Spelling Bee answers for October 9, 2026
The Friday NYT Spelling Bee had 37 words, 224 points and 4 pangrams. Every answer is listed below, with the letter grid and the points for each rank.
Puzzle by Sam Ezersky
The 4 pangrams
Showing all 4 words.
Pangrams4
All 37 answers
Showing all 37 words.
e7
g3
i4
l6
n5
t7
y5
At a glance
- Words
- 37
- Points
- 224
- Pangrams
- 4
- Longest word
- 13 letters
- No perfect pangram
- Bingo: a word starts with every letter
- Average word: 5.9 letters
Maximum score 224. Genius takes 157 points: the fastest route is 18 words, starting with the longest ones, all 6 letters or longer.
Points for each rank
| Rank | Share | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 0% | 0 |
| Good Start | 2% | 4 |
| Moving Up | 5% | 11 |
| Good | 8% | 18 |
| Solid | 15% | 34 |
| Nice | 25% | 56 |
| Great | 40% | 90 |
| Amazing | 50% | 112 |
| Genius | 70% | 157 |
| Queen Bee | 100% | 224 |
Real words that do not count
- eyen
- eyne
Letter grid
| First letter | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 |
| g | - | - | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| i | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 4 |
| l | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 6 |
| n | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 5 |
| t | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 7 |
| y (center letter) | 2 | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | 5 |
| Total | 8 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 37 |
Two-letter list
- ee1 word
- eg1 word
- el1 word
- en1 word
- ey3 words
- ge2 words
- gi1 word
- il1 word
- in2 words
- it1 word
- le3 words
- li2 words
- ly1 word
- ne2 words
- ni3 words
- te2 words
- ti4 words
- ty1 word
- ye5 words
How the Oct 9, 2026 puzzle played
The center letter was Y with E, G, I, L, N, T around it. Answers ran from 4 to 13 letters, 5.9 on average. There was no perfect pangram (a seven-letter word using each letter once). It was also a bingo day: at least one word started with each of the seven letters.
Genius needed 157 points. Browse other days in the Spelling Bee archive, try today's Spelling Bee hints or play a fresh puzzle in unlimited mode.