Sunday, October 18, 2026
Spelling Bee answers for October 18, 2026
The Sunday NYT Spelling Bee had 59 words, 300 points and 1 pangram. Every answer is listed below, with the letter grid and the points for each rank.
Puzzle by Sam Ezersky
The pangram
Words that use all seven letters, worth 7 bonus points each.
Showing all 1 words.
Pangrams1
All 59 answers
Grouped by first letter, shortest first.
Showing all 59 words.
d16
e6
i16
j6
n4
o1
t10
At a glance
- Words
- 59
- Points
- 300
- Pangram
- 1
- Longest word
- 11 letters
- 1 perfect pangram (7 letters)
- Bingo: a word starts with every letter
- Average word: 5.7 letters
Maximum score 300. Genius takes 210 points: the fastest route is 30 words, starting with the longest ones, all 6 letters or longer.
Points for each rank
Genius takes 210 of 300 points.
| Rank | Share | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 0% | 0 |
| Good Start | 2% | 6 |
| Moving Up | 5% | 15 |
| Good | 8% | 24 |
| Solid | 15% | 45 |
| Nice | 25% | 75 |
| Great | 40% | 120 |
| Amazing | 50% | 150 |
| Genius | 70% | 210 |
| Queen Bee | 100% | 300 |
Real words that do not count
Everyday dictionary words that fit the letters but are not in the puzzle's word list. Save yourself the tries.
- dentine
- dittoed
- dinned
Letter grid
| First letter | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| d | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | 2 | - | 16 |
| e | 1 | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 6 |
| i (center letter) | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| j | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 6 |
| n | 2 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| o | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| t | 4 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | 10 |
| Total | 15 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 59 |
Two-letter list
- de4 words
- di10 words
- dj2 words
- ed4 words
- en2 words
- id1 word
- in13 words
- io2 words
- ji2 words
- jo4 words
- ni3 words
- no1 word
- on1 word
- ti9 words
- to1 word
How the Oct 18, 2026 puzzle played
The center letter was I with D, E, J, N, O, T around it. Answers ran from 4 to 11 letters, 5.7 on average. It had 1 perfect pangram, using each letter exactly once. It was also a bingo day: at least one word started with each of the seven letters.
Genius needed 210 points. Browse other days in the Spelling Bee archive, try today's Spelling Bee hints or play a fresh puzzle in unlimited mode.