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How to play Spelling Bee: rules and scoring

Everything you need to know about the NYT Spelling Bee, in about two minutes.

Example letters from the October 15, 2026 puzzle.

The rules

  1. You get seven letters. One of them is the center letter.
  2. Make words of four letters or more.
  3. Every word must use the center letter at least once.
  4. Letters can be used more than once in the same word.
  5. Proper nouns, hyphenated words and offensive words are not accepted.
  6. At least one word, the pangram, uses all seven letters.

With the example letters above (center N), MAIN, MANIA and CANAL count. MAIL does not, because it has no N, and CAN is too short.

Scoring

  • A four-letter word is worth 1 point.
  • Longer words score 1 point per letter: MANIA is 5 points.
  • A pangram scores its length plus 7 bonus points.

Your score moves you up the ranks, from Beginner to Genius at 70% of the day's points. Find every word and you reach the hidden rank, Queen Bee. See today's points for every rank.

When a new puzzle starts

A new Spelling Bee goes live every day at 3 a.m. Eastern time, together with the answers to the previous puzzle. BeeHints posts fresh hints by about 3:10 a.m. Eastern, and yesterday's words move to yesterday's answers.

Where the puzzle comes from

Spelling Bee is published by The New York Times. It first appeared in the print magazine and moved online in 2018. Want to practice? Play free puzzles in unlimited mode.

Questions and answers

What are the rules of Spelling Bee?

Make words of at least four letters using the seven letters given. Every word must contain the center letter, letters can be reused, and hyphenated words, proper nouns and offensive words do not count.

Can you use a letter twice in Spelling Bee?

Yes. Letters can be used as often as you like in a word. With the October 15, 2026 letters, MANNA uses N and A twice each and still counts.

What time does the Spelling Bee reset?

A new puzzle goes live every day at 3 a.m. Eastern time.

Does Spelling Bee use the letter S?

Almost never. Leaving out S stops easy plurals from inflating the word list.

Is Spelling Bee free?

The official puzzle is part of New York Times Games and limits how far you can play without a subscription. BeeHints hints and our unlimited game are free.

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