The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ACELTUM

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Words
56
Points
204
Genius
142
Pangram
1

Official answers

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Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • accumulate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • acme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • alum

    noun — An astringent salt, usually occurring in the form of pale crystals, much used in the dyeing and tanning trade and in certain medicines, and now understood to be a double sulphate of potassium and aluminium (K2SO4·Al2(SO4)3·24H2O).

    verb — To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum.

    noun — (shortening) A past attendee or graduate (of either gender) of a college, university or other educational institution.

    noun — Any similar double sulphate in which either or both of the potassium and aluminium is wholly or partly replaced by other univalent or tervalent cations.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • amulet

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • calm

    noun — (in a person) The state of being calm; peacefulness; absence of worry, anger, fear or other strong negative emotion.

    verb — To make calm.

    adjective — (of a person) Peaceful, quiet, especially free from anger and anxiety.

    noun — (in a place or situation) The state of being calm; absence of noise and disturbance.

    noun — A period of time without wind.

    verb — To become calm.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • came

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • camel

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • cecum

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • cellmate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • clam

    noun — A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), the hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

    verb — To dig for clams.

    noun — A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.

    verb — To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

    noun — Clamminess; moisture

    verb — To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • emcee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • emulate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lama

    noun — A master of Tibetan Buddhism.

    noun — A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • lame

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    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • lemma

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • llama

    noun — A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • mace

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    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • macula

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • malamute

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  • male

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • mall

    noun — A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.

    verb — To beat with a mall, or mallet; to beat with something heavy; to bruise

    noun — An enclosed shopping centre.

    noun — An alley where the game of pall mall was played.

    noun — A public walk; a level shaded walk, a promenade.

    noun — A heavy wooden mallet or hammer used in the game of pall mall.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • mallet

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • malt

    noun — Malted grain (sprouted grain) (usually barley), used in brewing and otherwise.

    verb — To convert a cereal grain into malt by causing it to sprout (by soaking in water) and then halting germination (by drying with hot air) in order to develop enzymes that can break down starches and proteins in the grain.

    noun — Malt liquor, especially malt whisky.

    noun — A milkshake with malted milk powder added for flavor.

    noun — Maltose-rich sugar derived from malted grain.

    verb — To become malt.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mama

    noun — (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

    Appeared in 25 recorded puzzles.

  • 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. (plural: mammae)

    noun — (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

    noun — An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera

    Appeared in 25 recorded puzzles.

  • mammal

    noun — An animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair and feeding milk to its young.

    noun — A vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

    Appeared in 8 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.

  • maul

    noun — A heavy long-handled hammer, used for splitting logs by driving a wedge into them, or in combat.

    verb — To handle someone or something in a rough way.

    noun — A situation where the player carrying the ball, who must be on his feet, is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball carrier's team mates bind onto the ball carrier.

    verb — To savage; to cause serious physical wounds (usually used of an animal).

    verb — To criticise harshly.

    verb — To beat with the heavy hammer called a maul.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • meal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • meat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mecca

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • melee

    noun — A noisy, confused or tumultuous fight, argument or scrap.

    noun — Any any confused, disorganised, disordered or chaotic situation.

    noun — A battle fought at close range; hand-to-hand combat; brawling.

    noun — Lively contention or debate, skirmish.

    verb — To physically hit in close quarters, as opposed to shooting, blowing up, or other ranged means of damage. Often refers to the usage of a hand-to-hand weapon.

    noun — A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • melt

    verb — To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.

    verb — To dissolve, disperse, vanish.

    verb — To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.

    verb — To be emotionally softened or touched.

    noun — The transition of matter from a solid state to a liquid state.

    noun — Molten material, the product of melting.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • 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 15 recorded puzzles.

  • meta

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • metal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • mettle

    noun — A quality of endurance and courage.

    noun — Good temperament and character.

    noun — Metal; a metallic substance.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • mule

    noun — The generally sterile male or female hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

    verb — To smuggle (illegal drugs).

    noun — A shoe that has no fitting or strap around the heel, but which covers the foot.

    noun — The generally sterile hybrid offspring of any two species of animals.

    noun — A hybrid plant.

    noun — A stubborn person.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mull

    noun — A thin, soft muslin.

    verb — (usually with over) To work (over) mentally; to cogitate; to ruminate.

    noun — A promontory.

    noun — Dirt; rubbish

    noun — Marijuana that has been chopped to prepare it for smoking.

    noun — A stew of meat, broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with soda crackers.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • mullet

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • mutate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • mute

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • mutt

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • mutual

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • 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.

  • talcum

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • tamale

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • 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.

  • teem

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

    verb — To be stocked to overflowing.

    verb — To pour (especially with rain)

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tumult

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • umlaut

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ac×2
  • al×1
  • am×1
  • ca×3
  • ce×2
  • cl×1
  • em×2
  • la×2
  • le×1
  • ll×1
  • ma×13
  • me×11
  • mu×8
  • ta×3
  • te×3
  • tu×1
  • um×1

Words by first letter and length

4567810Σ
a 2·1··1 4
c 32··1· 6
e ·1·1·· 2
l 22···· 4
m 1858·1· 32
t 3·3·1· 7
u ··1··· 1
Σ 281013131 56

The numbers

Genius today takes 142 points of 204 available. The average answer runs 5.0 letters.

Total points vs. all 383 recorded puzzles
48th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
74th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17359 recorded answers

428 today34.7% all-time510 today22.8% all-time613 today19.9% all-time71 today12.1% all-time83 today6.3% all-time92.6% all-time101 today1.2% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Tuesday, September 23, 2025 Saturday, September 20, 2025
c Tuesday, September 23, 2025 Tuesday, September 16, 2025
e Tuesday, September 23, 2025 Friday, September 19, 2025
l Saturday, September 20, 2025 Wednesday, August 27, 2025
m ● Friday, September 12, 2025 Tuesday, August 26, 2025
t Tuesday, September 23, 2025 Tuesday, September 23, 2025
u Wednesday, September 17, 2025 Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 42
  2. naan 30
  3. nana 30
  4. onion 29
  5. toot 28
  6. loll 28
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. cocoon 23
  10. loon 23
  11. nene 23
  12. acacia 22
  13. acai 22
  14. bill 22
  15. neon 22
  16. none 22
  17. olio 22
  18. aria 21
  19. onto 21
  20. toon 21
  21. cancan 21
  22. canna 21
  23. lull 20
  24. lulu 20
  25. lilt 20

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.