The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ACIKORM

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Words
36
Points
126
Genius
88
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 36 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • ammo

    noun — Ammunition.

    verb — To load up on ammunition.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • amok

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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.

  • cami

    noun — A camisole.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • camo

    noun — A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.

    verb — To camouflage.

    noun — Clothes made from camouflage fabric, for concealment in combat or hunting.

    verb — To put on camouflage clothing.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • carom

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • coma

    noun — A state of unconsciousness from which one may not wake up, usually induced by some form of trauma.

    noun — A cloud of dust surrounding the nucleus of a comet.

    noun — A defect characterized by diffuse, pear-shaped images that in an ideal image would appear as points.

    noun — A tuft or bunch, such as the assemblage of branches forming the head of a tree, a cluster of bracts when empty and terminating the inflorescence of a plant, or a tuft of long hairs on certain seeds.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • comic

    noun — A comedian.

    adjective — Funny; amusing; comical.

    noun — A story composed of cartoon images arranged in sequence, usually with textual captions; a graphic novel.

    noun — A children's newspaper.

    adjective — Relating to comedy.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • comma

    noun — The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set off parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.

    verb — To place a comma or commas within text; to follow, precede, or surround a portion of text with commas.

    noun — A similar-looking subscript diacritical mark.

    noun — Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Polygonia, having a comma-shaped white mark on the underwings, especially Polygonia c-album and Polygonia c-aureum of North Africa, Europe, and Asia.

    noun — A difference in the calculation of nearly identical intervals by different ways.

    noun — A delimiting marker between items in a genetic sequence.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • cram

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • imam

    noun — (usually capitalized) A Shi'ite Muslim leader.

    noun — One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • karma

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • karmic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • korma

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • macro

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • maim

    noun — A serious wound

    verb — To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • maki

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • mako

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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.

  • maraca

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mark

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • marm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • mica

    noun — Any of a group of hydrous aluminosilicate minerals characterized by highly perfect cleavage, so that they readily separate into very thin leaves, more or less elastic.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • micro

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • microcrack

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • mimic

    noun — A person who practices mimicry, or mime.

    verb — To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.

    adjective — Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.

    noun — An imitation.

    verb — To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.

    adjective — Mock, pretended.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • mirror

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • mock

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • momma

    noun — Mother

    noun — A voluptuous woman.

    noun — One's wife or girlfriend.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • moor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • morocco

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • roam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • romcom

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • room

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • am×2
  • ar×2
  • ca×3
  • co×3
  • cr×1
  • im×1
  • ka×2
  • ko×1
  • ma×9
  • mi×5
  • mo×4
  • ro×3

Words by first letter and length

456710Σ
a 22··· 4
c 43··· 7
i 1···· 1
k ·21·· 3
m 95211 18
r 2·1·· 3
Σ 1812411 36

The numbers

Genius today takes 88 points of 126 available. The average answer runs 4.8 letters.

Total points vs. all 380 recorded puzzles
14th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
27th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17231 recorded answers

418 today34.6% all-time512 today22.8% all-time64 today19.9% all-time71 today12.1% all-time86.3% 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 Sunday, November 16, 2025 Monday, November 10, 2025
c Monday, November 17, 2025 Tuesday, September 16, 2025
i Monday, November 17, 2025 Wednesday, November 12, 2025
k Friday, November 14, 2025 Friday, November 14, 2025
m ● Saturday, November 15, 2025 Saturday, November 15, 2025
o Saturday, November 15, 2025 Thursday, November 13, 2025
r Monday, November 17, 2025 Sunday, November 16, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 41
  2. naan 30
  3. nana 30
  4. onion 28
  5. toot 28
  6. loll 27
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. cocoon 23
  10. nene 23
  11. acacia 22
  12. acai 22
  13. bill 22
  14. loon 22
  15. aria 21
  16. onto 21
  17. toon 21
  18. cancan 21
  19. canna 21
  20. neon 21
  21. none 21
  22. olio 21
  23. lilt 20
  24. till 20
  25. tilt 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.