The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

BEHOUYN

Friday, January 2, 2026

Words
23
Points
79
Genius
55
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 23 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • 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.

  • bonbon

    noun — A sweet, especially a small chocolate-covered candy.

    noun — A small, spherical savory snack or canapé.

    noun — A Christmas cracker.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bone

    noun — A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.

    verb — To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.

    adjective — Of an off-white colour, like the colour of bone.

    verb — To apprehend, steal.

    verb — To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.

    noun — A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭).

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • bonny

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • bonobo

    noun — The pygmy chimpanzee, Pan paniscus, from Africa south of the Congo river.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bony

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • boon

    noun — A prayer; petition.

    adjective — Good; prosperous.

    noun — The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

    noun — That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.

    noun — A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.

    noun — An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • bunny

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • ebon

    noun — (now poetic) Ebony; an ebony tree.

    adjective — Made of ebony.

    adjective — Black in colour.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • ebony

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • enby

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hobnob

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hone

    noun — A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.

    verb — To sharpen with a hone; to whet.

    noun — A kind of swelling in the cheek.

    verb — To grumble.

    noun — A machine tool used in the manufacture of precision bores.

    verb — To use a hone to produce a precision bore.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • honey

    noun — A viscous, sweet fluid produced from plant nectar by bees. Often used to sweeten tea or to spread on baked goods.

    verb — To sweeten; to make agreeable.

    adjective — Involving or resembling honey.

    noun — A variety of this substance.

    noun — Nectar.

    noun — Something sweet or desirable.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • honeybee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • honeybun

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • nene

    noun — The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957.

    Appeared in 25 recorded puzzles.

  • neon

    noun — The chemical element (symbol Ne) with an atomic number of 10. The lightest of the noble gases, it is a colourless, odorless inert gas.

    adjective — (of a color) That resembles a neon light; extremely bright; fluorescent

    noun — A form or sample of the element.

    noun — Neon signs or lights, collectively.

    noun — A neon tetra fish.

    Appeared in 23 recorded puzzles.

  • none

    noun — A person without religious affiliation.

    adverb — To no extent, in no way.

    pronoun — Not any of a given number or group.

    noun — Those without any religious affiliation: atheists and others outside any organized religion.

    noun — A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.

    noun — The middle of the afternoon, normally between 2 and 4 pm.

    Appeared in 23 recorded puzzles.

  • noob

    noun — (often pejorative) A newb or newbie; refers to the idea that someone is new to a game, concept, or idea; implying a lack of experience. Also, in some areas the word noob can mean someone is obsessed with things.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • noon

    noun — The ninth hour of the day counted from sunrise; around three o'clock in the afternoon.

    verb — To relax or sleep around midday

    noun — The letter ن in the Arabic script.

    noun — Time of day when the sun is in its zenith; twelve o'clock in the day, midday.

    noun — The corresponding time in the middle of the night; midnight.

    noun — The highest point; culmination.

    Appeared in 44 recorded puzzles.

  • noun

    noun — (grammar, narrow sense) A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.

    verb — To convert a word to a noun.

    noun — (grammar, now rare, broad sense) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • nubby

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • be×1
  • bo×6
  • bu×1
  • eb×2
  • en×1
  • ho×5
  • ne×2
  • no×4
  • nu×1

Words by first letter and length

4568Σ
b 422· 8
e 21·· 3
h 1112 5
n 61·· 7
Σ 13532 23

The numbers

Genius today takes 55 points of 79 available. The average answer runs 4.8 letters.

Total points vs. all 418 recorded puzzles
1st percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
3rd percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18877 recorded answers

413 today34.5% all-time55 today23.0% all-time63 today20.0% all-time712.0% all-time82 today6.3% all-time92.6% 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
b Monday, December 29, 2025 Monday, December 29, 2025
e Tuesday, December 30, 2025 Friday, December 5, 2025
h Sunday, December 28, 2025 Wednesday, December 3, 2025
n ● Thursday, January 1, 2026 Thursday, January 1, 2026
o Wednesday, December 31, 2025 Saturday, December 6, 2025
u Wednesday, December 31, 2025 Saturday, December 27, 2025
y Thursday, January 1, 2026 Thursday, December 11, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 44
  2. naan 33
  3. nana 33
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 30
  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. onto 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.