Answers for August 18, 2026

Complete verified solutions for the August 18, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee puzzle. All 42 words, pangrams, and point totals included below.

Last updated: August 18, 2026 at 3:00 AM EST

B

Quick Answer Summary

The puzzle on 2026-08-18 had 42 words worth 228 points total. Pangram(s) included headbang, headbanged. You needed 160 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
249 Medium
76th percentile
Total Words
42
48th percentile
Total Points
228
62th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.88
All-time avg: 5.3
🎯
160
Genius Threshold
70% of max points
πŸ‘‘
228
Queen Bee Score
100% β€” all words
πŸ…±οΈ
Yes
Bingo Status
All letters start
πŸ“ˆ
21
GN4L Value
Words after Genius
2️⃣
9
Unique 2L Starts
Two-letter openings
⏱️
49m
Est. Solve Time
To reach Genius

πŸ“Š Words by Length

11 words
4L 11
4 words
5L 4
14 words
6L 14
7 words
7L 7
5 words (Pangram)
8L 5⭐
1 word (Pangram)
10L 1⭐

πŸ…±οΈ Words Starting with Each Letter

B🐝
32
H
5
A
1
D
1
E
1
G
1
N
1
Metric Today Average Record High Record Low
Total Words 42 ~44 77 16
Total Points 228 ~204.67 406 60
Avg Word Length 5.88 ~5.43 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 HEADBANG. It consists of 8 letters with a vowel-to-consonant ratio of 38% (3 vowels and 5 consonants).

  • ⚑ Structure: Standard pangram (features letter repetition)
  • ⚑ Repeated letters: A (x2)

Today's featured pangram is HEADBANGED. It consists of 10 letters with a vowel-to-consonant ratio of 40% (4 vowels and 6 consonants).

  • ⚑ Structure: Standard pangram (features letter repetition)
  • ⚑ Suffix: Ends with the common suffix -ed
  • ⚑ Repeated letters: E (x2), A (x2), D (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 HEADBANG

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

Germanic/Old English HEADBANGED

The word displays linguistic traits typical of Germanic/Old English vocabulary, evolving through traditional Anglo-Saxon suffixes and base structures.

Latinate BAGGAGE

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:

ababdeh abada aband abanga abba abbe abede abedge abegge abend agabanee agba ahab anabaena anba
NYT Spelling Bee rules exclude proper nouns, hyphenated terms, offensive words, and highly obscure vocabulary at the editor's discretion.

Pangrams

headbang (15 pts)headbanged (17 pts)
Click to Reveal Pangram

4-Letter Words11 words

abed
baba
babe
bade
band
bane
bang
bead
bean
been
bend
Click to Reveal 11 4-Letter Words

5-Letter Words4 words

baaed
badge
began
ebbed
Click to Reveal 4 5-Letter Words

6-Letter Words14 words

badged
bagged
banana
banded
banged
banned
beaded
beaned
bedded
begged
behead
dabbed
Click to Reveal 14 6-Letter Words

7-Letter Words7 words

baggage
bandage
bandana
beanbag
bedhead
handbag
henbane
Click to Reveal 7 7-Letter Words

8-Letter Words5 words

bandaged
bandanna
beheaded
headband
headbang
Click to Reveal 5 8-Letter Words

10-Letter Words1 words

headbanged
Click to Reveal 1 10-Letter Words

About Today's Spelling Bee Puzzle

Today's NYT Spelling Bee features B as the center letter, with 42 words worth 228 points total. The pangram is "headbang" β€” a 8-letter word that uses all seven hive letters.

You need 160 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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🧩 NYT Puzzle Hub

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