The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ACDORTL

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Words
54
Points
212
Genius
148
Pangrams
2

Official answers

Show the 54 answersHide answers

Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • allocator

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • allot

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • altar

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • alto

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • aortal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • atoll

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • call

    noun — A telephone conversation.

    verb — (heading) To use one's voice.

    noun — A decision or judgement.

    noun — The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.

    noun — A cry or shout.

    noun — A short visit, usually for social purposes.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • calla

    noun — The calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica.

    noun — A marsh plant native to cooler areas throughout the northern hemisphere, Calla palustris, having pale green flowers in a white spathe.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • callaloo

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • carload

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • carol

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cartload

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • catcall

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • clad

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cloaca

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • clod

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • clot

    noun — A thrombus, solidified mass of blood.

    verb — To form a clot or mass.

    noun — A solidified mass of any liquid.

    noun — A silly person.

    verb — To cause to clot or form into a mass.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • coal

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • cola

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • cold

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • collar

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • collard

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • color

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • colt

    noun — A young male horse.

    verb — To horse; to get with young.

    noun — A young crane (bird).

    noun — A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.

    noun — A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.

    noun — A young camel or donkey.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • cool

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 18 recorded puzzles.

  • coral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • corolla

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • corral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • doctoral

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • doll

    noun — A toy in the form of a human.

    noun — A term of endearment: darling, sweetheart.

    noun — (sometimes offensive) An attractive young woman

    noun — A dollar.

    noun — (now possibly offensive) A good-natured, cooperative or helpful girl.

    noun — The smallest or pet pig in a litter.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • dollar

    noun — Official designation for currency in some parts of the world, including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Its symbol is $.

    noun — (by extension) Money generally.

    noun — Imported from the United States, and paid for in U.S. dollars. (Note: distinguish "dollar wheat", North American farmers' slogan, meaning a market price of one dollar per bushel.)

    noun — A quarter of a pound or one crown, historically minted as a coin of approximately the same size and composition as a then-contemporary dollar coin of the United States, and worth slightly more.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • dolor

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • dolt

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • droll

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • drool

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • lard

    noun — Fat from the abdomen of a pig, especially as prepared for use in cooking or pharmacy.

    verb — To garnish or strew, especially with reference to words or phrases in speech and writing.

    verb — To stuff (meat) with bacon or pork before cooking.

    noun — Fatty meat from a pig; bacon, pork.

    verb — To smear with fat or lard.

    verb — To fatten; to enrich.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • load

    noun — A burden; a weight to be carried.

    noun — (often in the plural) A large number or amount.

    noun — A quantity of washing put into a washing machine for a wash cycle.

    verb — To put a load on or in (a means of conveyance or a place of storage).

    verb — To insert (an item or items) into an apparatus so as to ready it for operation, such as a reel of film into a camera, sheets of paper into a printer etc.

    noun — A certain number of articles or quantity of material that can be transported or processed at one time.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • local

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • locator

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • loco

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 18 recorded puzzles.

  • loll

    verb — To act lazily or indolently while reclining; to lean; to lie at ease.

    verb — To hang extended from the mouth, like the tongue of an animal heated from exertion.

    verb — To let (the tongue) hang from the mouth in this way.

    Appeared in 27 recorded puzzles.

  • loot

    noun — A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

    noun — The act of plundering.

    verb — To steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.

    noun — Plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.

    noun — Any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents

    noun — Items dropped by defeated enemies.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • lord

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • lotto

    noun — A game of chance similar to bingo

    noun — A lottery

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • octal

    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.

  • roll

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • talc

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • tall

    adjective — (of a person) Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.

    adjective — (of a building, etc.) Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent; high.

    adjective — (of a story) Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.

    adjective — (of a cup of coffee) A cup of coffee smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces.

    noun — (possibly nonstandard) Someone or something that is tall.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • told

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • toll

    noun — Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.

    verb — To impose a fee for the use of.

    noun — The act or sound of tolling

    verb — To ring (a bell) slowly and repeatedly.

    verb — To draw; pull; tug; drag.

    verb — To take away; to vacate; to annul.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tool

    noun — A mechanical device intended to make a task easier.

    verb — To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.

    noun — Equipment used in a profession, e.g., tools of the trade.

    noun — Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.

    noun — A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.

    noun — A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • total

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • troll

    noun — A supernatural being of varying size, now especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

    noun — An instance of trolling, especially, in fishing, the trailing of a baited line.

    verb — To saunter.

    noun — The act of moving round; routine; repetition.

    verb — To move circularly; to roll; to turn.

    noun — An ugly person of either sex, especially one seeking sexual experiences.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • al×4
  • ao×1
  • at×1
  • ca×7
  • cl×4
  • co×11
  • do×5
  • dr×2
  • la×1
  • lo×8
  • oc×1
  • or×1
  • ro×1
  • ta×2
  • to×4
  • tr×1

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 131··1 6
c 94342· 22
d 231·1· 7
l 62·1·· 9
o 11···· 2
r 1····· 1
t 52···· 7
Σ 25155531 54

The numbers

Genius today takes 148 points of 212 available. The average answer runs 5.1 letters.

Total points vs. all 380 recorded puzzles
51st percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
69th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17231 recorded answers

425 today34.6% all-time515 today22.8% all-time65 today19.9% all-time75 today12.1% all-time83 today6.3% all-time91 today2.6% all-time101.2% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Saturday, May 16, 2026 Saturday, May 16, 2026
c Friday, May 15, 2026 Tuesday, May 12, 2026
d Wednesday, May 13, 2026 Friday, April 24, 2026
l ● Thursday, May 14, 2026 Wednesday, May 13, 2026
o Saturday, May 16, 2026 Saturday, April 25, 2026
r Wednesday, May 13, 2026 Sunday, April 26, 2026
t Saturday, May 16, 2026 Monday, May 11, 2026

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.