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.

• alfalfa  (AL7)
• allele  (AL6)
• allow  (AL5)
• aloe  (AL4)
• aloof  (AL5)
• appall  (AP6)
• appeal  (AP6)
• appellee  (AP8)
• apple  (AP5)
• falafel  (FA7)
• fall  (FA4)
• falloff  (FA7)
• fallow  (FA6)
• fella  (FE5)
• flap  (FL4)
• flaw  (FL4)
• flea  (FL4)
• foal  (FO4)
• lapel  (LA5)
• leaf  (LE4)
• leap  (LE4)
• loaf  (LO4)
• loofa  (LO5)
• offal  (OF5)
• opal  (OP4)
• paella  (PA6)
• palapa  (PA6)
• pale  (PA4)
• pall  (PA4)
• palp  (PA4)
• papa  (PA4)
• papal  (PA5)
• papaw  (PA5)
• pawl  (PA4)
• pawpaw  (PA6)
• peafowl^†  (PE7)
• peal  (PE4)
• plea  (PL4)
• poppa  (PO5)
• waffle  (WA6)
• wale  (WA4)
• wall  (WA4)
• wallop  (WA6)
• wallow  (WA6)
• weal  (WE4)

Answer Definitions

• alfalfa (noun): A plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
• allele (noun): One of a number of alternative forms of the same gene occupying a given position, or locus, on a chromosome.
• allow (verb): To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.
• aloe (noun): The resins of the tree Aquilaria malaccensis (syn. Aquilaria agallocha), known for their fragrant aroma, produced after infection by the fungus Phialophora parasitica.
• aloof (adverb): At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
• appall (verb): To fill with horror; to dismay.
• appeal (noun): An application to a superior court or judge for a decision or order by an inferior court or judge to be reviewed and overturned. The legal document or form by which such an application is made; also, the court case in which the application is argued. A person's legal right to apply to court for such a review.
• appellee (noun): A respondent.
• apple (noun): A common, round fruit produced by the tree Malus domestica, cultivated in temperate climates.
• falafel (noun): A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas or broad beans and other ingredients. Often served in a pita.
• fall (verb): To be moved downwards. To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
• falloff (noun): A reduction or decline.
• fallow (noun): Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
• fella (noun): Pronunciation spelling of fellow.
• flap (noun): Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
• flaw (noun): A flake, fragment, or shiver.
• flea (noun): A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
• foal (noun): A young horse or other equine, especially just after birth or less than a year old.
• lapel (noun): Each of the two triangular pieces of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat that are folded back below the throat, leaving a triangular opening between.
• leaf (noun): The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants.
• leap (verb): To jump.
• loaf (noun): (also loaf of bread) A block of bread after baking.
• loofa (noun): Alternative form of loofah
• offal (noun): The internal organs of an animal, used as animal food.
• opal (noun): A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula SiO2·nH2O. A precious gem, an iridescent gemstone found in the opal-silica mineral substrate (potch)
• paella (noun): A savory Valencian dish made of rice, cooked in a frying pan with vegetables and meat or shellfish.
• palapa (noun): An open-sided dwelling with a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves.
• pale (adjective): Light in color.
• pall (noun): Senses relating to cloth. Fine cloth, especially purple cloth used for robes. A heavy cloth laid over a coffin or tomb; a shroud laid over a corpse. A piece of cardboard, covered with linen and embroidered on one side, used to cover the chalice during the Eucharist. A cloth used for various purposes on the altar in a church, such as a corporal (“cloth on which elements of the Eucharist are placed”) or frontal (“drapery covering the front of an altar”).
• palp (noun): Synonym of pedipalp.
• papa (noun): Dad, daddy, father; a familiar or old-fashioned term of address to one’s father.
• papal (adjective): Having to do with the pope or the papacy.
• papaw (noun): A tree, Carica papaya, of tropical America, belonging to the order Brassicales, and producing dull orange-colored, melon-shaped fruit.
• pawl (noun): A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.
• pawpaw (noun): Any of several types of trees having edible fruit: Asimina, a genus of trees and shrubs native to eastern North America, especially common pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Papaya (Carica papaya), a widely cultivated tropical fruit tree Mountain pawpaw (Vasconcellea pubescens), a fruit tree native to South America
• peafowl^† (noun): A pheasant of the genus Pavo or Afropavo, notable for the extravagant tails of the males; a peacock (unspecified sex).
• peal (noun): A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.
• plea (noun): An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.
• poppa (noun): father, papa.
• waffle (noun): A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern, often eaten hot with butter and/or honey or syrup.
• wale (noun): A ridge or low barrier.
• wall (noun): A rampart of earth, stones etc. built up for defensive purposes.
• wallop (noun): A heavy blow, punch.
• wallow (verb): To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.
• weal (noun): Wealth, riches.