The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

AILMNOR

Monday, July 21, 2025

Words
50
Points
201
Genius
140
Pangrams
2

Official answers

Show the 50 answersHide answers

Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • airmail

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • airman

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • alarm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • amoral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • aria

    noun — A musical piece written typically for a solo voice with orchestral accompaniment in an opera or cantata.

    Appeared in 23 recorded puzzles.

  • aril

    noun — A tissue surrounding the seed in certain fruits such as pomegranates.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • armor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • armorial

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • aroma

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • immoral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • iron

    noun — A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel.

    verb — To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.

    adjective — Made of the metal iron.

    noun — A metallic chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.

    noun — Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.

    noun — A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • ironman

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lair

    noun — A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.

    noun — A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.

    noun — A shed or shelter for domestic animals.

    noun — A bed or resting place.

    noun — A grave; a cemetery plot.

    verb — To rest; to dwell.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • liar

    noun — One who tells lies.

    noun — A swabber responsible for cleaning the outside parts of the ship rather than the cabins, a role traditionally assigned to a person caught telling a lie the previous week.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • lira

    noun — The basic unit of currency in Turkey.

    noun — The former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus and the Vatican City, superseded by the euro

    noun — The former currency of Israel, superseded by the sheqel.

    noun — The currency of Lebanon (also pound), Syria (also pound), Jordan (also dinar)

    noun — A Ukrainian folk musical instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.

    noun — Any of a set of fine ridges on the shells of some molluscs

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • mailroom

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • malaria

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • malarial

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • manor

    noun — A landed estate.

    noun — The main house of such an estate or a similar residence; a mansion.

    noun — A district over which a feudal lord could exercise certain rights and privileges in medieval western Europe.

    noun — The lord's residence and seat of control in such a district.

    noun — Any home area or territory in which authority is exercised, often in a police or criminal context.

    noun — One's neighbourhood.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • manorial

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • marina

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • marinara

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • marlin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • marm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • maroon

    noun — An escaped negro slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of escaped slaves.

    verb — To abandon in a remote, desolate place, as on a desert island.

    adjective — Associated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples.

    noun — A rich dark red, somewhat brownish, color.

    adjective — Of a maroon color

    noun — A rocket-propelled firework or skyrocket, often one used as a signal (e.g. to summon the crew of a lifeboat or warn of an air raid).

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • minor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • mirin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mirror

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • molar

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • monorail

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • moor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • moral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • morn

    noun — Morning.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • moron

    noun — A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.

    noun — A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • noir

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • nori

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • norm

    noun — That which is normal or typical.

    verb — To endow (a vector space, etc) with a norm.

    noun — A rule that is enforced by members of a community.

    noun — A sentence with non-descriptive meaning, such as a command, permission or prohibition.

    noun — A function, generally denoted v\mapsto\left|v\right| or v\mapsto\left\|v\right\|, that maps vectors to non-negative scalars and has the following properties:

    noun — A high level of performance in a chess tournament, several of which are required for a player to receive a title.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • normal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • oral

    adjective — Spoken rather than written.

    adjective — Relating to the mouth.

    noun — Oral sex.

    noun — A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.

    noun — A physical examination of the mouth.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • rail

    noun — The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.

    noun — A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.

    noun — A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.

    noun — A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.

    verb — To criticize severely.

    noun — Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • rain

    noun — Condensed water falling from a cloud.

    verb — To have rain fall from the sky.

    noun — Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.

    verb — To fall as or like rain.

    verb — To issue (something) in large quantities.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • rani

    noun — A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.

    noun — The wife of a rajah.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • rial

    noun — The official currencies of Iran, Oman, and Yemen.

    noun — An old gold coin of England.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • rill

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • roam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • roan

    noun — An animal such as a horse that has a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in.

    adjective — Especially of a horse, having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in

    noun — The color of such an animal.

    noun — A kind of leather used for slippers, bookbinding, etc., made from sheepskin, tanned with sumac and colored to imitate ungrained morocco.

    noun — Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan.

    noun — Any of various small deciduous trees or shrubs of genus Sorbus, belonging to the rose family, with pinnate leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and usually with orange-red berries.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • roar

    noun — A long, loud, deep shout, as of rage or laughter, made with the mouth wide open.

    verb — To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.

    verb — To laugh in a particularly loud manner.

    noun — A loud resounding noise.

    verb — Generally, of inanimate objects etc., to make a loud resounding noise.

    verb — Of animals (especially the lion), to make a loud deep noise.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • roil

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • roll

    noun — The act or result of rolling, or state of being rolled.

    verb — To cause to revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on an axis; to impel forward by causing to turn over and over on a supporting surface.

    noun — That which is rolled up.

    noun — A forward or backward roll in gymnastics; going head over heels. A tumble.

    noun — Something which rolls.

    noun — A swagger or rolling gait.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • room

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ai×2
  • al×1
  • am×1
  • ar×5
  • im×1
  • ir×2
  • la×1
  • li×2
  • ma×10
  • mi×3
  • mo×6
  • no×4
  • or×1
  • ra×3
  • ri×2
  • ro×6

Words by first letter and length

45678Σ
a 23211 9
i 1··2· 3
l 3···· 3
m 36415 19
n 3·1·· 4
o 1···· 1
r 11···· 11
Σ 249746 50

The numbers

Genius today takes 140 points of 201 available. The average answer runs 5.2 letters.

Total points vs. all 437 recorded puzzles
46th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
59th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 19762 recorded answers

424 today34.4% all-time59 today22.9% all-time67 today20.1% all-time74 today12.0% all-time86 today6.2% all-time92.6% all-time101.2% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Saturday, July 19, 2025 Saturday, July 19, 2025
i Sunday, July 20, 2025 Friday, July 18, 2025
l Sunday, July 20, 2025 Thursday, July 10, 2025
m Tuesday, July 15, 2025 Tuesday, July 15, 2025
n Sunday, July 20, 2025 first recorded time
o Sunday, July 20, 2025 Friday, July 11, 2025
r ● Monday, July 14, 2025 Saturday, July 5, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 45
  2. naan 35
  3. nana 35
  4. toot 32
  5. onion 31
  6. loll 30
  7. mama 28
  8. mamma 28
  9. acacia 26
  10. acai 26
  11. nene 26
  12. mini 25
  13. minim 25
  14. cocoon 24
  15. imam 24
  16. maim 24
  17. onto 24
  18. toon 24
  19. loon 24
  20. olio 24
  21. lilt 23
  22. till 23
  23. tilt 23
  24. aria 23
  25. mitt 23

Valid words the Bee rejected

Dictionary words the Bee never takes

Legitimate words (per the ENABLE list) that fit the letters but aren't official answers — usually judged too obscure.