NYT Spelling Bee Answers for February 16, 2026

Monday, February 16, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Monday, February 16, 2026 puts A in the center, with R, B, K, M, O, C around it. There are 100 valid words. It plays like a Hard puzzle.

Try the hive yourself first if you want, then use the list below to catch what you missed. Every word includes A. Tap a word for a short definition.

100Words
423Points
296Genius
1Pangram
Hard★★★★

NYT Spelling Bee Answers

Tap a hive letter to show words that start with it. Tap it again to clear. Every word includes A.

Pangrams

1

4-letter words

36

5-letter words

32

6-letter words

13

7-letter words

12

8-letter words

5

9-letter words

2

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterA
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words100
Points423
Pangram1
Longest word9
Average length5.2

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 296 points. Queen Bee is 423.

Genius · 127 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start8
Moving Up21
Good34
Solid63
Nice106
Great169
Amazing212
296Genius296
Queen Bee423

Letter Distribution

How many words start with each letter. Tap a letter to mark those words in the list above.

Points by Word Length

Where the 423 points of this puzzle sit. Tap a row to open that length in the answer list.

Pangram Breakdown

BACKROOM
8 letters 15 points 3 vowels 5 consonants

Repeated letters: O ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 380 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 82th percentile
Total points 69th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words10074.715418
Points423359.189260
Pangrams12.08131

This Puzzle in Context

The February 16, 2026 hive put A in the center with R, B, K, M, O, C around it. Queen Bee needed all 100 words (423 points). Genius sat at 296.

Pangram on this date: BACKROOM. Top starting letters: C (30), M (19). Longest accepted word: 9 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for February 16, 2026