NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 17, 2023
Game Summary
| Center Letter | A |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | c, e, g, k, m, o |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: none) |
| Total Words | 30 words |
| Total Points | 84 points |
| Genius Level | 59 points |
| Bingo? | No |
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</th><th>5</th><th>6</th><th>7</th><th>8 | Σ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4 | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| C | 6 | 4 | - | - | - | 10 |
| E | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| G | 3 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 5 |
| K | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| M | 6 | 4 | - | - | - | 10 |
| O | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | Σ | 19 | 10 | - | - | 1 | 30 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| A | AC×1 AG×1 AM×2 |
|---|---|
| C | CA×6 CO×4 |
| E | |
| G | GA×5 |
| K | |
| M | MA×7 ME×2 MO×1 |
| O | OM×1 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| A | ACM×1 AGO×1 AMM×1 AMO×1 |
|---|---|
| C | CAC×1 CAG×1 CAK×1 CAM×3 COC×2 COM×2 |
| E | |
| G | GAG×2 GAM×3 |
| K | |
| M | MAC×1 MAG×2 MAK×2 MAM×2 MEC×1 MEG×1 MOM×1 |
| O | OME×1 |
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) |
|---|---|---|
| ga...... † | GA8 | A fighting cock: a rooster used in cockfighting. |
| ac.. | AC4 | A high point: the highest point of any range, the most developed stage of any process, or the culmination of any field or historical period. |
| ag.. | AG4 | In eager desire, eager, astir. |
| am.. | AM4 | Ammunition. |
| am.. | AM4 | Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous. |
| ca... | CA5 | A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate. |
| ca.. | CA4 | An enclosure made of bars, normally to hold animals. |
| ca.. | CA4 | A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing. |
| ca.. | CA4 | simple past tense of come |
| ca... | CA5 | A piece of jewelry, etc., carved in relief. |
| ca.. | CA4 | 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. |
| co.. | CO4 | Any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. |
| co... | CO5 | The dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made. |
| co.. | CO4 | A state of unconsciousness from which one may not wake up, usually induced by some form of trauma. |
| co... | CO5 | 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. |
| ga.. | GA4 | Mentally senile. |
| ga.. | GA4 | To bind by pledge, or security; to engage. |
| ga.. | GA4 | A playful or competitive activity. A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime. |
| ga... | GA5 | The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ). |
| ma.. | MA4 | A heavy fighting club. |
| ma.. | MA4 | A magician, wizard or sorcerer. |
| ma... | MA5 | The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc. |
| ma.. | MA4 | To create. To build, construct, produce, or originate. |
| ma.. | MA4 | mako shark |
| ma.. | MA4 | Mother, female parent. |
| ma... | MA5 | The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder. |
| me... | ME5 | Alternative form of Mecca; a place to which a group of people (for example shoppers) are drawn. |
| me.. | ME4 | Very large. |
| mo... | MO5 | mother |
| om... | OM5 | The twenty-fourth letter of the Classical and the Modern Greek alphabet, and the twenty-eighth letter of the Old and the Ancient Greek alphabet, i.e. the last letter of every Greek alphabet. Uppercase version: Ω; lowercase: ω. |
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.
- gamecock† (GA8)
- acme (AC4)
- agog (AG4)
- ammo (AM4)
- amok (AM4)
- cacao (CA5)
- cage (CA4)
- cake (CA4)
- came (CA4)
- cameo (CA5)
- camo (CA4)
- coca (CO4)
- cocoa (CO5)
- coma (CO4)
- comma (CO5)
- gaga (GA4)
- gage (GA4)
- game (GA4)
- gamma (GA5)
- mace (MA4)
- mage (MA4)
- magma (MA5)
- make (MA4)
- mako (MA4)
- mama (MA4)
- mamma (MA5)
- mecca (ME5)
- mega (ME4)
- momma (MO5)
- omega (OM5)
Answer Definitions
- gamecock† (noun): A fighting cock: a rooster used in cockfighting.
- acme (noun): A high point: the highest point of any range, the most developed stage of any process, or the culmination of any field or historical period.
- agog (adjective): In eager desire, eager, astir.
- ammo (noun): Ammunition.
- amok (adverb): Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous.
- cacao (noun): A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
- cage (noun): An enclosure made of bars, normally to hold animals.
- cake (noun): A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.
- came (verb): simple past tense of come
- cameo (noun): A piece of jewelry, etc., carved in relief.
- 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.
- 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.
- gaga (adjective): Mentally senile.
- gage (verb): To bind by pledge, or security; to engage.
- game (noun): A playful or competitive activity. A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
- gamma (noun): The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).
- mace (noun): A heavy fighting club.
- mage (noun): A magician, wizard or sorcerer.
- magma (noun): The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc.
- make (verb): To create. To build, construct, produce, or originate.
- mako (noun): mako shark
- mama (noun): Mother, female parent.
- 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.
- mecca (noun): Alternative form of Mecca; a place to which a group of people (for example shoppers) are drawn.
- mega (adjective): Very large.
- momma (noun): mother
- omega (noun): The twenty-fourth letter of the Classical and the Modern Greek alphabet, and the twenty-eighth letter of the Old and the Ancient Greek alphabet, i.e. the last letter of every Greek alphabet. Uppercase version: Ω; lowercase: ω.