The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

AEILNVB

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Words
52
Points
266
Genius
186
Pangram
1

Official answers

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Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • 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.

  • alibi

    noun — The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed

    verb — To provide an excuse for.

    verb — To provide an alibi for.

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • alienable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • available

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • 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.

  • bail

    noun — Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

    noun — Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.

    verb — To exit quickly.

    verb — To fail to meet a commitment.

    noun — A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).

    verb — To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.

    Appeared in 17 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 18 recorded puzzles.

  • banal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 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.

  • 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.

  • beanie

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • beeline

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • been

    noun — A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • belie

    verb — To contradict, to show (something) to be false.

    verb — To give a false representation of.

    verb — To conceal the contradictory or ironic presence of (something).

    verb — To show, evince, demonstrate: to show (something) to be present, particularly something deemed contradictory or ironic.

    verb — To tell lies about.

    verb — (of an army) To surround; beleaguer.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • believable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • believe

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • bell

    noun — A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.

    noun — The sounding of a bell as a signal.

    noun — A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.

    noun — A telephone call.

    noun — An instrument situated on a bicycle's handlebar, used by the cyclist to warn of his or her presence.

    noun — Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • belle

    noun — An attractive woman.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bevel

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • bible

    noun — An exemplar of the Bible.

    noun — A comprehensive manual that describes something. (e.g., handyman’s bible).

    noun — (at certain US universities) A compilation of problems and solutions from previous years of a given course, used by some students to cheat on tests or assignments.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • biennia

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • biennial

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • bilabial

    adjective — Articulated with both lips.

    noun — A speech sound articulated with both lips.

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • bile

    noun — A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion.

    noun — Bitterness of temper; ill humour; irascibility.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • bill

    noun — A piece of paper money; a banknote.

    noun — A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; an invoice.

    verb — To charge; to send a bill to.

    noun — A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.

    noun — The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.

    noun — Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • billable

    adjective — Capable of being billed for.

    noun — Something that is billed for.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • bivalve

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • 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 18 recorded puzzles.

  • blin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • blini

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • enable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • enviable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • inalienable

    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.

  • labia

    noun — The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.

    noun — A liplike structure; especially one of the two pairs of folds of skin either side of the vulva.

    noun — The lip of a labiate corolla.

    noun — The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • labial

    adjective — Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.

    adjective — Articulated by the lips, as the consonants b, m and w.

    noun — A consonant articulated by the lips.

    adjective — Of an incisor or canine, on the side facing the lips. See mesial.

    noun — Any of the scales bordering the mouth opening of a reptile.

    noun — An organ pipe having a lip that influences its sound.

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • labile

    adjective — Apt or likely to change.

    adjective — (of a compound or bond) Kinetically unstable; rapidly cleaved (and possibly reformed).

    adjective — (of a verb) Able to change valency without changing its form; especially, able to be used both transitively and intransitively without changing its form.

    adjective — Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • liable

    adjective — (as predicate, with "to" and an infinitive) likely.

    adjective — Subject; susceptible.

    adjective — Exposed to a certain contingency or causality, more or less probable.

    adjective — Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • libel

    noun — A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.

    verb — To defame someone, especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.

    noun — The act or crime of displaying such a statement publicly.

    noun — A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of their cause of action, and of the relief they seek.

    noun — Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.

    noun — A brief writing of any kind, especially a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • libelee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • livable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • liveable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • nibble

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • viable

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • vibe

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ab×1
  • al×2
  • av×1
  • ba×11
  • be×11
  • bi×8
  • bl×3
  • en×2
  • in×1
  • la×4
  • li×5
  • ni×1
  • vi×2

Words by first letter and length

4567891011Σ
a 11···2·· 4
b 137444·1· 33
e ··1·1··· 2
i ·······1 1
l ·3321··· 9
n ··1····· 1
v 1·1····· 2
Σ 15111066211 52

The numbers

Genius today takes 186 points of 266 available. The average answer runs 5.8 letters.

Total points vs. all 415 recorded puzzles
75th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
66th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18766 recorded answers

415 today34.5% all-time511 today23.0% all-time610 today20.0% all-time76 today12.0% all-time86 today6.2% all-time92 today2.6% all-time101 today1.3% all-time111 today0.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Friday, December 12, 2025 Friday, December 12, 2025
b ● Tuesday, December 9, 2025 Sunday, October 12, 2025
e Thursday, December 11, 2025 Friday, December 5, 2025
i Friday, December 12, 2025 Monday, December 1, 2025
l Friday, December 12, 2025 Tuesday, December 9, 2025
n Saturday, December 13, 2025 Monday, November 17, 2025
v Monday, November 17, 2025 Thursday, September 18, 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.