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.

• alibi  (AL5)
• alien  (AL5)
• bail  (BA4)
• bailee  (BA6)
• bailiff  (BA7)
• beanie  (BE6)
• beeline  (BE7)
• belie  (BE5)
• belief  (BE6)
• bible  (BI5)
• biennia  (BI7)
• biennial  (BI8)
• biff  (BI4)
• bilabial  (BI8)
• bile  (BI4)
• bill  (BI4)
• billable  (BI8)
• blin  (BL4)
• blini  (BL5)
• elfin  (EL5)
• fail  (FA4)
• fallible  (FA8)
• feline  (FE6)
• fief  (FI4)
• fife  (FI4)
• file  (FI4)
• filial  (FI6)
• fill  (FI4)
• final  (FI5)
• finale  (FI6)
• fine  (FI4)
• finial  (FI6)
• flail  (FL5)
• inalienable  (IN11)
• inane  (IN5)
• ineffable^†  (IN9)
• infallible^†  (IN10)
• infill  (IN6)
• innie  (IN5)
• labia  (LA5)
• labial  (LA6)
• labile  (LA6)
• lain  (LA4)
• lanai  (LA5)
• liable  (LI6)
• libel  (LI5)
• libelee  (LI7)
• lien  (LI4)
• life  (LI4)
• lifeline  (LI8)
• line  (LI4)
• lineal  (LI6)
• linen  (LI5)
• naif  (NA4)
• nail  (NA4)
• nibble  (NI6)
• nine  (NI4)

Answer Definitions

• alibi (noun): The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
• alien (noun): Any life form of extraterrestrial or extradimensional origin.
• bail (noun): Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
• bailee (noun): One who holds bailed property; one who takes possession of the property of another (called a bailor) in order to keep that property safe for the other.
• bailiff (noun): An officer of the court, particularly: A reeve, the chief officer executing the decisions of any English court in the period following the Norman Conquest or executing the decisions of lower courts in the late medieval and early modern period. A high bailiff: an officer of the county courts responsible for executing warrants and court orders, appointed by the judge and removable by the Lord Chancellor. A bound bailiff: a deputy bailiff charged with debt collection. Any law enforcement officer charged with courtroom security and order. A huissier de justice or other foreign officer of the court acting as either a process server or as courtroom security.
• beanie (noun): A cap that fits the head closely, usually knitted from wool.
• beeline (noun): A very direct or quick path or trip.
• belie (verb): To lie around; encompass.
• belief (noun): Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
• bible (noun): Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“a specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the Christian religious text”)
• biennia (noun): plural of biennium
• biennial (adjective): Happening every two years.
• biff (noun): A sudden, sharp blow or punch.
• bilabial (adjective): Articulated with both lips.
• bile (noun): A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion.
• bill (noun): Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
• billable (adjective): Capable of being billed for.
• blin (verb): To cease (from); to stop; to desist, to let up.
• blini (noun): A small pancake, of Russian origin, made from buckwheat flour; traditionally served with melted butter, sour cream and caviar or smoked salmon.
• elfin (noun): An elf; an inhabitant of fairy-land.
• fail (verb): To be unsuccessful.
• fallible (adjective): Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.
• feline (adjective): Of or pertaining to cats.
• fief (noun): An estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior.
• fife (noun): A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music
• file (noun): A collection of papers collated and archived together.
• filial (adjective): Pertaining to or befitting a son or daughter.
• fill (verb): To occupy fully, to take up all of.
• final (noun): A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.
• finale (noun): The grand end of something, especially a show or piece of music.
• fine (adjective): Senses referring to subjective quality. Of superior quality.
• finial (noun): The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture.
• flail (noun): A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
• inalienable (adjective): Incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred to another; not alienable.
• inane (adjective): Lacking sense or meaning (often to the point of boredom or annoyance)
• ineffable^† (adjective): Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.
• infallible^† (noun): A person who, or an object or process that, is taken as being infallible.
• infill (verb): To fill in a space, hole or gap.
• innie (noun): A navel that is formed of a hollow in the abdomen (as opposed to one that protrudes from the abdomen).
• labia (noun): The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
• labial (adjective): Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
• labile (adjective): Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
• lain (verb): past participle of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
• lanai (noun): A Hawaiian-style roofed patio.
• liable (adjective): bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
• libel (noun): A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.
• libelee (noun): The party against which a libel (hostile handbill) has been filed by a libelant.
• lien (noun): A tendon.
• life (noun): The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.
• lifeline (noun): A line to which a drowning or falling victim may cling.
• line (noun): A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
• lineal (adjective): Having an ancestral relationship to mothers, fathers, grandparents, (etc.) and having a descendant relationship to sons, daughters, grandchildren (etc.), exclusive of collateral siblings.
• linen (noun): Thread or cloth made from flax fiber.
• naif (adjective): Alternative spelling of naïf.
• nail (noun): The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
• nibble (noun): A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
• nine (numeral): NATO & ICAO phonetic alphabet code for the numeral 9.