The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

GIJMNUA

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Words
47
Points
245
Genius
171
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 47 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • again

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • aging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • aiming

    verb — To point or direct a missile, or a weapon which propels as missile, towards an object or spot with the intent of hitting it

    noun — The act of one who aims.

    verb — To direct the intention or purpose; to attempt the accomplishment of a purpose; to try to gain; to endeavor;—followed by at, or by an infinitive

    verb — To direct or point (e.g. a weapon), at a particular object; to direct, as a missile, an act, or a proceeding, at, to, or against an object

    verb — To direct (something verbal) towards a certain person, thing, or group

    verb — To guess or conjecture.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • angina

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • anima

    noun — The soul or animating principle of a living thing, especially as contrasted with the animus.

    noun — (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) of a person that is in touch with the unconscious as opposed to the persona.

    noun — (Jungian psychology) The unconscious feminine aspect of a person.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • gaga

    adjective — Mentally senile.

    noun — A variant of dodgeball played inside a fenced area, usually a hexagon or octagon.

    adjective — Crazy.

    adjective — Infatuated.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • gagging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • gain

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • gaining

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • gamin

    noun — A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also (more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • gaming

    verb — To gamble.

    noun — The playing of a game or games, including but not limited to video games and games of chance.

    verb — To play card games, board games, or video games.

    verb — To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.

    verb — (of males) To perform premeditated seduction strategy.

    noun — Careful, strategic use of rules to achieve one's purposes, as one would use the rules of a game.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • gamma

    noun — The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).

    noun — A nonlinear operation used to encode and decode luminance or tristimulus values in video or still image systems.

    noun — The Gamma function, symbolized by Γ.

    noun — A constant approximately equal to 0.55721566, symbolized by γ (also known as the Euler–Mascheroni constant).

    noun — A non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, equal to 1 nT.

    noun — (industries) slope of log-log plot of video input and luminance output.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • gang

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • ganging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • ganja

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • gauging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • gunman

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • iguana

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • imaging

    verb — To represent by an image or symbol; to portray.

    noun — The technique or practice of creating images of otherwise invisible aspects of an object, especially of body parts.

    verb — To reflect, mirror.

    verb — To create an image of.

    verb — To create a complete backup copy of a file system or other entity.

    noun — The use of mental images to alter a person's perceptions or behaviors.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • imagining

    verb — To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind.

    noun — Something imagined; a figment of the imagination.

    verb — To believe in something created by one's own mind.

    verb — To assume

    verb — To conjecture or guess

    verb — To use one's imagination

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • imam

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

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

    Appeared in 23 recorded puzzles.

  • jagging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • jamming

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • magi

    noun — A magician, wizard or sorcerer.

    noun — (common usage) magician, and derogatorily sorcerer, trickster, conjurer, charlatan

    noun — (special usage) a Zoroastrian priest

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • magma

    noun — The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc.

    noun — A basic algebraic structure consisting of a set equipped with a single binary operation.

    noun — Any soft doughy mass.

    noun — The residuum after expressing the juice from fruits.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • magnum

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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 23 recorded puzzles.

  • maiming

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

    noun — The act by which somebody is maimed.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • main

    verb — Short for mainline.

    adjective — Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal.

    adverb — Exceedingly, extremely, greatly, mightily, very, very much.

    noun — That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the bulk, the greater part, gross.

    noun — A hand or match in a game of dice.

    noun — A basket for gathering grapes.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • mama

    noun — (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

    Appeared in 27 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 27 recorded puzzles.

  • managing

    verb — To direct or be in charge of.

    noun — Management

    verb — To handle or control (a situation, job).

    verb — To handle with skill, wield (a tool, weapon etc.).

    verb — To succeed at an attempt.

    verb — To achieve (something) without fuss, or without outside help.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • manga

    noun — A comic originating in Japan.

    noun — A covering for a crucifix.

    noun — An artistic style heavily used in, and associated with, Japanese comics, and that has also been adopted by a comparatively low number of comics from other countries.

    noun — A comic in manga style, regardless of the country of origin.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mania

    noun — Violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity.

    noun — Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; fanaticism.

    noun — The state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.

    Appeared in 15 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.

  • manning

    verb — To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).

    verb — To take up position in order to operate (something).

    verb — (possibly obsolete) To brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way. (Compare man up.)

    verb — To wait on, attend to or escort.

    verb — To accustom (a raptor or other type of bird) to the presence of people.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • minima

    noun — The lowest limit.

    noun — The smallest amount.

    noun — A period of minimum brightness or energy intensity (of a star).

    noun — A lower bound of a set which is also an element of that set.

    noun — The smallest member of a batch or sample or the lower bound of a probability distribution.

    Appeared in 15 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.

  • nagging

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • naming

    verb — (ditransitive) To give a name to.

    noun — The process of giving names to things.

    adjective — Giving a name to a person or thing.

    verb — To mention, specify.

    verb — To identify as relevant or important

    verb — To publicly implicate.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • nana

    noun — (term of endearment) one's grandmother

    noun — A banana

    noun — A fool

    noun — A nanny

    Appeared in 33 recorded puzzles.

  • ninja

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • umami

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • unjam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • unjamming

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • unman

    verb — To castrate; to remove the manhood of.

    verb — To sap (a person) of the strength, whether physical or emotional, required to deal with a situation.

    verb — To deprive of men.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • unmanning

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ag×2
  • ai×1
  • an×2
  • ga×11
  • gu×1
  • ig×1
  • im×3
  • ja×2
  • ma×13
  • mi×1
  • na×4
  • ni×1
  • um×1
  • un×4

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a ·32··· 5
g 3324·· 12
i 1·11·1 4
j ···2·· 2
m 45221· 14
n 2111·· 5
u ·3···2 5
Σ 101581013 47

The numbers

Genius today takes 171 points of 245 available. The average answer runs 5.7 letters.

Total points vs. all 412 recorded puzzles
68th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
52nd percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18634 recorded answers

410 today34.5% all-time515 today23.0% all-time68 today20.0% all-time710 today12.0% all-time81 today6.2% all-time93 today2.6% 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
a ● Tuesday, May 26, 2026 Saturday, May 23, 2026
g Sunday, May 24, 2026 Thursday, May 21, 2026
i Wednesday, May 27, 2026 Thursday, May 14, 2026
j Wednesday, March 18, 2026 first recorded time
m Monday, May 25, 2026 Friday, May 15, 2026
n Wednesday, May 27, 2026 Thursday, May 7, 2026
u Sunday, May 24, 2026 Tuesday, May 19, 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.