NYT Spelling Bee · Daily puzzle archive
Spelling Bee answers · Saturday, August 22, 2026
Longest word
antarctic
9 letters
Top scorer
taciturn
15 points
Starting letters
7 of 7
every letter starts a word
Average length
5.7
letters per word
Words by length
Spoiler-safe. Use it to see where the long ones hide.
The hints grid
How many words of each length start with each letter — the classic Bee cheat sheet.
4
5
6
7
8
9
Σ
A
3
3
4
–
1
1
12
C
–
4
3
3
–
–
10
I
–
2
3
–
1
–
6
N
–
–
2
–
–
–
2
R
3
3
–
–
–
–
6
T
1
9
3
2
1
1
17
U
2
–
–
–
–
1
3
Σ
9
21
15
5
3
3
56
Two-letter pairs
The first two letters of every answer, and how many words start with each pair.
A
ac 2an 3ar 4at 3
C
ca 3ci 4cr 2cu 1
I
in 5ir 1
N
ni 2
R
ra 3ri 1ru 2
T
ta 8ti 5tr 2tu 2
U
un 2ur 1
All 56 answers
304 points total · tap a word for its definition · pangram gets a ★acacia6
acai1
antarctic9
anti1
antic5
arancini8
arctic6
aria1
arnica6
atria5
attain6
attic5
cacti5
cairn5
cantina7
circa5
circuit7
cirri5
citric6
crania6
critic6
★curtainpangram14
incant6
incur5
intact6
intuit6
inurn5
irritant8
niacin6
nitric6
rain1
raita5
rani1
ricin5
ruin1
runic5
tacit5
★taciturnpangram15
tactic6
tactician9
taint5
tannic6
tannin6
tantric7
tiara5
tinct5
tint1
titan5
titanic7
train5
trait5
tunic5
tutti5
unit1
unitarian9
uric1