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.

• backroom^†  (BA8)
• aback  (AB5)
• ammo  (AM4)
• amok  (AM4)
• arbor  (AR5)
• arco  (AR4)
• armor  (AR5)
• aroma  (AR5)
• baba  (BA4)
• babka  (BA5)
• back  (BA4)
• backcomb  (BA8)
• bamboo  (BA6)
• baobab  (BA6)
• barb  (BA4)
• barback  (BA7)
• barbacoa  (BA8)
• bark  (BA4)
• barrack  (BA7)
• barroom  (BA7)
• boar  (BO4)
• boba  (BO4)
• bookmark  (BO8)
• bookrack  (BO8)
• cacao  (CA5)
• camo  (CA4)
• carb  (CA4)
• carob  (CA5)
• carom  (CA5)
• cobra  (CO5)
• coca  (CO4)
• cocoa  (CO5)
• coma  (CO4)
• comma  (CO5)
• crab  (CR4)
• crack  (CR5)
• cram  (CR4)
• croak  (CR5)
• kabob  (KA5)
• kaboom  (KA6)
• karma  (KA5)
• korma  (KO5)
• macro  (MA5)
• mako  (MA4)
• mama  (MA4)
• mamba  (MA5)
• mambo  (MA5)
• mamma  (MA5)
• maraca  (MA6)
• mark  (MA4)
• marm  (MA4)
• momma  (MO5)
• okra  (OK4)
• orca  (OR4)
• rack  (RA4)
• roam  (RO4)
• roar  (RO4)

Answer Definitions

• backroom^† (noun): A room near the rear of a premises, especially one that is only accessible to a privileged few and can be used as an inconspicuous meeting place.
• aback (adverb): Toward the rear; Phrase: 'to be taken ____', meaning 'surprised'.
• ammo (noun): Ammunition.
• amok (adverb): Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous.
• arbor (noun): A shady sitting place or pergola usually in a park or garden, surrounded by climbing shrubs, vines or other vegetation.
• arco (adverb): A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato.
• armor (noun): A protective layer over a body, vehicle, or other object intended to deflect or diffuse damaging forces.
• aroma (noun): A smell; especially a pleasant spicy or fragrant one.
• baba (noun): A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
• babka (noun): A Central and Eastern European coffee cake flavored with orange rind, rum, almonds, and raisins.
• back (adjective): At or near the rear.
• backcomb (verb): To hold hair and comb it towards the head, thus giving it a bushier look.
• bamboo (noun): A fast-growing grass of the Poaceae family, characterised by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem, all of which are in the Bambuseae tribe.
• baobab (noun): A tree, Adansonia digitata (and similar species), native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.
• 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.
• barback (noun): An assistant to a bartender
• barbacoa (noun): Meat slow-cooked over an open fire, characteristic of Latin American cuisine.
• bark (verb): To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs).
• barrack (noun): A building for soldiers, especially within a garrison; originally referred to temporary huts, now usually to a permanent structure or set of buildings.
• barroom (noun): A room where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.
• boar (noun): A wild boar (Sus scrofa), the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig.
• boba (noun): Synonym of tapioca pearl.
• bookmark (noun): A strip of material used to mark a place in a book.
• bookrack (noun): A rack for books; a bookshelf.
• cacao (noun): A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
• camo (noun): A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.
• carb (noun): Clipping of carbohydrate.
• carob (noun): An evergreen shrub or tree, Ceratonia siliqua, native to the Mediterranean region.
• carom (noun): A shot in which the ball struck with the cue comes in contact with two or more balls on the table; a hitting of two or more balls with the player's ball.
• cobra (noun): Any of various venomous snakes of the family Elapidae.
• coca (noun): Any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America.
• cocoa (noun): The dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made.
• coma (noun): A state of unconsciousness from which one may not wake up, usually induced by some form of trauma.
• comma (noun): English Wikipedia has an article on:commaWikipedia The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.
• crab (noun): A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
• crack (verb): To form cracks.
• cram (verb): To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.
• croak (noun): A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
• kabob (noun): US spelling of kebab
• kaboom (noun): The sound of an explosion, typically seen in comic strips or heard in a light-hearted conversation.
• karma (noun): The sum total of a person's actions, which determine the person's next incarnation in samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth.
• korma (noun): A curry made from various spices especially coriander and cumin; and often with yoghurt sauce or nuts.
• macro (adjective): Very large in scope or scale.
• mako (noun): mako shark
• mama (noun): Mother, female parent.
• mamba (noun): Any of various venomous snakes of the genus Dendroaspis, native to Africa, that live in trees.
• mambo (noun): A voodoo priestess (in Haiti)
• mamma (noun): The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder.
• maraca (noun): A Latin American percussion instrument consisting of a hollow-gourd rattle containing pebbles or beans and often played in pairs, as a rhythm instrument.
• mark (noun): Boundary, land within a boundary. A boundary; a border or frontier. A boundary-post or fence. A stone or post used to indicate position and guide travellers. A type of small region or principality. A common, or area of common land, especially among early Germanic peoples.
• marm (noun): madam; a polite term of address for a lady.
• momma (noun): mother
• okra (noun): The edible immature mucilaginous seed pod (properly, capsule) of the Abelmoschus esculentus.
• orca (noun): A sea mammal (Orcinus orca) related to dolphins and porpoises, commonly called the killer whale.
• rack (noun): A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other
• roam (verb): To wander or travel freely and with no specific destination.
• roar (verb): To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.