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Spelling Bee tips: 12 ways to reach Genius

Practical strategies to find more words in the NYT Spelling Bee, from your first word to Genius.

  1. Hunt the pangram early

    It is worth its length plus 7 points, and once you see it, the letters start to suggest related words. Look for longer everyday words that use the rarest letter.

  2. Try common endings

    If the letters allow it, test -ING, -ED, -ER, -LY, -TION and -ABLE on every root you find. One root can give you four or five words.

  3. Build word families

    Found PLANT? Try PLANTED or PLANTING if the letters allow. Longer forms score more and are easy to miss.

  4. Double letters count

    Letters can repeat, so try doubled consonants and vowels: words like MANNA or NANNY hide in plain sight.

  5. Work through letter pairs

    Go through the outer letters in pairs with the center letter (AN, NA, CN...) and ask which words start with each pair.

  6. Shuffle the letters

    A new arrangement breaks the patterns your eyes are stuck on. Writing letters in a circle on paper works too.

  7. Say words out loud

    Hearing a sound often unlocks a word you could not see, especially for words with silent letters.

  8. Think in themes

    Food, animals, music, medicine: picking a theme and listing words in it is a fast way out of a stall.

  9. Take a break

    Many players find words come back easily after a walk or a night's sleep. The puzzle stays open until 3 a.m. Eastern.

  10. Use the grid, not the answers

    Knowing that two 6-letter words start with C narrows your search without giving anything away. Our hints page has the grid.

  11. Learn the puzzle's quirks

    Some real words are never accepted (very rare or offensive ones), while some unusual ones are. Yesterday's answers show what makes the list.

  12. Practice with unlimited puzzles

    Like any skill, it improves with reps. Play a few free unlimited puzzles to train your eye for endings and pangrams.

Put the tips to work

Try them on today's puzzle with our hints, check how close you are to the next rank with the word tracker, or practice for free in unlimited mode.

Questions and answers

What is the best strategy for Spelling Bee?

Find the pangram early, then work through common endings and word families. Most of the points sit in longer words, so a few long words move you up the ranks faster than many short ones.

How do I get Genius every day?

Use letter pairs and endings systematically, take a break when stuck, and use a gentle hint such as the letter grid or two-letter list for the last few words instead of looking at the answers.

Is using hints cheating?

It is your puzzle, so play it your way. Hints that show counts and first letters still leave the finding to you, which is why many players use them.

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