NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 3, 2025
Game Summary
| Center Letter | I |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | a, c, e, h, n, t |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: none) |
| Total Words | 71 words |
| Total Points | 356 points |
| Genius Level | 249 points |
| Bingo? | Yes |
Table of Contents
As you scroll down this page, the clues get progressively more revealing. So scroll slowly!
- Spelling Bee Grid
- Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
- Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
- Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing) 🤯
- Today's Complete Solution
- 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.
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Σ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | 8 |
| C | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 17 |
| E | - | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 5 |
| H | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| I | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | 1 | - | - | 10 |
| N | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| T | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 17 | Σ | 17 | 20 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 71 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| A | AC×3 AN×3 AT×2 |
|---|---|
| C | CA×3 CH×12 CI×2 |
| E | EC×1 EN×2 ET×2 |
| H | HE×2 HI×2 |
| I | IN×9 IT×1 |
| N | NI×10 |
| T | TA×7 TE×2 TH×2 TI×6 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| A | ACA×2 ACE×1 ANC×1 ANT×2 ATT×2 |
|---|---|
| C | CAC×1 CAN×2 CHA×2 CHI×10 CIN×1 CIT×1 |
| E | ECH×1 ENC×1 ENT×1 ETH×2 |
| H | HEC×1 HEI×1 HIN×1 HIT×1 |
| I | INA×1 INC×3 INI×1 INN×2 INT×2 ITC×1 |
| N | NIA×1 NIC×2 NIE×1 NIN×5 NIT×1 |
| T | TAC×3 TAH×1 TAI×1 TAN×2 TEC×2 THI×2 TIN×3 TIT×3 |
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 (†).
| Word | 2L Ref | Definition (click to reveal) |
|---|---|---|
| te........ † | TE10 | A person who studies or practises technology; an expert in a particular technology. |
| ac.... | AC6 | A shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae. |
| ac.. | AC4 | Any of several South American palms, of the genus Euterpe, having a dark purple drupe. |
| ac.... | AC6 | Of, pertaining to, or producing vinegar |
| an..... | AN7 | Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old. |
| an.. | AN4 | Opposed to something. |
| an... | AN5 | Playful, funny, absurd. |
| at.... | AT6 | To gain (an object or desired result). |
| at... | AT5 | The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation. |
| ca... | CA5 | plural of cactus |
| ca.... | CA6 | Of, or pertaining to, a dog or dogs. |
| ca..... | CA7 | A drinking establishment, often specifically of the type found in Latin America. |
| ch.. | CH4 | A female gypsy. |
| ch... | CH5 | A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. |
| ch.. | CH4 | A Mexican sage grown for its edible seeds, Salvia hispanica. |
| ch..... | CH7 | Alternative letter-case form of Chianti |
| ch.. | CH4 | Elegant, stylish. |
| ch... | CH5 | A Latin-American girl; a Latina. |
| ch.... | CH6 | Affectedly trendy; chic and stylish in a pretentious way. |
| ch.. | CH4 | The bottom of a face, the typically jutting jawline below the mouth. |
| ch... | CH5 | Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china. |
| ch.. | CH4 | A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal. |
| ch...... | CH8 | Alternative spelling of chit-chat |
| ch.... | CH6 | A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans. |
| ci... | CI5 | A simple saddle girth used in Mexico. |
| ci.. | CI4 | to quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. |
| ec....... | EC9 | Any of several plants, of genus Echinacea, having pinkish-purple flowers. |
| en..... | EN7 | To restrain with, or as if with, chains. |
| en.... | EN6 | To lure; to attract by arousing desire or hope. |
| et... | ET5 | Moral, relating to morals. |
| et.... | ET6 | Of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins. |
| he.... | HE6 | Very busy with activity and confusion. |
| he.... | HE6 | The buttocks. |
| hi.. | HI4 | A clue. |
| hi... | HI5 | A sudden pull. |
| in... | IN5 | Lacking sense or meaning (often to the point of boredom or annoyance) |
| in.... | IN6 | To state solemnly, to chant. |
| in.. | IN4 | A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres. |
| in.... | IN6 | To stir up or excite; to rouse or goad into action. |
| in...... | IN8 | A new member of an organization. |
| in.... | IN6 | Inborn; existing or having existed since birth. |
| in... | IN5 | A navel that is formed of a hollow in the abdomen (as opposed to one that protrudes from the abdomen). |
| in.... | IN6 | Left complete or whole; not touched, defiled, sullied or otherwise damaged. |
| in.... | IN6 | Something that is intended. |
| it.. | IT4 | A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area. |
| ni.... | NI6 | A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism. |
| ni.. | NI4 | Pleasant, satisfactory. |
| ni... | NI5 | A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament. |
| ni... | NI5 | A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece"). |
| ni.. | NI4 | NATO & ICAO phonetic alphabet code for the numeral 9. |
| ni...... | NI8 | The cardinal number occurring after eighteen and before twenty, represented in Roman numerals as XIX and in Arabic numerals as 19. It is the last/largest of the "teens". |
| ni........ | NI10 | The ordinal form of the number nineteen. |
| ni....... | NI9 | The ordinal form of the number ninety. |
| ni... | NI5 | The ordinal form of the number nine. |
| ni.. | NI4 | Informal spelling of night. |
| ta... | TA5 | Implied, but not made explicit, especially through silence. |
| ta.... | TA6 | A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end. |
| ta....... | TA9 | A person skilled in the planning and execution of tactics. |
| ta.... | TA6 | A paste made from ground sesame seeds, and used to make hummus, baba ghanoush etc. |
| ta... | TA5 | A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food. |
| ta.... | TA6 | Pertaining to, containing, or obtained from tannin. |
| ta.... | TA6 | Tannic acid or any of its derivatives. |
| te.... | TE6 | One who works with, or has an interest in, technology or computers. |
| th.. | TH4 | Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. |
| th... | TH5 | Singular second person prevocalic possessive determiner (preconsonantal form: thy). |
| ti... | TI5 | A tint or colour. |
| ti.. | TI4 | A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb. |
| ti.. | TI4 | A slight coloring. |
| ti... | TI5 | Something or someone of very large stature, greatness, or godliness. |
| ti..... | TI7 | Alternative letter-case form of Titanic Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology. Having great size, or great force, power, or strength. Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants. |
| ti... | TI5 | A tenth. |
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.
- technician† (TE10)
- acacia (AC6)
- acai (AC4)
- acetic (AC6)
- ancient (AN7)
- anti (AN4)
- antic (AN5)
- attain (AT6)
- attic (AT5)
- cacti (CA5)
- canine (CA6)
- cantina (CA7)
- chai (CH4)
- chain (CH5)
- chia (CH4)
- chianti (CH7)
- chic (CH4)
- chica (CH5)
- chichi (CH6)
- chin (CH4)
- china (CH5)
- chit (CH4)
- chitchat (CH8)
- chitin (CH6)
- cinch (CI5)
- cite (CI4)
- echinacea (EC9)
- enchain (EN7)
- entice (EN6)
- ethic (ET5)
- ethnic (ET6)
- hectic (HE6)
- heinie (HE6)
- hint (HI4)
- hitch (HI5)
- inane (IN5)
- incant (IN6)
- inch (IN4)
- incite (IN6)
- initiate (IN8)
- innate (IN6)
- innie (IN5)
- intact (IN6)
- intent (IN6)
- itch (IT4)
- niacin (NI6)
- nice (NI4)
- niche (NI5)
- niece (NI5)
- nine (NI4)
- nineteen (NI8)
- nineteenth (NI10)
- ninetieth (NI9)
- ninth (NI5)
- nite (NI4)
- tacit (TA5)
- tactic (TA6)
- tactician (TA9)
- tahini (TA6)
- taint (TA5)
- tannic (TA6)
- tannin (TA6)
- techie (TE6)
- thin (TH4)
- thine (TH5)
- tinct (TI5)
- tine (TI4)
- tint (TI4)
- titan (TI5)
- titanic (TI7)
- tithe (TI5)
Answer Definitions
- technician† (noun): A person who studies or practises technology; an expert in a particular technology.
- acacia (noun): A shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae.
- acai (noun): Any of several South American palms, of the genus Euterpe, having a dark purple drupe.
- acetic (adjective): Of, pertaining to, or producing vinegar
- ancient (adjective): Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
- anti (adjective): Opposed to something.
- antic (adjective): Playful, funny, absurd.
- attain (verb): To gain (an object or desired result).
- attic (noun): The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.
- cacti (noun): plural of cactus
- canine (adjective): Of, or pertaining to, a dog or dogs.
- cantina (noun): A drinking establishment, often specifically of the type found in Latin America.
- chai (noun): A female gypsy.
- chain (noun): A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
- chia (noun): A Mexican sage grown for its edible seeds, Salvia hispanica.
- chianti (noun): Alternative letter-case form of Chianti
- chic (adjective): Elegant, stylish.
- chica (noun): A Latin-American girl; a Latina.
- chichi (adjective): Affectedly trendy; chic and stylish in a pretentious way.
- chin (noun): The bottom of a face, the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
- china (noun): Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.
- chit (noun): A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
- chitchat (noun): Alternative spelling of chit-chat
- chitin (noun): A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.
- cinch (noun): A simple saddle girth used in Mexico.
- cite (verb): to quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
- echinacea (noun): Any of several plants, of genus Echinacea, having pinkish-purple flowers.
- enchain (verb): To restrain with, or as if with, chains.
- entice (verb): To lure; to attract by arousing desire or hope.
- ethic (adjective): Moral, relating to morals.
- ethnic (adjective): Of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.
- hectic (adjective): Very busy with activity and confusion.
- heinie (noun): The buttocks.
- hint (noun): A clue.
- hitch (noun): A sudden pull.
- inane (adjective): Lacking sense or meaning (often to the point of boredom or annoyance)
- incant (verb): To state solemnly, to chant.
- inch (noun): A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
- incite (verb): To stir up or excite; to rouse or goad into action.
- initiate (noun): A new member of an organization.
- innate (adjective): Inborn; existing or having existed since birth.
- innie (noun): A navel that is formed of a hollow in the abdomen (as opposed to one that protrudes from the abdomen).
- intact (adjective): Left complete or whole; not touched, defiled, sullied or otherwise damaged.
- intent (noun): Something that is intended.
- itch (noun): A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area.
- niacin (noun): A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.
- nice (adjective): Pleasant, satisfactory.
- niche (noun): A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament.
- niece (noun): A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").
- nine (numeral): NATO & ICAO phonetic alphabet code for the numeral 9.
- nineteen (numeral): The cardinal number occurring after eighteen and before twenty, represented in Roman numerals as XIX and in Arabic numerals as 19. It is the last/largest of the "teens".
- nineteenth (adjective): The ordinal form of the number nineteen.
- ninetieth (adjective): The ordinal form of the number ninety.
- ninth (adjective): The ordinal form of the number nine.
- nite (noun): Informal spelling of night.
- tacit (adjective): Implied, but not made explicit, especially through silence.
- tactic (noun): A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.
- tactician (noun): A person skilled in the planning and execution of tactics.
- tahini (noun): A paste made from ground sesame seeds, and used to make hummus, baba ghanoush etc.
- taint (noun): A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food.
- tannic (adjective): Pertaining to, containing, or obtained from tannin.
- tannin (noun): Tannic acid or any of its derivatives.
- techie (noun): One who works with, or has an interest in, technology or computers.
- thin (adjective): Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.
- thine (determiner): Singular second person prevocalic possessive determiner (preconsonantal form: thy).
- tinct (noun): A tint or colour.
- tine (noun): A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb.
- tint (noun): A slight coloring.
- titan (noun): Something or someone of very large stature, greatness, or godliness.
- titanic (adjective): Alternative letter-case form of Titanic Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology. Having great size, or great force, power, or strength. Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants.
- tithe (noun): A tenth.