Game Summary

Table of Contents

As you scroll down this page, the clues get progressively more revealing. So scroll slowly!

1. Spelling Bee Grid
2. Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
3. Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
4. Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing) 🤯
5. Today's Complete Solution
6. Answer Definitions

If you're just here for a list of NYT Spelling Bee answers, Jump down to the answers ↓ (Spoiler Alert!).

Spelling Bee Grid

The following table shows the standard Spelling Bee summary grid, which lists word lengths across the top and letters down the left-hand side. The cell where the word lengths and letters intersect displays the number of words in today's puzzle with the corresponding first letter and word length.

Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.

Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.

Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing)

The table below lists all of the solutions to today's puzzle, but they're concealed. You can click the plus button (+) to reveal additional letters, one-by-one.

Concealed definitions are provided as additional clues. You can toggle concealment of the definitions by clicking on the concealer bar or the text that appears when the definition is visible.

Pangrams are marked with a dagger symbol (^†).

Today's Complete Solution

The words that follow are a complete listing of all acceptable words in today's New York Time Spelling Bee puzzle.

Next to the answer word you'll see the two-letter reference (2L Ref) in parentheses. We added that 2L Ref for easier translation of the spoiler-avoidant language you see on the Spelling Bee Forum and Twitter. The 2L Ref signifies a word's two start letters followed by the total number of letters in the word.

• jailbird^†  (JA8)
• airball  (AI7)
• alibi  (AL5)
• baba  (BA4)
• bail  (BA4)
• bald  (BA4)
• ball  (BA4)
• ballad  (BA6)
• barb  (BA4)
• bard  (BA4)
• bilabial  (BI8)
• bill  (BI4)
• billiard  (BI8)
• biradial  (BI8)
• bird  (BI4)
• birria  (BI6)
• blab  (BL4)
• brad  (BR4)
• braid  (BR5)
• briar  (BR5)
• bridal  (BR6)
• drab  (DR4)
• drib  (DR4)
• labia  (LA5)
• labial  (LA6)
• rabbi  (RA5)
• rabid  (RA5)
• railbird  (RA8)
• ribald  (RI6)

Answer Definitions

• jailbird^† (noun): A prisoner or an ex-prisoner
• airball (noun): A shot that misses the backboard, rim and net entirely.
• alibi (noun): The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
• baba (noun): A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
• bail (noun): Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
• bald (adjective): Having no hair, fur or feathers.
• ball (noun): A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
• ballad (noun): A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
• barb (noun): The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
• bard (noun): A professional poet and singer, like among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.
• bilabial (adjective): Articulated with both lips.
• bill (noun): Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
• billiard (noun): A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom.
• biradial (adjective): Both radial and bilateral
• bird (noun): A member of the class of animals Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.
• birria (noun): A Mexican dish of stewed meat (usually goat, beef or lamb; sometimes pork or chicken) and spices, typically served like a soup with (or sometimes in) tortillas.
• blab (verb): To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.
• brad (noun): A thin, small nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head, or occasionally with a small domed head, similar to that of an escutcheon pin.
• braid (verb): To make a sudden movement with, to jerk.
• briar (noun): Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax genera.
• bridal (noun): A wedding feast or festival; a wedding.
• drab (noun): A fabric, usually of thick cotton or wool, having a dull brownish yellow, dull grey, or dun colour.
• drib (verb): To cut off; chop off.
• labia (noun): The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
• labial (adjective): Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
• rabbi (noun): A Jewish scholar or teacher of halacha (Jewish law), capable of making halachic decisions.
• rabid (adjective): Affected with rabies.
• railbird (noun): A rail or similar bird
• ribald (adjective): Coarsely, vulgarly, or lewdly amusing; referring to sexual matters in a rude or irreverent way.