Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Spelling Bee answers for October 20, 2026
The Tuesday NYT Spelling Bee had 18 words, 79 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 18 answers
Grouped by first letter, shortest first.
Showing all 18 words.
c8
h3
i1
k1
m3
n2
At a glance
- Words
- 18
- Points
- 79
- Pangram
- 1
- Longest word
- 8 letters
- No perfect pangram
- No bingo
- Average word: 5.2 letters
Maximum score 79. Genius takes 55 points: the fastest route is 8 words, starting with the longest ones, all 5 letters or longer.
Points for each rank
Genius takes 55 of 79 points.
| Rank | Share | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 0% | 0 |
| Good Start | 2% | 2 |
| Moving Up | 5% | 4 |
| Good | 8% | 6 |
| Solid | 15% | 12 |
| Nice | 25% | 20 |
| Great | 40% | 32 |
| Amazing | 50% | 40 |
| Genius | 70% | 55 |
| Queen Bee | 100% | 79 |
Letter grid
| First letter | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 8 |
| h (center letter) | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 3 |
| i | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| k | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| m | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 3 |
| n | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
Two-letter list
- ch7 words
- ci1 word
- hi1 word
- hu2 words
- in1 word
- ki1 word
- mu3 words
- nu2 words
How the Oct 20, 2026 puzzle played
The center letter was H with C, I, K, M, N, U around it. Answers ran from 4 to 8 letters, 5.2 on average. There was no perfect pangram (a seven-letter word using each letter once). It was not a bingo day: some letters started no word at all.
Genius needed 55 points. Browse other days in the Spelling Bee archive, try today's Spelling Bee hints or play a fresh puzzle in unlimited mode.