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.

• expectant^†  (EX9)
• accent  (AC6)
• accept  (AC6)
• acceptance  (AC10)
• acetate  (AC7)
• ante  (AN4)
• antenna  (AN7)
• antennae  (AN8)
• cant  (CA4)
• cantata  (CA7)
• canteen  (CA7)
• catnap  (CA6)
• cent  (CE4)
• cetacean  (CE8)
• eaten  (EA5)
• enact  (EN5)
• entente  (EN7)
• exact  (EX5)
• exacta  (EX6)
• except  (EX6)
• expat  (EX5)
• expect  (EX6)
• extant  (EX6)
• extent  (EX6)
• natant  (NA6)
• neat  (NE4)
• neaten  (NE6)
• next  (NE4)
• pact  (PA4)
• pancetta  (PA8)
• pant  (PA4)
• pate  (PA4)
• patent  (PA6)
• patentee  (PA8)
• peat  (PE4)
• pennant  (PE7)
• pent  (PE4)
• pentane  (PE7)
• tacet  (TA5)
• tact  (TA4)
• tapa  (TA4)
• tape  (TA4)
• taxa  (TA4)
• teat  (TE4)
• teen  (TE4)
• teepee  (TE6)
• tenant  (TE6)
• tenet  (TE5)
• tent  (TE4)
• tepee  (TE5)
• text  (TE4)

Answer Definitions

• expectant^† (adjective): Marked by expectation.
• accent (noun): A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.
• accept (verb): To receive, especially with a consent, with favour, or with approval.
• acceptance (noun): The act of accepting; the receiving of something offered, with acquiescence, approbation, or satisfaction; especially, favourable reception; approval.
• acetate (noun): Any salt or ester of acetic acid.
• ante (noun): A price or cost, as in up the ante.
• antenna (noun): A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.
• antennae (noun): plural of antenna
• cant (noun): An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
• cantata (noun): A vocal composition accompanied by instruments and generally containing more than one movement, typical of 17th and 18th century Italian music.
• canteen (noun): A small cafeteria or snack bar, especially one in a military establishment, school, or place of work.
• catnap (noun): A brief, light sleep, usually during the daytime.
• cent (noun): A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.
• cetacean (adjective): Pertaining to the zoologic order Cetacea, or associated with species falling under that taxonomic hierarchy.
• eaten (verb): past participle of eat
• enact (verb): to make (a bill) into law
• entente (noun): An informal alliance or friendly understanding between two states.
• exact (adjective): Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect.
• exacta (noun): A bet in which the bettor must correctly pick the two runners who finish first and second, in the correct order.
• except (verb): To exclude; to specify as being an exception.
• expat (noun): An expatriate; a person who lives outside their own country.
• expect (verb): To predict or believe that something will happen
• extant (adjective): Still in existence; not having disappeared.
• extent (noun): A range of values or locations.
• natant (adjective): floating or swimming (in water)
• neat (adjective): Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
• neaten (verb): To make (someone or something) neat; to arrange (people or things) in an orderly, tidy way; to tidy.
• next (adjective): Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining.
• pact (noun): An agreement; a compact; a covenant.
• pancetta (noun): A cured belly or pork; bacon.
• pant (noun): A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.
• pate (noun): The head, particularly the top or crown.
• patent (noun): An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods. A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
• patentee (noun): One to whom a grant is made, or a privilege secured, by patent.
• peat (noun): Soil formed of dead but not fully decayed plants found in bog areas, often burned as fuel.
• pennant (noun): A flag normally used by naval vessels to represent a special condition. The broad pennant flown by commodores. The church pennant indicating religious services are taking place aboard ship. The commissioning pennant flown on ceremonial occasions.
• pent (noun): Confinement; concealment.
• pentane (noun): An aliphatic hydrocarbon of chemical formula C5H12; either of the three isomers n-pentane, methyl-butane (isopentane), and di-methyl-propane (neopentane); volatile liquids under normal conditions.
• tacet (verb): An instruction indicating silence on the part of the performers of a piece.
• tact (noun): The sense of touch; feeling.
• tapa (noun): A kind of cloth prepared by the Polynesians from the inner bark of the paper mulberry.
• tape (noun): Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
• taxa (noun): plural of taxon
• teat (noun): The projection of a mammary gland from which, on female mammals, milk is secreted.
• teen (noun): Synonym of teenager: a person between 13 and 19 years old.
• teepee (noun): A cone-shaped tent traditionally used by many native peoples of the Great Plains of North America.
• tenant (noun): One who holds a lease (a tenancy).
• tenet (noun): An opinion, belief, or principle that is held as absolute truth by someone or especially an organization.
• tent (noun): A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.
• tepee (noun): Alternative form of teepee
• text (noun): A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences.