NYT Spelling Bee

Answers · Analysis · Spoiler controlled

Spelling Bee Answers & Analysis

Sunday, January 4, 2026

Start with the shape of the puzzle, reveal only the help you want, and open the full list when you are ready.

AILMRY F
42Answers
1Pangrams
201Maximum
141Genius

Answer shape

Use the distributions before revealing any words.

Words by first letter

A5
F29
I1
M3
R4

Words by length

413
59
612
72
85
101

Two-letter starts

AF4
AL1
FA10
FI8
FL4
FR7
IF1
MA2
MI1
RA2
RI2

Pangram ladder

Open one clue at a time.

Pangram 1
Length

10 letters · 17 points

First and last letters

F … Y

Letter pattern

F••••••••Y

A × 2, I × 2, L × 2

Reveal Pangram — spoiler

familiarly

Complete answer list

Reveal full answers — spoiler

A 5

  • afar
  • affair
  • affirm
  • affray
  • alfalfa

F 29

  • fail
  • fair
  • fairly
  • fairy
  • fall
  • familial
  • familiar
  • familiarlyPangram
  • family
  • farm
  • filial
  • filially
  • fill
  • filly
  • film
  • filmy
  • firm
  • firmly
  • flail
  • flair
  • flay
  • flimflam
  • frail
  • frailly
  • fray
  • friar
  • friary
  • frill
  • frilly

I 1

  • iffy

M 3

  • mafia
  • mayfly
  • miff

R 4

  • raffia
  • ramify
  • riff
  • riffraff

How hard was this puzzle?

This puzzle's structural difficulty is Tricky at 64/100, compared with 4 available puzzles through this date.

Read the difficulty methodology and comparisons