NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 11, 2026
Game Summary
| Center Letter | T |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | c, d, e, h, i, w |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: none) |
| Total Words | 52 words |
| Total Points | 237 points |
| Genius Level | 166 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 | Σ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 3 |
| D | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| E | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | 7 |
| H | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 3 |
| I | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| T | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| W | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | 8 | Σ | 16 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 52 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| C | CH×1 CI×2 |
|---|---|
| D | DE×3 DI×5 |
| E | ED×3 EI×1 ET×3 |
| H | HE×1 HI×2 |
| I | IT×2 |
| T | TE×6 TH×1 TI×6 TW×8 |
| W | WE×1 WH×4 WI×3 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| C | CHI×1 CIT×2 |
|---|---|
| D | DEC×1 DET×2 DIE×3 DIT×2 |
| E | EDI×3 EID×1 ETC×2 ETH×1 |
| H | HEC×1 HIT×2 |
| I | ITC×2 |
| T | TEC×2 TEE×4 THE×1 TID×3 TIE×1 TIT×2 TWE×4 TWI×4 |
| W | WET×1 WHE×2 WHI×2 WID×1 WIT×2 |
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) |
|---|---|---|
| tw...... † | TW8 | simple past tense and past participle of twitch |
| ch.. | CH4 | A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal. |
| ci.. | CI4 | to quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. |
| ci... | CI5 | simple past tense and past participle of cite |
| de.... | DE6 | An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick. |
| de.... | DE6 | to discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing |
| de...... | DE8 | Having been noticed. |
| di.. | DI4 | The food and beverage a person or animal consumes. |
| di.... | DI6 | simple past tense and past participle of diet |
| di...... | DI8 | Relating to diet. |
| di... | DI5 | A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage. |
| di..... | DI7 | simple past tense and past participle of ditch |
| ed... | ED5 | A proclamation of law or other authoritative command. |
| ed.. | ED4 | A change to the text of a document. |
| ed.... | ED6 | simple past tense and past participle of edit |
| ei..... | EI7 | Marked by or resulting from extraordinary ability to recall detailed and vivid mental images of visual images. |
| et.. | ET4 | To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards. |
| et.... | ET6 | Cut or dug into the surface as by etching. |
| et... | ET5 | Moral, relating to morals. |
| he.... | HE6 | Very busy with activity and confusion. |
| hi... | HI5 | A sudden pull. |
| hi..... | HI7 | simple past tense and past participle of hitch |
| it.. | IT4 | A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area. |
| it.... | IT6 | simple past tense and past participle of itch |
| te.. | TE4 | Technology. |
| te.... | TE6 | One who works with, or has an interest in, technology or computers. |
| te.. | TE4 | past participle of tee |
| te... | TE5 | plural of tooth |
| te.... | TE6 | To grow teeth. |
| te..... | TE7 | simple past tense and past participle of teethe |
| th.. | TH4 | Objective and reflexive case of thou. |
| ti.. | TI4 | The periodic change of the sea level, particularly when caused by the gravitational influence of the sun and the moon. |
| ti... | TI5 | Affected by the tide; having a tide. |
| ti.... | TI6 | simple past tense and past participle of tidy |
| ti.. | TI4 | Closely connected or associated. |
| ti... | TI5 | A tenth. |
| ti.... | TI6 | simple past tense and past participle of tithe |
| tw.. | TW4 | Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice. |
| tw... | TW5 | A coarse woolen fabric used for clothing. |
| tw... | TW5 | The sound of a bird; any short high-pitched sound or whistle. |
| tw..... | TW7 | simple past tense and past participle of tweet |
| tw... | TW5 | Two times. |
| tw.. | TW4 | To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease. |
| tw.... | TW6 | A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm. |
| we.... | WE6 | simple past tense and past participle of wet |
| wh.. | WH4 | To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone. |
| wh..... | WH7 | (of a surface) exposed to a working fluid |
| wh.. | WH4 | The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota. |
| wh... | WH5 | Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light. |
| wi... | WI5 | The state of being wide. |
| wi... | WI5 | A person who practices witchcraft. A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft. |
| wi.. | WI4 | Against. |
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.
- twitched† (TW8)
- chit (CH4)
- cite (CI4)
- cited (CI5)
- deceit (DE6)
- detect (DE6)
- detected (DE8)
- diet (DI4)
- dieted (DI6)
- dietetic (DI8)
- ditch (DI5)
- ditched (DI7)
- edict (ED5)
- edit (ED4)
- edited (ED6)
- eidetic (EI7)
- etch (ET4)
- etched (ET6)
- ethic (ET5)
- hectic (HE6)
- hitch (HI5)
- hitched (HI7)
- itch (IT4)
- itched (IT6)
- tech (TE4)
- techie (TE6)
- teed (TE4)
- teeth (TE5)
- teethe (TE6)
- teethed (TE7)
- thee (TH4)
- tide (TI4)
- tided (TI5)
- tidied (TI6)
- tied (TI4)
- tithe (TI5)
- tithed (TI6)
- twee (TW4)
- tweed (TW5)
- tweet (TW5)
- tweeted (TW7)
- twice (TW5)
- twit (TW4)
- twitch (TW6)
- wetted (WE6)
- whet (WH4)
- whetted (WH7)
- whit (WH4)
- white (WH5)
- width (WI5)
- witch (WI5)
- with (WI4)
Answer Definitions
- twitched† (verb): simple past tense and past participle of twitch
- chit (noun): A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
- cite (verb): to quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
- cited (verb): simple past tense and past participle of cite
- deceit (noun): An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.
- detect (verb): to discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing
- detected (adjective): Having been noticed.
- diet (noun): The food and beverage a person or animal consumes.
- dieted (verb): simple past tense and past participle of diet
- dietetic (adjective): Relating to diet.
- ditch (noun): A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage.
- ditched (verb): simple past tense and past participle of ditch
- edict (noun): A proclamation of law or other authoritative command.
- edit (noun): A change to the text of a document.
- edited (verb): simple past tense and past participle of edit
- eidetic (adjective): Marked by or resulting from extraordinary ability to recall detailed and vivid mental images of visual images.
- etch (verb): To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
- etched (adjective): Cut or dug into the surface as by etching.
- ethic (adjective): Moral, relating to morals.
- hectic (adjective): Very busy with activity and confusion.
- hitch (noun): A sudden pull.
- hitched (verb): simple past tense and past participle of hitch
- itch (noun): A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area.
- itched (verb): simple past tense and past participle of itch
- tech (noun): Technology.
- techie (noun): One who works with, or has an interest in, technology or computers.
- teed (verb): past participle of tee
- teeth (noun): plural of tooth
- teethe (verb): To grow teeth.
- teethed (verb): simple past tense and past participle of teethe
- thee (pronoun): Objective and reflexive case of thou.
- tide (noun): The periodic change of the sea level, particularly when caused by the gravitational influence of the sun and the moon.
- tided (adjective): Affected by the tide; having a tide.
- tidied (verb): simple past tense and past participle of tidy
- tied (adjective): Closely connected or associated.
- tithe (noun): A tenth.
- tithed (verb): simple past tense and past participle of tithe
- twee (adjective): Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.
- tweed (noun): A coarse woolen fabric used for clothing.
- tweet (noun): The sound of a bird; any short high-pitched sound or whistle.
- tweeted (verb): simple past tense and past participle of tweet
- twice (adverb): Two times.
- twit (verb): To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease.
- twitch (noun): A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
- wetted (verb): simple past tense and past participle of wet
- whet (verb): To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
- whetted (adjective): (of a surface) exposed to a working fluid
- whit (noun): The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota.
- white (adjective): Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
- width (noun): The state of being wide.
- witch (noun): A person who practices witchcraft. A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft.
- with (preposition): Against.