Answers for May 22, 2026

Complete verified solutions for the May 22, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee puzzle. All 55 words, pangrams, and point totals included below.

Last updated: May 22, 2026 at 3:00 AM EST

B

Quick Answer Summary

The puzzle on 2026-05-22 had 55 words worth 262 points total. Pangram(s) included annihilation, inhalation. You needed 183 points (70%) to reach Genius rank.

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πŸ“Š Today's Puzzle Insights

How today's puzzle compares to all-time Spelling Bee history

πŸ“ˆ View All-Time Stats Hub
Difficulty Score
251 Medium
79th percentile
Total Words
55
74th percentile
Total Points
262
77th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.71
All-time avg: 5.3
🎯
183
Genius Threshold
70% of max points
πŸ‘‘
262
Queen Bee Score
100% β€” all words
πŸ…±οΈ
Yes
Bingo Status
All letters start
πŸ“ˆ
33
GN4L Value
Words after Genius
2️⃣
20
Unique 2L Starts
Two-letter openings
⏱️
59m
Est. Solve Time
To reach Genius

πŸ“Š Words by Length

22 words
4L 22
14 words
5L 14
6 words
6L 6
2 words
7L 2
3 words
8L 3
1 word
9L 1
5 words (Pangram)
10L 5⭐
1 word
11L 1
1 word (Pangram)
12L 1⭐

πŸ…±οΈ Words Starting with Each Letter

A
12
L
12
T
11
N
8
I
5
O🐝
4
H
3
Metric Today Average Record High Record Low
Total Words 55 ~44.2 77 16
Total Points 262 ~205.15 406 60
Avg Word Length 5.71 ~5.42 6.689655172413793 4.578947368421052
Pangram Count 2 ~1.49 4 1

πŸ“… Previous Puzzles with This Pangram

This is the first time this pangram has appeared in our archives.

🧩 Pangram Pattern Analysis

Today's featured pangram is ANNIHILATION. It consists of 12 letters with a vowel-to-consonant ratio of 50% (6 vowels and 6 consonants).

  • ⚑ Structure: Standard pangram (features letter repetition)
  • ⚑ Suffix: Ends with the common suffix -tion
  • ⚑ Repeated letters: A (x2), N (x3), I (x3)

Today's featured pangram is INHALATION. It consists of 10 letters with a vowel-to-consonant ratio of 50% (5 vowels and 5 consonants).

  • ⚑ Structure: Standard pangram (features letter repetition)
  • ⚑ Prefix: Starts with the common prefix in-
  • ⚑ Suffix: Ends with the common suffix -tion
  • ⚑ Repeated letters: I (x2), N (x2), A (x2)
Understanding spelling bee pangram patterns helps players identify long, high-scoring words early in their daily solving run.

πŸ“š Etymology & Word Origins

Latinate/Anglo-Norman ANNIHILATION

The word displays linguistic traits typical of Latinate/Anglo-Norman vocabulary, evolving through romance language prefixes and noun-forming suffixes.

Latinate/Anglo-Norman INHALATION

The word displays linguistic traits typical of Latinate/Anglo-Norman vocabulary, evolving through romance language prefixes and noun-forming suffixes.

Latinate ANNATTO

The word displays linguistic traits typical of Latinate vocabulary, evolving through latin-derived prefixes and suffixes.

Linguistic history study helps in spotting letter clusters in the spelling bee glossary based on classical word origins.

🚫 Rejected Word List

These valid English words can be formed with today's letters but were not accepted by the NYT editor:

aholt ailanto ainoi aion aionial aition alaloi alantol alation alinota alintatao alioth allantoin allionia allo
NYT Spelling Bee rules exclude proper nouns, hyphenated terms, offensive words, and highly obscure vocabulary at the editor's discretion.

Pangrams

annihilation (19 pts)inhalation (17 pts)
Click to Reveal Pangram

4-Letter Words22 words

alto
anon
halo
holt
hoot
into
iota
lion
loan
loin
loll
loon
Click to Reveal 22 4-Letter Words

5-Letter Words14 words

aioli
allot
aloha
anion
atoll
litho
llano
loath
lotto
onion
talon
tonal
Click to Reveal 14 5-Letter Words

6-Letter Words6 words

anoint
atonal
lotion
nation
notion
tattoo
Click to Reveal 6 6-Letter Words

7-Letter Words2 words

annatto
lanolin
Click to Reveal 2 7-Letter Words

8-Letter Words3 words

national
notation
notional
Click to Reveal 3 8-Letter Words

9-Letter Words1 words

nonillion
Click to Reveal 1 9-Letter Words

10-Letter Words5 words

annotation
inhalation
initiation
intonation
notational
Click to Reveal 5 10-Letter Words

11-Letter Words1 words

titillation
Click to Reveal 1 11-Letter Words

12-Letter Words1 words

annihilation
Click to Reveal 1 12-Letter Words

About Today's Spelling Bee Puzzle

Today's NYT Spelling Bee features O as the center letter, with 55 words worth 262 points total. The pangram is "annihilation" β€” a 12-letter word that uses all seven hive letters.

You need 183 points to reach Genius rank. Want to solve it yourself first? Our hints page gives you two-letter lists without revealing the full answers.

New to Spelling Bee? Check out our complete rules guide or beginner's guide to learn the basics.

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