The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

IJMNRUA

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
29
Points
108
Genius
75
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 29 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • airman

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • ajar

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • aria

    noun — A musical piece written typically for a solo voice with orchestral accompaniment in an opera or cantata.

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • arum

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • aura

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    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 22 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 22 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • mama

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

    Appeared in 26 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 26 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 14 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 19 recorded puzzles.

  • marijuana

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • marina

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • marinara

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • marm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • naan

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

    Appeared in 32 recorded puzzles.

  • nana

    noun — (term of endearment) one's grandmother

    noun — A banana

    noun — A fool

    noun — A nanny

    Appeared in 32 recorded puzzles.

  • ninja

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • rain

    noun — Condensed water falling from a cloud.

    verb — To have rain fall from the sky.

    noun — Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.

    verb — To fall as or like rain.

    verb — To issue (something) in large quantities.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • raja

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • rani

    noun — A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.

    noun — The wife of a rajah.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • umami

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • unarm

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • unjam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • 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.

  • uranium

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ai×1
  • aj×1
  • an×1
  • ar×2
  • au×1
  • im×1
  • ma×10
  • mi×1
  • na×2
  • ni×1
  • ra×3
  • um×1
  • un×3
  • ur×1

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 411··· 6
i 1····· 1
m 432·11 11
n 21···· 3
r 3····· 3
u ·4·1·· 5
Σ 1493111 29

The numbers

Genius today takes 75 points of 108 available. The average answer runs 4.9 letters.

Total points vs. all 408 recorded puzzles
8th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
12th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18455 recorded answers

414 today34.5% all-time59 today22.9% all-time63 today19.9% all-time71 today12.0% all-time81 today6.3% all-time91 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 ● Monday, June 22, 2026 Friday, June 19, 2026
i Monday, June 22, 2026 Saturday, June 13, 2026
j Monday, June 8, 2026 first recorded time
m Monday, June 22, 2026 Thursday, June 4, 2026
n Saturday, June 20, 2026 Friday, June 12, 2026
r Sunday, June 21, 2026 Saturday, June 20, 2026
u Sunday, June 7, 2026 Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 43
  2. naan 32
  3. nana 32
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 26
  8. mamma 26
  9. nene 25
  10. acacia 24
  11. acai 24
  12. olio 24
  13. cocoon 23
  14. loon 23
  15. neon 23
  16. none 23
  17. aria 22
  18. imam 22
  19. maim 22
  20. cancan 22
  21. canna 22
  22. bill 22
  23. mini 22
  24. minim 22
  25. lilt 21

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.