The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ABEJMNT

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Words
44
Points
187
Genius
130
Pangram
1

Official answers

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Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • abate

    verb — To moderate; to lessen in force, intensity, to subside.

    verb — To decrease in intensity or force; to subside.

    verb — To reduce in amount, size, or value.

    verb — To decrease in size, value, or amount.

    verb — To humble; to lower in status; to bring someone down physically or mentally.

    verb — (obsolete outside law) To put an end to; to cause to cease.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • abatement

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • abet

    verb — To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.

    verb — To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action); to maintain.

    verb — To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.

    noun — An act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid.

    verb — To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.

    noun — Fraud or cunning.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • abetment

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • ante

    noun — A price or cost, as in up the ante.

    verb — To pay the ante in poker. Often used as ante up.

    noun — In poker and other games, the contribution made by all players to the pot before dealing the cards.

    verb — To make an investment in money, effort, or time before knowing one's chances.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • antenna

    noun — A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.

    noun — An apparatus to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.

    noun — The faculty of intuitive astuteness.

    noun — A fragment of an oligosaccharide

    noun — The spar to which a lateen sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • antennae

    noun — A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.

    noun — An apparatus to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.

    noun — The faculty of intuitive astuteness.

    noun — A fragment of an oligosaccharide

    noun — The spar to which a lateen sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bantam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • bate

    verb — To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do better than, outdo, or excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.

    verb — To hit; strike

    verb — To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

    verb — To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

    verb — To move with pulsation or throbbing.

    verb — To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • battement

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • batten

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • beat

    verb — To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do better than, outdo, or excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.

    verb — To hit; strike

    verb — To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

    noun — A pulsation or throb.

    noun — A rhythm.

    adjective — Exhausted

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • beaten

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • beet

    noun — A beetroot, a swollen root of such a plant.

    noun — Beta vulgaris, a plant with a swollen root which is eaten or used to make sugar.

    verb — To improve; to mend.

    verb — To kindle a fire.

    verb — To rouse.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bent

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • beta

    noun — The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental fricative sound of v found in the English words have and vase.

    noun — The phase of development after alpha testing and before launch, in which software, while not complete, has been released to potential users for testing.

    noun — Software in such a phase; a preliminary version.

    noun — Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices.

    noun — Used in marking scheme: α, β, γ or α+, α, α-, β etc.

    adjective — Preliminary; prerelease. Refers to an incomplete version of a product released for initial testing.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • eaten

    verb — To ingest; to be ingested.

    adjective — (especially in combination) That has been consumed by eating

    verb — To use up.

    verb — To cause (someone) to worry.

    verb — To take the loss in a transaction.

    verb — To be injured or killed by (something such as a firearm or its projectile), especially in the mouth.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • emanate

    verb — To come from a source; issue from.

    verb — To send or give out; manifest.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • enjambment

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • entente

    noun — An informal alliance or friendly understanding between two states.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • jete

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • manatee

    noun — Any of several plant-eating marine mammals, of family Trichechidae, found in tropical regions.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • manta

    noun — A kind of fabric or blanket used in Latin America and southwestern United States.

    noun — Any of several very large pelagic rays of the genus Manta, with winglike pectoral fins, a long tail, and two fins resembling horns that project from the head.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • mate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • matte

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • meant

    verb — To intend.

    verb — To convey (a meaning).

    verb — To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).

    verb — To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).

    verb — (usually with to) To be of some level of importance.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • meat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • meet

    verb — To make contact (with) while in proximity.

    verb — To make physical or perceptual contact.

    verb — To satisfy; to comply with.

    noun — A meeting.

    noun — A sports competition, especially for track and field (a track meet) or swimming (a swim meet).

    verb — (Of groups) To come together.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • mentee

    noun — A person who is being mentored

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • meta

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mete

    verb — (usually with “out”) To dispense, measure (out), allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).

    verb — To measure.

    adjective — Suitable; right; proper.

    noun — A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • natant

    adjective — Floating or swimming (in water)

    adjective — In a horizontal position, as if swimming

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • neat

    noun — An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.

    adjective — Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.

    noun — A bull or cow.

    adjective — Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.

    adjective — Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.

    adjective — With all deductions or allowances made; net.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • neaten

    verb — To make neat; arrange in an orderly, tidy way; to tidy.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • tame

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • team

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • teammate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • teat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • teem

    verb — To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.

    verb — To be stocked to overflowing.

    verb — To pour (especially with rain)

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • teen

    noun — A teenager.

    adjective — Of or having to do with teenagers; teenage

    noun — Grief; sorrow; trouble.

    verb — To excite; to provoke; to vex; to afflict; to injure.

    verb — (provincial) To hedge or fence in; to enclose.

    noun — Vexation; anger; hate.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tenant

    noun — One who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.

    verb — To hold as, or be, a tenant.

    noun — One who has possession of any place.

    noun — One who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership.

    noun — Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.

    verb — To inhabit.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • tenement

    noun — A building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.

    noun — Any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.

    noun — Dwelling; abode; habitation.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • tenet

    noun — An opinion, belief, or principle that is held as absolute truth by someone or especially an organization.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tent

    noun — A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.

    verb — To go camping.

    noun — Attention; regard, care.

    verb — To attend to; to heed

    noun — A roll of lint or linen, or a conical or cylindrical piece of sponge or other absorbent, used chiefly to dilate a natural canal, to keep open the orifice of a wound, or to absorb discharges.

    verb — (sometimes figurative) To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ab×4
  • an×3
  • ba×4
  • be×5
  • ea×1
  • em×1
  • en×2
  • je×1
  • ma×4
  • me×6
  • na×1
  • ne×2
  • ta×1
  • te×9

Words by first letter and length

45678910Σ
a 21·121· 7
b 5·3··1· 9
e ·1·2··1 4
j 1······ 1
m 5311··· 10
n 1·2···· 3
t 611·2·· 10
Σ 20674421 44

The numbers

Genius today takes 130 points of 187 available. The average answer runs 5.5 letters.

Total points vs. all 408 recorded puzzles
42nd percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
46th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18455 recorded answers

420 today34.5% all-time56 today22.9% all-time67 today19.9% all-time74 today12.0% all-time84 today6.3% all-time92 today2.6% all-time101 today1.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Sunday, August 3, 2025 Saturday, July 19, 2025
b Tuesday, August 5, 2025 Thursday, July 31, 2025
e Monday, August 4, 2025 Sunday, August 3, 2025
j first recorded appearance first recorded time
m Tuesday, August 5, 2025 Friday, July 25, 2025
n Tuesday, August 5, 2025 Tuesday, August 5, 2025
t ● Monday, August 4, 2025 Thursday, July 17, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 43
  2. naan 32
  3. nana 32
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 26
  8. mamma 26
  9. nene 25
  10. acacia 24
  11. acai 24
  12. olio 24
  13. cocoon 23
  14. loon 23
  15. neon 23
  16. none 23
  17. aria 22
  18. imam 22
  19. maim 22
  20. cancan 22
  21. canna 22
  22. bill 22
  23. mini 22
  24. minim 22
  25. lilt 21

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.