Spelling Bee Hints Today
The letters, the totals, the hints grid and the two letter list. Answers stay hidden until you open them.
Friday, October 16, 2026. Hints first, answers hidden until you ask.
Today's Spelling Bee Letters
GBINPRU
Center letter G, which every word must use. Today has 56 words worth 339 points, and 2 pangrams, 1 of them a perfect pangram using each letter exactly once. Genius is 70 percent of the total, about 237 points.
Spelling Bee Hints Grid
How many words start with each letter, by length. Use it to see where you still have words to find.
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | All | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 12 | |||
| G | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | |||
| I | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| N | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| P | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | ||||
| R | 2 | 1 | 7 | 10 | ||||
| U | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
Two Letter Starts
BI-2 · BR-5 · BU-5 · GI-3 · GR-7 · GU-2 · IN-3 · NI-2 · PI-6 · PR-2 · PU-3 · RI-5 · RU-5 · UN-3 · UP-2 · UR-1
Today's Spelling Bee Answers
The pangrams first, then every word. Both stay hidden until you open them.
Reveal the pangrams
BURPING, UPBRINGING
Reveal all 56 words
BINGING, BINNING, BRIBING, BRIG, BRING, BRINGING, BRINING, BUGGING, BUNG, BURG, BURNING, BURPING, GIBING, GIGGING, GINNING, GRIN, GRINNING, GRIP, GRIPING, GRIPPING, GRUB, GRUBBING, GUNNING, GURU, INNING, INURING, INURNING, NIGIRI, NIPPING, PIGGING, PING, PINGING, PINING, PINNING, PIPING, PRIG, PRUNING, PUNNING, PURGING, PURRING, RIBBING, RIGGING, RING, RINGING, RIPPING, RUBBING, RUING, RUINING, RUNG, RUNNING, UNPINNING, UNRIG, UNRIGGING, UPBRINGING, UPPING, URGING
How To Use The Hints Grid
The grid shows how many of today's words start with each letter, split by length. If the row for B says 3 under 6, there are three six letter words starting with B. Compare it with what you have found and the gaps tell you exactly where to look. The two letter list does the same job more precisely: BA-4 means four words begin with BA.
Most players use the grid to reach Genius, then the two letter list to hunt down the stragglers, and only open the full answer list at the very end.
Spelling Bee In One Minute
You get seven letters in a honeycomb. Every word must be at least four letters long and must use the center letter. Letters can be used more than once. Four letter words score one point. Longer words score one point per letter. A pangram, a word that uses all seven letters, scores an extra seven.
The ranks climb from Beginner to Genius, and Genius sits at 70 percent of the day's total points. Queen Bee means finding every word on the list. The word list is curated by an editor, so some real words are left out and the puzzle will not accept them.
Getting Better At It
Work through the endings: -ING, -ED, -ER and -ION can turn one find into four. Then pair each outer letter with the center letter and try it at the start of a word. Our Spelling Bee strategy guide covers the full method, and the Spelling Bee Solver works on any set of seven letters, including old puzzles.
About These Pages
Hints are built automatically from each day's puzzle, then checked against this page's rules: nothing is revealed until you open it, and every hint gives away less than the one after it. Word Unscrambler is independent and is not affiliated with The New York Times. The games themselves are at nytimes.com, and a subscription is the best way to support the people who make them.