditions; not being in accordance with the rules or standards of what is fair in sport; abhorrent; abominable sounds like fail, fall, feel, fell, file
  8. FO6 — as in polluted, contaminated; contaminated; defiled; impure; polluted sounds like failed, felled, field, filled

FU

  1. FU6 — to throw into a state of mental uncertainty; addle; baffle; bamboozle; beat sounds like cuddle, fiddle, huddle, muddle, puddle
  2. FU7 — to throw into a state of mental uncertainty; addled; baffled; bamboozled; beat sounds like huddled
  3. FU4 — something with a usable capacity for doing work; energy; power sounds like feudal
  4. FU6 — as in pushed, charged; charged; electrified; energized; fired
  5. FU4 — containing or seeming to contain the greatest quantity or number possible; of the highest degree; having one’s appetite completely satisfied; brimful; brimming sounds like bull, fail, fall, feel, fell

LU

  1. LU4sounds like b****, buff, cuff, f****, huff

OF

  1. OF5 — to put to death deliberately; assassinated; bumped off; croaked; did in sounds like tuft, upped

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • beef
  • buff
  • doff
  • duff
  • feed
  • feel
  • fell
  • feud
  • fled
  • flee
  • floe
  • flub
  • flue
  • fold
  • food
  • fool
  • foul
  • fuel
  • full
  • luff

  • beefed
  • befell
  • befoul
  • befouled
  • befuddle
  • befuddled
  • bluff
  • bluffed
  • boffo
  • buffed
  • doffed
  • doleful
  • duffel
  • duffle
  • feeble
  • felled
  • feuded
  • flood
  • flooded
  • flubbed
  • fluff
  • fluffed
  • fobbed
  • folded
  • fooled
  • fouled
  • fuddle
  • fuddled
  • fueled
  • offed

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 49 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.

  • BEFELD
  • BEFOOL
  • BEFOOLED
  • BODEFUL
  • BOEUF
  • BOFF
  • BOFFED
  • BOUFFE
  • BUFFE
  • BUFFEL
  • BUFFO
  • BUFO
  • DEEDFUL
  • DEFFO
  • DEFO
  • DEFOUL
  • DEFOULED
  • DEFUEL
  • DEFUELED
  • DEFUELLED
  • DELF
  • DUEFUL
  • DUFFED
  • EFFED
  • ELFED
  • FEEB
  • FEEBLED
  • FELLOE
  • FEOD
  • FEOFF
  • FEOFFED
  • FEOFFEE
  • FEUED
  • FLOB
  • FLOBBED
  • FLUBDUB
  • FLUED
  • FOODFUL
  • FOUD
  • FOULE
  • FUBBED
  • FUELLED
  • FUFF
  • FUFFED
  • FULLBLOOD
  • FULLED
  • LOOF
  • LOOFFUL
  • LUFFED