The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

BEJLNYA

Friday, September 5, 2025

Words
41
Points
161
Genius
112
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 41 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • abbey

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • able

    adjective — Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task.

    adjective — Free from constraints preventing completion of task; permitted to; not prevented from.

    adjective — Gifted with skill, intelligence, knowledge, or competence.

    adjective — Having the physical strength; robust; healthy.

    adjective — Suitable; competent.

    adjective — Legally qualified or competent.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • ably

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • allay

    noun — Alleviation; abatement; check.

    verb — To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.

    noun — An alloy.

    verb — To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.

    verb — To subside, abate, become peaceful.

    verb — To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • allele

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • alley

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • ally

    noun — A person, group, or state (etc) which is associated with another for a common cause; one united to another by treaty or common purpose; a confederate.

    verb — To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy.

    noun — A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings.

    noun — A glass marble or taw.

    noun — A person, group, concept (etc) which is associated with another as a helper; a supporter; an auxiliary.

    noun — Anything akin to something else by structure, etc.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • anal

    adjective — Of a person, compulsive and stubborn, obsessed with neatness and accuracy, supposedly from not having progressed beyond the anal stage.

    adjective — Of, related to, intended for or involving the anus.

    adjective — Of the stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is alleged to be concentrated on the anal region.

    noun — Anal sex.

    noun — Any of the anal scales of a reptile.

    adjective — (of a vein) Proximate to the thorax.

    Appeared in 21 recorded puzzles.

  • anally

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • annal

    noun — The record of a single event or item.

    Appeared in 21 recorded puzzles.

  • anneal

    noun — An act of annealing.

    verb — To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.

    verb — To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.

    verb — To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.

    verb — To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.

    verb — To strengthen or harden.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • baba

    noun — A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.

    noun — (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.

    noun — An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.

    noun — (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.

    noun — (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.

    noun — A baby, child.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • babble

    noun — Idle talk; senseless prattle

    noun — Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.

    verb — To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.

    verb — To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds

    verb — To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.

    noun — A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • babe

    noun — A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

    noun — An attractive person, especially a young woman.

    noun — Darling (term of endearment).

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • babel

    noun — A confused mixture of sounds and voices, especially in different languages.

    noun — A place or scene of noise and confusion.

    noun — A tall, looming structure.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • baby

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • bale

    noun — A bundle of compressed wool or hay, compacted for shipping and handling.

    noun — A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.

    noun — A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).

    noun — A measurement of paper equal to 10 reams.

    verb — To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • baleen

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • ball

    noun — A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

    noun — A round or ellipsoidal object.

    verb — To play basketball.

    noun — A very enjoyable time.

    verb — To form or wind into a ball.

    noun — A formal dance.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • banal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • banally

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • banana

    noun — An elongated curved tropical fruit that grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

    adjective — Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

    noun — The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, usually of the genus Musa but sometimes also including plants from Ensete, has large, elongated leaves and is related to the plantain.

    noun — A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.

    noun — (mildly) A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a Caucasian (from the "yellow" outside and "white" inside). Compare coconut or Oreo.

    noun — A banana equivalent dose.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • bane

    noun — A cause of misery or death.

    verb — To kill, especially by poison; to be the poison of.

    noun — Bone

    noun — Poison, especially any of several poisonous plants.

    noun — A killer, murderer, slayer.

    noun — Destruction; death.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • banyan

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • bean

    noun — A reusable software component written in Java.

    noun — Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.

    verb — To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

    noun — The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean or garbanzo bean).

    noun — The edible seedpod of such a plant.

    noun — (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such a a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • beanball

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • belay

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • blab

    verb — To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.

    noun — Gossip; prattle.

    noun — One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale; a gossip or gossiper.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • blabby

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • elan

    noun — Ardor or zeal inspired by passion or enthusiasm.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • enable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • eyeball

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • jean

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • jellybean

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • label

    noun — A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.

    noun — A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.

    verb — To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).

    verb — (ditransitive) To give a label to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.

    noun — A company that sells records.

    noun — In mediaeval art, the representation of a band or scroll containing an inscription.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • lane

    noun — (used in street names) A road, street, or similar thoroughfare.

    noun — A narrow passageway between fences, walls, hedges or trees.

    noun — A narrow road, as in the country.

    noun — A lengthwise division of roadway intended for a single line of vehicles.

    noun — A similar division of a racetrack to keep runners apart.

    noun — A course designated for ships or aircrafts.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • lean

    noun — (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.

    verb — To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.

    noun — Meat with no fat on it.

    verb — To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.

    adjective — (of a person or animal) Slim; not fleshy.

    verb — To conceal.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • leanly

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • naan

    noun — A type of round, flat bread baked in a tandoor popular in South and Central Asian cuisine.

    Appeared in 34 recorded puzzles.

  • nana

    noun — (term of endearment) one's grandmother

    noun — A banana

    noun — A fool

    noun — A nanny

    Appeared in 34 recorded puzzles.

  • nanny

    noun — A child's nurse.

    verb — To serve as a nanny.

    noun — A grandmother.

    noun — A godmother.

    noun — A female goat.

    verb — To treat like a nanny's charges; to coddle.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ab×3
  • al×4
  • an×4
  • ba×13
  • be×3
  • bl×2
  • el×1
  • en×1
  • ey×1
  • je×2
  • la×2
  • le×2
  • na×3

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 443··· 11
b 83511· 18
e 1·11·· 3
j 1····1 2
l 211··· 4
n 21···· 3
Σ 18910211 41

The numbers

Genius today takes 112 points of 161 available. The average answer runs 5.1 letters.

Total points vs. all 428 recorded puzzles
29th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
40th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 19319 recorded answers

418 today34.4% all-time59 today22.9% all-time610 today20.0% all-time72 today12.1% all-time81 today6.3% all-time91 today2.6% all-time101.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a ● Thursday, September 4, 2025 Saturday, August 30, 2025
b Tuesday, September 2, 2025 Tuesday, September 2, 2025
e Monday, September 1, 2025 Sunday, August 3, 2025
j Wednesday, August 6, 2025 first recorded time
l Thursday, September 4, 2025 Wednesday, August 27, 2025
n Thursday, September 4, 2025 Friday, August 15, 2025
y Thursday, September 4, 2025 first recorded time

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 45
  2. naan 34
  3. nana 34
  4. toot 32
  5. onion 31
  6. loll 30
  7. mama 27
  8. mamma 27
  9. nene 26
  10. acacia 25
  11. acai 25
  12. cocoon 24
  13. onto 24
  14. toon 24
  15. mini 24
  16. minim 24
  17. loon 24
  18. olio 24
  19. aria 23
  20. imam 23
  21. maim 23
  22. mitt 23
  23. cancan 23
  24. canna 23
  25. neon 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.