NYT Spelling Bee

Answers · Analysis · Spoiler controlled

Spelling Bee Answers & Analysis

Friday, September 11, 2026

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

ACDEHI K
26Answers
1Pangrams
100Maximum
70Genius

Answer shape

Use the distributions before revealing any words.

Words by first letter

C7
D5
E1
H8
K5

Words by length

412
57
65
71
91

Two-letter starts

CA2
CH5
DE4
DI1
EK1
HA4
HE1
HI3
KH1
KI4

Pangram ladder

Open one clue at a time.

Pangram 1
Length

9 letters · 16 points

First and last letters

C … E

Letter pattern

C•••••••E

C × 2, E × 2

Reveal Pangram — spoiler

chickadee

Complete answer list

Reveal full answers — spoiler

C 7

  • cake
  • caked
  • check
  • checked
  • cheek
  • chick
  • chickadeePangram

D 5

  • deck
  • decked
  • deke
  • deked
  • dike

E 1

  • eked

H 8

  • hack
  • hacked
  • haka
  • hake
  • heck
  • hick
  • hike
  • hiked

K 5

  • khaki
  • kick
  • kicked
  • kidded
  • kiddie

How hard was this puzzle?

This puzzle's structural difficulty is Hard at 73/100, compared with 254 available puzzles through this date.

Read the difficulty methodology and comparisons