The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

GHLMORA

Friday, September 26, 2025

Words
53
Points
196
Genius
137
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 53 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • aargh

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • agar

    noun — A gelatinous material obtained from red algae, especially Gracilaria species, used as a bacterial culture medium, in electrophoresis and as a food additive.

    noun — A culture medium based on this material.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • agog

    adjective — In eager desire, eager, astir.

    adverb — In a state of high anticipation, excitement, or interest.

    adjective — (chiefly of eyes) Wide open.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • agora

    noun — A place for gathering.

    noun — Since 1960, a monetary unit and coin of Israel, the 100th part of a shekel / sheqel.

    noun — A marketplace, especially in Classical Greece.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • alarm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • alga

    noun — Any of many aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the seaweeds, whose size ranges from a single cell to giant kelps and whose biochemistry and forms are very diverse, some being eukaryotic.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • algal

    noun — An alga.

    adjective — Pertaining to, or like, algae

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • aloha

    noun — Good wishes, love.

    interjection — Expressing good wishes when greeting or parting from someone; hello; goodbye.

    noun — An utterance of aloha (see Interjection, below).

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • amalgam

    noun — An alloy containing mercury.

    verb — To amalgamate.

    noun — A combination of different things.

    noun — One of the ingredients in an alloy.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • ammo

    noun — Ammunition.

    verb — To load up on ammunition.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • amoral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • armor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • aroma

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • gaga

    adjective — Mentally senile.

    noun — A variant of dodgeball played inside a fenced area, usually a hexagon or octagon.

    adjective — Crazy.

    adjective — Infatuated.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • gala

    noun — Pomp, show, or festivity.

    adjective — Celebratory; festive.

    noun — A member of an androgynous class of priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.

    noun — A showy and festive party.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • gall

    noun — Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.

    verb — To bother or trouble.

    noun — A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, especially that of the common oak gall wasp Cynips quercusfolii.

    verb — To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.

    noun — The gall bladder.

    noun — Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • gamma

    noun — The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).

    noun — A nonlinear operation used to encode and decode luminance or tristimulus values in video or still image systems.

    noun — The Gamma function, symbolized by Γ.

    noun — A constant approximately equal to 0.55721566, symbolized by γ (also known as the Euler–Mascheroni constant).

    noun — A non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, equal to 1 nT.

    noun — (industries) slope of log-log plot of video input and luminance output.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • glam

    noun — Glamour.

    verb — To make glamorous or more glamorous.

    adjective — Glamorous.

    noun — A style of rock music, glam rock, associated with an androgynous yet masculine look and a driving, pounding bluesy form of psychedelic rock; the fashion and culture associated with this genre.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • glamor

    noun — Originally, enchantment; magic charm; especially, the effect of a spell that causes one to see objects in a form that differs from reality, typically to make filthy, ugly, or repulsive things seems beauteous.

    verb — To enchant; to bewitch.

    noun — Alluring beauty or charm (often with sex appeal).

    noun — Any excitement, appeal, or attractiveness associated with a person, place, or thing; that which makes something appealing.

    noun — Any artificial interest in, or association with, an object, or person, through which it or they appear delusively magnified or glorified.

    noun — A kind of haze in the air, causing things to appear different from what they really are.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • goal

    noun — A result that one is attempting to achieve.

    verb — To score a goal.

    noun — In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object.

    noun — The act of placing the object into the goal.

    noun — A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal.

    noun — A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb. The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb. Also called a patient, target, or undergoer.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • gram

    noun — A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol: g

    noun — A leguminous plant grown for its seeds, especially the chickpea.

    noun — Grandmother

    adjective — Angry

    noun — A photograph or video shared on this service.

    noun — The seeds of these plants.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • gramma

    noun — Grandmother

    noun — A variety of pumpkin, a cultivar of Cucurbita moschata.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • grammar

    noun — A system of rules and principles for speaking and writing a language.

    verb — To discourse according to the rules of grammar; to use grammar.

    noun — The study of the internal structure of words (morphology) and the use of words in the construction of phrases and sentences (syntax).

    noun — A book describing the rules of grammar of a language.

    noun — A formal system specifying the syntax of a language.

    noun — Actual or presumed prescriptive notions about the correct use of a language.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • halal

    verb — To make halal.

    adjective — Permissible, according to Muslim religious customs, to have or do.

    adverb — In a halal manner; in accordance with Muslim religious customs.

    adjective — (of food) Fit to eat according to Muslim religious customs.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • hall

    noun — A corridor; a hallway.

    noun — A meeting room.

    noun — A manor house (originally because a magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion).

    noun — A building providing student accommodation at a university.

    noun — The principal room of a secular medieval building.

    noun — Cleared passageway through a crowd, as for dancing.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • halo

    noun — A circular band of coloured light, visible around the sun or moon etc., caused by reflection and refraction of light by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

    verb — To encircle with a halo.

    noun — A cloud of gas and other matter surrounding and captured by the gravitational field of a large diffuse astronomical object, such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies.

    noun — Anything resembling this band, such as an effect caused by imperfect developing of photographs.

    noun — Nimbus, a luminous disc, often of gold, around or over the heads of saints, etc., in religious paintings.

    noun — The metaphorical aura of glory, veneration or sentiment which surrounds an idealized entity.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • haram

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • harm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • hoar

    noun — A white or greyish-white colour.

    verb — To become mouldy or musty.

    adjective — Of a white or greyish-white colour.

    noun — Hoariness; antiquity.

    adjective — Hoarily bearded.

    adjective — Musty; mouldy; stale.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hologram

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • hoorah

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hora

    noun — A circle dance popular in the Balkans, Israel and Yiddish culture worldwide.

    noun — A branch of traditional Indian astrology, dealing with the finer points of predictive methods.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • 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 9 recorded puzzles.

  • largo

    noun — A very slow tempo

    adjective — Strong and stately

    noun — A musical piece or movement in such a tempo

    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 9 recorded puzzles.

  • loam

    noun — A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.

    verb — To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

    adjective — Made of loam; consisting of loam.

    noun — A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • logogram

    noun — A character or symbol that represents a word or phrase.

    noun — A kind of word puzzle: a logogriph.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • magma

    noun — The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc.

    noun — A basic algebraic structure consisting of a set equipped with a single binary operation.

    noun — Any soft doughy mass.

    noun — The residuum after expressing the juice from fruits.

    Appeared in 13 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 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mama

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

    Appeared in 27 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 27 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 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mammogram

    noun — An X-ray picture of the breasts (mammaries), used to screen for breast cancer.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • marm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • molar

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • momma

    noun — Mother

    noun — A voluptuous woman.

    noun — One's wife or girlfriend.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • moola

    noun — Money, cash.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • moolah

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • moral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • 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 10 recorded puzzles.

  • raga

    noun — Any of various melodic forms used in Indian classical music, or a piece of music composed in such a form.

    noun — Passion, love, lust.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • roam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 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.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • aa×1
  • ag×3
  • al×4
  • am×3
  • ar×2
  • ga×4
  • gl×2
  • go×1
  • gr×3
  • ha×5
  • ho×4
  • la×2
  • ll×1
  • lo×2
  • ma×7
  • mo×5
  • or×1
  • ra×1
  • ro×2

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 4711·· 13
g 6121·· 10
h 521·1· 9
l 22··1· 5
m 362··1 12
o 1····· 1
r 3····· 3
Σ 24186221 53

The numbers

Genius today takes 137 points of 196 available. The average answer runs 4.9 letters.

Total points vs. all 412 recorded puzzles
45th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
68th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18634 recorded answers

424 today34.5% all-time518 today23.0% all-time66 today20.0% all-time72 today12.0% all-time82 today6.2% 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 ● Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Saturday, September 20, 2025
g Thursday, September 25, 2025 Wednesday, September 3, 2025
h Monday, September 22, 2025 Tuesday, July 22, 2025
l Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Wednesday, August 27, 2025
m Wednesday, September 24, 2025 Wednesday, September 24, 2025
o Thursday, September 25, 2025 Sunday, September 14, 2025
r Thursday, September 25, 2025 Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 44
  2. naan 33
  3. nana 33
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 27
  8. mamma 27
  9. nene 25
  10. cocoon 24
  11. acacia 24
  12. acai 24
  13. loon 24
  14. olio 24
  15. imam 23
  16. maim 23
  17. cancan 23
  18. canna 23
  19. mini 23
  20. minim 23
  21. neon 23
  22. none 23
  23. aria 22
  24. mitt 22
  25. bill 22

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.