A
I
J
R
N
O
T

Wednesday, March 18, 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 “R”. With a total of 67 words to find resulting in 325 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 :

67

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

325

Genius Score :

227

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
???????

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 2 3 1 2 8
I 1 1 1 1 1 5
J 1 1
N 2 1 1 1 1 1 7
O 1 1 1 3
R 9 4 3 2 1 19
T 8 6 4 3 3 24
Σ 22 15 10 8 4 7 1 67

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

  • AJ 1
  • AN 1
  • AO 1
  • AR 2
  • AT 3
  • IN 2
  • IR 3
  • JA 1
  • NA 2
  • NI 1
  • NO 4
  • OR 3
  • RA 9
  • RI 2
  • RO 8
  • TA 8
  • TI 2
  • TO 7
  • TR 7

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AJ

  1. AJ4 — slightly open sounds like afar, jar

AN

  1. AN9 — to make or furnish critical or explanatory notes or comment; to make or furnish annotations for (something, such as a literary work or subject) sounds like agitator, innovator

AO

  1. AO5 — the great arterial trunk that carries blood from the heart to be distributed by branch arteries through the body sounds like aura, chortle, court, fort, mortal

AR

  1. AR4 — air, melody, tune; specifically : an accompanied, elaborate melody sung (as in an opera) by a single voice; a striking solo performance (as in a movie); a written or spoken passage or text likened to a dramatic or emotional operatic solo
  2. AR6 — being notoriously without moderation : extreme sounds like bunt, current, hunt, punt, urgent

AT

  1. AT5 — the central room of a Roman house; a rectangular open patio around which a house is built; a many-storied court in a building (such as a hotel) usually with a skylight sounds like area, aria, outreach, streak, stream
  2. AT5 — a fragrant essential oil (as from rose petals); also : fragrance sounds like butter, cutter, eater, gutter, mutter
  3. AT9 — a reduction in numbers (as of employees or participants) usually as a result of resignation, retirement, or death; the act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse, or attack; the act of rubbing together : friction; also : the act of wearing or grinding down by friction sounds like accretion, addition, aggression, contrition, edition

IN

  1. IN9 — to cause or facilitate the beginning of : set going; to induct into membership by or as if by special rites; to instruct in the rudiments or principles of something : introduce
  2. IN5 — introduction sounds like encroach, engross, entice, entire, entre

IR

  1. IR4 — a silver-white malleable ductile magnetic heavy metallic element that readily rusts in moist air, occurs in pure form in meteorites and combined in most igneous rocks, is the most abundant element on Earth by mass, and is vital to biological processes; something made of iron: such as; a household device usually with a flat metal base that is heated to smooth, finish, or press (such as cloth) sounds like burn, burne, churn, durn, earn
  2. IR8 — something that irritates or excites sounds like arrogant, immanent, imminent, impotent, innocent
  3. IR10 — the state of being irritated; something that irritates; the act of irritating sounds like imitation, invitation, limitation, rotation

JA

  1. JA7 — one who keeps the premises of a building (such as an apartment or office) clean, tends the heating system, and makes minor repairs; doorkeeper sounds like amateur, banter, canister, canter, catheter

NA

  1. NA9 — the act or process or an instance of narrating; story, narrative sounds like cessation, duration, gyration, notation, oration
  2. NA8 — to tell (a story) in detail; also : to provide spoken commentary for (something, such as a movie or television show)

NI

  1. NI5 — containing or being the monovalent group NO2 united through nitrogen sounds like gyro, knight, knightly, maestro, metro

NO

  1. NO4 — crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings; film noir sounds like afar, ajar, are, bar, car
  2. NO6 — something that is not art —usually used before another noun sounds like monarch
  3. NO4 — dried laver seaweed pressed into thin sheets and used especially as a seasoning or as a wrapper for sushi sounds like gory, naughty
  4. NO7sounds like narrator, rotate

OR

  1. OR7 — an elaborate discourse delivered in a formal and dignified manner sounds like brazen, craven, creation, duration, elation
  2. OR6 — one who delivers an oration; one distinguished for skill and power as a public speaker sounds like altar, alter, amateur, auditor, aura
  3. OR8 — a lengthy choral work usually of a religious nature consisting chiefly of recitatives, arias, and choruses without action or scenery

RA

  1. RA4 — water falling in drops condensed from vapor in the atmosphere; the descent of this water; water that has fallen as rain : rainwater sounds like arraign, bane, b****, cane, chain
  2. RA5sounds like beta
  3. RA4 — an Indian or Malay prince or chief; the bearer of a title of nobility among the Hindus sounds like cholla, comma, dodge, donna, drama
  4. RA4 — a Hindu queen : a raja’s wife sounds like rocky
  5. RA4 — to complain loudly, angrily, or unreasonably; to talk or recite in a noisy, excited, or bombastic manner sounds like ant, aunt, can’t, chant, g****
  6. RA7 — a rapid succession of knocking, tapping, or cracking sounds sounds like habitat
  7. RA5 — the indicated quotient of two mathematical expressions; the relationship in quantity, amount, or size between two or more things : proportion; the expression of the relative values of gold and silver as determined by a country’s currency laws
  8. RA6 — a food allowance for one day; food, provisions; a share especially as determined by supply sounds like ashen, fashion, passion
  9. RA6 — a rattan cane or switch; a climbing palm (especially of the genus Calamus) with very long tough stems; a part of the jointed stem of a rattan used especially for furniture, wickerwork, and walking sticks sounds like cotton, gotten, robin, written

RI

  1. RI5 — a wine from the Rioja region of Spain; especially : a dry red wine from this region sounds like reopen, review
  2. RI4 — a violent public disorder; specifically, law : a violent disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together that presents a danger of injury to a person or property; public violence, tumult, or disorder; a random or disorderly profusion sounds like diet, rut, write

RO

  1. RO4 — having the base color (such as red, black, or brown) muted and lightened by admixture of white hairs sounds like bone, cone, crone, drone, g****
  2. RO4 — to make the loud sound of a wild animal; to make a long, loud sound —sometimes used figuratively; to sing or shout with full force sounds like boar, bore, chore, core, door
  3. RO4 — the usually underground part of a seed plant body that originates usually from the hypocotyl, functions as an organ of absorption, aeration, and food storage or as a means of anchorage and support, and differs from a stem especially in lacking nodes, buds, and leaves; any subterranean plant part (such as a true root or a bulb, tuber, rootstock, or other modified stem) especially when fleshy and edible; the part of a tooth within the socket; also : any of the processes into which this part is often divided sounds like boot, brute, chute, fruit, hoot
  4. RO8 — the action or process of rotating on or as if on an axis or center; the act or an instance of rotating something; one complete turn : the angular displacement required to return a rotating body or figure to its original orientation sounds like notation
  5. RO7 — one that rotates or causes rotation; especially, pluralrotatorsorrotatores : a muscle that partially rotates a part on its axis sounds like rattler, rioter, stutter
  6. RO4 — a round soft flat unleavened bread; also : such a bread wrapped around a filling and eaten as a sandwich sounds like goatee, ratty, wrote
  7. RO6 — short, corkscrew-shaped pasta sounds like protein
  8. RO5 — a part that revolves in a stationary part; the rotating member of an electrical machine; an assembly of rotating blades that supplies lift or stability for a rotorcraft sounds like boater, motor, voter, writer

TA

  1. TA7 — the blare of a trumpet or horn
  2. TA6 — one of the later Hindu or Buddhist scriptures dealing especially with techniques and rituals including meditative and sexual practices; also : the rituals or practices outlined in the tantra
  3. TA9 — damnation —often used as an interjection or intensive—often used with in sounds like starvation, toleration
  4. TA4 — a tropical Asian plant (Colocasia esculenta) of the arum family that has large heart- or arrow-shaped leaves and is grown throughout the tropics for its edible starchy corms and cormels and in temperate regions for ornament; also : its corms and cormels typically cooked as a vegetable or ground into flour sounds like borrow, morrow, sorrow
  5. TA5 — a set of usually 78 cards including 22 pictorial cards that are used for fortune-telling; also : a card in such a set sounds like carrot
  6. TA4 — agreeably sharp or acid to the taste; marked by a biting, acrimonious, or cutting quality sounds like art, cart, chart, dart, heart
  7. TA6 — a plaid textile design of Scottish origin consisting of stripes of varying width and color usually patterned to designate a distinctive clan; a twilled woolen fabric with tartan design; a fabric with tartan design sounds like carton, hearten
  8. TA6 — an incrustation on the teeth consisting of plaque that has become hardened by the deposition of mineral salts (such as calcium carbonate); a substance consisting essentially of cream of tartar that is derived from the juice of grapes and deposited in wine casks together with yeast and other suspended matters as a pale or dark reddish crust or sediment; especially : a recrystallized product yielding cream of tartar on further purification sounds like barter, charter, garter, martyr, starter

TI

  1. TI5 — a 3-tiered crown worn by the pope; a decorative jeweled or flowered headband or semicircle for formal wear by women sounds like rearm, tar, tarred, tart, zebra
  2. TI9 — a method or process of determining the concentration of a dissolved substance in terms of the smallest amount of reagent of known concentration required to bring about a given effect in reaction with a known volume of the test solution sounds like citation, gyration, hydration, migration, vibration

TO

  1. TO4sounds like gory, story, talky, tarry, tawdry
  2. TO5 — a Japanese gateway of light construction commonly built at the approach to a Shinto shrine sounds like boring, corny, forage, foresee, gory
  3. TO4sounds like born, corn, horn, mourn, shorn
  4. TO4
  5. TO4 — a wrongful act other than a breach of contract for which relief may be obtained in the form of damages or an injunction sounds like court, fort, port, short, sort
  6. TO5 — a traditional Mexican sandwich typically consisting of meat, cheese, and assorted toppings (such as lettuce, avocado, and refried beans) in a split roll (such as a bolillo) sounds like aorta
  7. TO7 — ice cream made of heavy cream often with minced almonds and chopped maraschino cherries and often flavored with rum sounds like corny, courtly, crony, hormone, martini

TR

  1. TR5 — a connected line of railroad cars with or without a locomotive; an automotive tractor with one or more trailer units; the retinue or suite of a person of rank or consequence : following sounds like brain, crane, drain, grain, rain
  2. TR5 — a distinguishing quality (as of personal character); an inherited characteristic; a stroke of or as if of a pencil sounds like crate, freight, grate, great, irate
  3. TR7 — one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty; one who commits treason sounds like crater, freighter, greater, straighter
  4. TR9 — restaurant; specifically : a usually small Italian restaurant sounds like oratorio, oratory, territorial, territory, tutorial
  5. TR4 — a musical composition for three voice parts or three instruments; the secondary or episodic division of a minuet or scherzo, a march, or of various dance forms; the performers of a musical or dance trio
  6. TR6 — a son of Poseidon described as a demigod of the sea with the lower part of his body like that of a fish; any of various large marine gastropod mollusks (family Ranellidae synonym Cymatiidae) with a heavy elongated conical shell; also : the shell sounds like brighten, frighten, tighten, titan
  7. TR4 — to ride, drive, or proceed at a trot; to proceed briskly : hurry; to run at a slow, steady pace sounds like rot

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

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

  • ajar
  • aria
  • iron
  • noir
  • nori
  • rain
  • raja
  • rani
  • rant
  • riot
  • roan
  • roar
  • root
  • roti
  • taro
  • tart
  • tori
  • torn
  • toro
  • tort
  • trio
  • trot

  • annotator
  • aorta
  • arrant
  • atria
  • attar
  • attrition
  • initiator
  • intro
  • irritant
  • irritation
  • janitor
  • narration
  • narrator
  • nitro
  • nonart
  • notator
  • oration
  • orator
  • oratorio
  • raita
  • ratatat
  • ratio
  • ration
  • rattan
  • rioja
  • rotation
  • rotator
  • rotini
  • rotor
  • tantara
  • tantra
  • tarnation
  • tarot
  • tartan
  • tartar
  • tiara
  • titration
  • torii
  • torta
  • tortoni
  • train
  • trait
  • traitor
  • trattoria
  • triton

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 109 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
  • AIRN
  • AIRT
  • ANTAR
  • ANTARA
  • ANTIAIR
  • ANTIAR
  • ANTIARIN
  • ANTIRIOT
  • ANTITRINITARIAN
  • ANTRA
  • ARAARA
  • ARAR
  • ARIOT
  • ARNA
  • ARNATTO
  • ARNOTTO
  • AROINT
  • ARTI
  • ATTORN
  • ATTRIT
  • INRO
  • INTONATOR
  • INTORT
  • INTORTION
  • INTRA
  • INTRANT
  • INTROIT
  • INTRON
  • IRRITATOR
  • JARINA
  • JARTA
  • NAIRA
  • NATATORIA
  • NATRON
  • NITRATION
  • NITRATOR
  • NONIRON
  • NONIRRITANT
  • NORIA
  • ORANT
  • ORARIA
  • ORARIAN
  • ORARION
  • ORATORIAN
  • ORRA
  • OTTAR
  • RAIA
  • RAIT
  • RANA
  • RANARIAN
  • RATA
  • RATAN
  • RATO
  • RATOO
  • RATOON
  • RATTON
  • RATTOON
  • RIANT
  • RIATA
  • RIRORIRO
  • RITT
  • ROIN
  • ROJI
  • RONIN
  • RONION
  • RONT
  • ROON
  • RORT
  • ROTA
  • ROTAN
  • ROTO
  • ROTON
  • ROTTAN
  • TAIRA
  • TANTARARA
  • TARA
  • TARANTARA
  • TARATANTARA
  • TARN
  • TARTANA
  • TATAR
  • TIAR
  • TIRITI
  • TIRO
  • TIRR
  • TIRRIT
  • TITRANT
  • TITRATOR
  • TOOART
  • TORA
  • TORAN
  • TORANA
  • TOROT
  • TORR
  • TOTARA
  • TRANT
  • TRAT
  • TRATT
  • TRIN
  • TRINITARIAN
  • TRINITRIN
  • TRIOR
  • TRITIATION
  • TRITONIA
  • TROAT
  • TRON
  • TRONA
  • TROTTOIR