The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

DEFHIUM

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Words
28
Points
147
Genius
102
Pangrams
2

Official answers

Show the 28 answersHide answers

Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • deem

    noun — An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.

    verb — To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.

    verb — To adjudge, to decree.

    verb — To dispense (justice); to administer (law).

    verb — (ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.

    verb — To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • deemed

    verb — To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.

    adjective — An accreditation awarded to higher educational institutions in India.

    verb — To adjudge, to decree.

    verb — To dispense (justice); to administer (law).

    verb — (ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.

    verb — To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • dehumidified

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • dime

    noun — A coin worth one-tenth of a U.S. dollar.

    verb — (with "on") To inform on, to turn in to the authorities, to rat on, especially anonymously.

    noun — A coin worth one-tenth of a Canadian dollar.

    noun — A small amount of money

    noun — An assist

    noun — A playing card with the rank of ten

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • dimmed

    verb — To make something less bright.

    verb — To become darker.

    verb — To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct

    verb — To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to darken the senses or understanding of.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • dumdum

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • dummied

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • femme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • fume

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • fumed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • heme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • hemmed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • humid

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • humidified

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • hummed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • medium

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • meme

    noun — Something, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, including quizzes, basic pictures, video templates etc.

    noun — A myth circulating as truth; something ineffective presented as effective, or similar.

    noun — Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.

    verb — To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve something in real life.

    verb — To create and use humorous memes.

    verb — To joke around.

    Appeared in 16 recorded puzzles.

  • memed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • midi

    noun — A native or inhabitant of Berlin.

    noun — A coat or skirt having such a hemline.

    adjective — Having a hemline at mid-calf length.

    noun — A doughnut with a sweet filling.

    noun — A newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 315 by 470 millimetres (12.4 in × 18.5 inches), slightly taller and wider than a tabloid but narrower and shorter than a broadsheet.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • miff

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • miffed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • mime

    noun — A form of acting without words; pantomime.

    noun — A pantomime actor.

    verb — To act without words.

    verb — To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.

    verb — To mimic.

    noun — A person who mimics others in a comical manner.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • mimed

    verb — To mimic.

    verb — To act without words.

    verb — To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • muddied

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • muff

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • muffed

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • mummified

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • muumuu

    noun — A long loose-fitting dress made of lightweight fabric printed with bright, stylized Hawaiian themes (such as flowers and palm branches).

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • de×3
  • di×2
  • du×2
  • fe×1
  • fu×2
  • he×2
  • hu×3
  • me×3
  • mi×5
  • mu×5

Words by first letter and length

456791012Σ
d 2·31··1 7
f 12····· 3
h 112··1· 5
m 52411·· 13
Σ 9592111 28

The numbers

Genius today takes 102 points of 147 available. The average answer runs 5.7 letters.

Total points vs. all 394 recorded puzzles
22nd percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
10th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17815 recorded answers

49 today34.6% all-time55 today22.8% all-time69 today19.9% all-time72 today12.0% all-time86.3% all-time91 today2.6% all-time101 today1.3% all-time110.3% all-time121 today0.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
d Saturday, August 23, 2025 Monday, August 11, 2025
e Saturday, August 23, 2025 Sunday, August 3, 2025
f Friday, August 22, 2025 first recorded time
h Monday, August 25, 2025 Tuesday, July 22, 2025
i Sunday, August 24, 2025 Monday, August 18, 2025
m ● Friday, August 22, 2025 Friday, July 25, 2025
u Monday, August 25, 2025 Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 42
  2. onion 31
  3. naan 30
  4. nana 30
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. acacia 24
  10. acai 24
  11. olio 24
  12. cocoon 23
  13. loon 23
  14. nene 23
  15. bill 22
  16. mini 22
  17. minim 22
  18. neon 22
  19. none 22
  20. lilt 21
  21. till 21
  22. tilt 21
  23. aria 21
  24. imam 21
  25. maim 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.