The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ABEKMTN

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Words
50
Points
225
Genius
157
Pangram
1

Official answers

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Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • abatement

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • abetment

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • amen

    noun — An instance of saying ‘amen’.

    verb — To say amen.

    adverb — At the end of religious prayers: so be it.

    interjection — An expression of strong agreement. Often, though dated, in the phrase "Amen to that".

    noun — A title of Christ; the Faithful One (especially with reference to Revelation 3:14)

    verb — To say amen to; to ratify solemnly.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • ante

    noun — A price or cost, as in up the ante.

    verb — To pay the ante in poker. Often used as ante up.

    noun — In poker and other games, the contribution made by all players to the pot before dealing the cards.

    verb — To make an investment in money, effort, or time before knowing one's chances.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • antenna

    noun — A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.

    noun — An apparatus to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.

    noun — The faculty of intuitive astuteness.

    noun — A fragment of an oligosaccharide

    noun — The spar to which a lateen sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • antennae

    noun — A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.

    noun — An apparatus to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.

    noun — The faculty of intuitive astuteness.

    noun — A fragment of an oligosaccharide

    noun — The spar to which a lateen sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast.

    Appeared in 8 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.

  • bank

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • bantam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • battement

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • batten

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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.

  • beaten

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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.

  • bent

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • betaken

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • eaten

    verb — To ingest; to be ingested.

    adjective — (especially in combination) That has been consumed by eating

    verb — To use up.

    verb — To cause (someone) to worry.

    verb — To take the loss in a transaction.

    verb — To be injured or killed by (something such as a firearm or its projectile), especially in the mouth.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • emanate

    verb — To come from a source; issue from.

    verb — To send or give out; manifest.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • embank

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • embankment

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • enema

    noun — An injection of fluid into the large intestine by way of the rectum, usually for medical purposes.

    noun — The fluid so injected.

    noun — A device for administering such an injection.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • entente

    noun — An informal alliance or friendly understanding between two states.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • katana

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • keen

    adjective — Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.

    adjective — Having a fine edge or point; sharp.

    adjective — Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.

    adjective — Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.

    adjective — Fierce, intense, vehement.

    adjective — Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • kente

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • knee

    noun — In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.

    noun — The part of a garment that covers the knee.

    noun — An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.

    verb — To poke or strike with the knee.

    verb — To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.

    noun — A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • manatee

    noun — Any of several plant-eating marine mammals, of family Trichechidae, found in tropical regions.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • mane

    noun — Longer hair growth on back of neck of an animal, especially a horse or lion

    noun — Long or thick hair of a person's head.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • manna

    noun — Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus.

    noun — (by extension) Any boon which comes into one's hands by good luck.

    noun — The sugary sap of the manna gum tree which oozes out from holes drilled by insects and falls to the ground around the tree.http//www.museum.vic.gov.au/forest/plants/gum.html

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • manta

    noun — A kind of fabric or blanket used in Latin America and southwestern United States.

    noun — Any of several very large pelagic rays of the genus Manta, with winglike pectoral fins, a long tail, and two fins resembling horns that project from the head.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • mean

    verb — To lament.

    verb — To intend.

    adjective — Common; general.

    noun — (now chiefly in the plural) A method or course of action used to achieve some result.

    adjective — Having the mean (see noun below) as its value.

    verb — To convey (a meaning).

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • meant

    verb — To intend.

    verb — To convey (a meaning).

    verb — To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).

    verb — To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).

    verb — (usually with to) To be of some level of importance.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • mentee

    noun — A person who is being mentored

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • naan

    noun — A type of round, flat bread baked in a tandoor popular in South and Central Asian cuisine.

    Appeared in 33 recorded puzzles.

  • name

    noun — Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing.

    verb — (ditransitive) To give a name to.

    noun — Any of several types of true yam (Dioscorea) used in Caribbean Spanish cooking.

    noun — Reputation.

    noun — An abusive or insulting epithet.

    noun — A person (or legal person).

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • nana

    noun — (term of endearment) one's grandmother

    noun — A banana

    noun — A fool

    noun — A nanny

    Appeared in 33 recorded puzzles.

  • nankeen

    noun — A type of cotton cloth originally from Nanking in China.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • natant

    adjective — Floating or swimming (in water)

    adjective — In a horizontal position, as if swimming

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • neat

    noun — An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.

    adjective — Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.

    noun — A bull or cow.

    adjective — Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.

    adjective — Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.

    adjective — With all deductions or allowances made; net.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • neaten

    verb — To make neat; arrange in an orderly, tidy way; to tidy.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • nene

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

    Appeared in 25 recorded puzzles.

  • taken

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • tank

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • tanka

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • teen

    noun — A teenager.

    adjective — Of or having to do with teenagers; teenage

    noun — Grief; sorrow; trouble.

    verb — To excite; to provoke; to vex; to afflict; to injure.

    verb — (provincial) To hedge or fence in; to enclose.

    noun — Vexation; anger; hate.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tenant

    noun — One who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.

    verb — To hold as, or be, a tenant.

    noun — One who has possession of any place.

    noun — One who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership.

    noun — Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.

    verb — To inhabit.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • tenement

    noun — A building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.

    noun — Any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.

    noun — Dwelling; abode; habitation.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • tenet

    noun — An opinion, belief, or principle that is held as absolute truth by someone or especially an organization.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tent

    noun — A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.

    verb — To go camping.

    noun — Attention; regard, care.

    verb — To attend to; to heed

    noun — A roll of lint or linen, or a conical or cylindrical piece of sponge or other absorbent, used chiefly to dilate a natural canal, to keep open the orifice of a wound, or to absorb discharges.

    verb — (sometimes figurative) To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ab×2
  • am×1
  • an×3
  • ba×6
  • be×5
  • ea×1
  • em×3
  • en×2
  • ka×1
  • ke×2
  • kn×1
  • ma×4
  • me×3
  • na×5
  • ne×3
  • ta×3
  • te×5

Words by first letter and length

45678910Σ
a 2··121· 6
b 5·41·1· 11
e ·212··1 6
k 211···· 4
m 2311··· 7
n 5·21··· 8
t 331·1·· 8
Σ 199106321 50

The numbers

Genius today takes 157 points of 225 available. The average answer runs 5.5 letters.

Total points vs. all 415 recorded puzzles
59th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
59th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18766 recorded answers

419 today34.5% all-time59 today23.0% all-time610 today20.0% all-time76 today12.0% all-time83 today6.2% all-time92 today2.6% all-time101 today1.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Friday, March 27, 2026 Friday, March 27, 2026
b Tuesday, March 24, 2026 Monday, March 9, 2026
e Wednesday, March 25, 2026 Saturday, March 21, 2026
k Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Friday, January 23, 2026
m Thursday, March 26, 2026 Friday, March 20, 2026
n ● Friday, March 27, 2026 Thursday, March 19, 2026
t Wednesday, March 25, 2026 Monday, February 9, 2026

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.