Today's NYT Spelling Bee uses center letter C with outer letters A, E, L, N, O, V. The puzzle contains 66 words worth 333 points, including 2 pangrams. The longest word is 9 letters. To reach Genius you need 233 points; Queen Bee requires all 333 points. Today is a bingo — every letter starts at least one word. Compared with the eight-year average of about 184 points per puzzle, this is a larger-than-average day.

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.

• conclave^†  (CO8)
• covalence^†  (CO9)
• acne  (AC4)
• alcove  (AL6)
• cacao  (CA5)
• call  (CA4)
• calla  (CA5)
• callaloo  (CA8)
• calve  (CA5)
• canal  (CA5)
• cancan  (CA6)
• cancel  (CA6)
• cane  (CA4)
• canna  (CA5)
• cannon  (CA6)
• canoe  (CA5)
• canola  (CA6)
• canon  (CA5)
• cava  (CA4)
• cave  (CA4)
• cell  (CE4)
• cello  (CE5)
• clan  (CL4)
• clave  (CL5)
• clean  (CL5)
• cleave  (CL6)
• cloaca  (CL6)
• clonal  (CL6)
• clone  (CL5)
• clove  (CL5)
• cloven  (CL6)
• coal  (CO4)
• coca  (CO4)
• cocoa  (CO5)
• cocoon  (CO6)
• coevolve  (CO8)
• cola  (CO4)
• colcannon  (CO9)
• colleen  (CO7)
• colon  (CO5)
• colonel  (CO7)
• concave  (CO7)
• conceal  (CO7)
• cone  (CO4)
• convene  (CO7)
• convo  (CO5)
• cool  (CO4)
• cove  (CO4)
• coven  (CO5)
• enclave  (EN7)
• enlace  (EN6)
• lace  (LA4)
• lance  (LA5)
• local  (LO5)
• locale  (LO6)
• loco  (LO4)
• nacelle  (NA7)
• neocon  (NE6)
• nonce  (NO5)
• nonlocal  (NO8)
• ocean  (OC5)
• once  (ON4)
• valance  (VA7)
• valence  (VA7)
• vocal  (VO5)
• volcano  (VO7)

Answer Definitions

• conclave^† (noun): A closed meeting in which the elector cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church choose a new pope.
• covalence^† (noun): A form of valence in which electrons are shared between participating atoms
• acne (noun): A skin condition, usually of the face, that is common in adolescents. It is characterised by red pimples, and is caused by the inflammation of sebaceous glands through bacterial infection.
• alcove (noun): A small recessed area set off from a larger room.
• cacao (noun): A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
• call (noun): A telephone conversation; a phone call.
• calla (noun): A marsh plant native to cooler areas throughout the northern hemisphere, Calla palustris, having pale green flowers in a white spathe.
• callaloo (noun): Any of various tropical plants grown in the Americas, especially of the genera Amaranthus and Xanthosoma, cultivated for their edible leaves.
• calve (verb): to give birth to a calf
• canal (noun): An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.
• cancan (noun): A high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France.
• cancel (verb): To cross out something with lines etc.
• cane (noun): A plant with simple stems, like bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem thereof The slender, flexible main stem of a plant such as bamboo, including many species in the grass family Gramineae
• canna (noun): Any member of the genus Canna of tropical plants with large leaves and often showy flowers.
• cannon (noun): A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun, howitzer or mortar. It may include muzzle appendages.
• canoe (noun): A small long and narrow boat, propelled by one or more people (depending on the size of canoe), using single-bladed paddles. The paddlers face in the direction of travel, in either a seated position, or kneeling on the bottom of the boat. Canoes are open on top, and pointed at both ends.
• canola (noun): Any of a number of cultivars of rapeseed (Brassica napus) and closely related field mustard (Brassica rapa), which have a lower erucic acid and glucosinolate content than traditional rapeseed.
• canon (noun): A generally accepted principle; a rule.
• cava (noun): Alternative letter-case form of Cava, a Catalan white sparkling wine.
• cave (noun): A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
• cell (noun): A single-room dwelling for a hermit.
• cello (noun): A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.
• clan (noun): A group of people all descended from a common ancestor, in fact or belief, especially when the exact genealogies are not known.
• clave (verb): simple past and past participle of cleave
• clean (adjective): Free of dirt or impurities or protruberances. Not dirty.
• cleave (verb): To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
• cloaca (noun): A sewer.
• clonal (adjective): Relating to, or created by asexual reproduction (cloning)
• clone (noun): A living organism (originally a plant) produced asexually from a single ancestor, to which it is genetically identical.
• clove (noun): A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
• cloven (verb): past participle of cleave
• coal (noun): A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
• 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.
• cocoon (noun): The silky protective case spun by the larvae of some insects in which they metamorphose, the pupa.
• coevolve (verb): To evolve, along with another organism, via coevolution.
• cola (noun): The kola plant, genus Cola, famous for its nut, or one of these nuts.
• colcannon (noun): A traditional Irish dish made from mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale, with scallions, butter, salt and pepper added.
• colleen (noun): girl
• colon (noun): The punctuation mark ":".
• colonel (noun): A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).
• concave (adjective): Curved like the inner surface of a sphere or bowl.
• conceal (verb): To hide something from view or from public knowledge, to try to keep something secret.
• cone (noun): A surface of revolution formed by rotating a segment of a line around another line that intersects the first line.
• convene (verb): To come together; to meet; to unite.
• convo (noun): An informal conversation.
• cool (adjective): Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.
• cove (noun): A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
• coven (noun): A formal group or assembly of witches.
• enclave (noun): A political, cultural or social entity or part thereof that is completely surrounded by another.
• enlace (verb): To bind or encircle with lace, or as with lace
• lace (noun): A light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.
• lance (noun): A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
• local (adjective): From or in a nearby location.
• locale (noun): The place where something happens.
• loco (adverb): A direction in written or printed music to be returning to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher or lower.
• nacelle (noun): A separate streamlined enclosure mounted on an aircraft to house an engine, cargo, or crew.
• neocon (noun): A neoconservative.
• nonce (noun): The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose (now only in for the nonce).
• nonlocal (adjective): Not local; not specific to a location
• ocean (noun): One of the large bodies of water separating the continents.
• once (adverb): One and only one time.
• valance (noun): A short curtain that usually hangs along the top edge of a window.
• valence (noun): An extract; a preparation, now especially one effective against a certain number of strains of a pathogen.
• vocal (adjective): Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech.
• volcano (noun): A vent or fissure on the surface of a planet (usually in a mountainous form) with a magma chamber attached to the mantle of a planet or moon, periodically erupting forth lava and volcanic gases onto the surface.