NYT Spelling Bee Answers for March 16, 2026

Monday, March 16, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Monday, March 16, 2026 puts N in the center, with L, I, C, G, E, X around it. There are 68 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 N. Tap a word for a short definition.

68Words
388Points
272Genius
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 N.

Pangrams

1

4-letter words

13

5-letter words

13

6-letter words

13

7-letter words

14

8-letter words

10

9-letter words

3

10-letter words

2

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterN
Vowels2
Rare lettersX
Words68
Points388
Pangram1
Longest word10
Average length6.2

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 272 points. Queen Bee is 388.

Genius · 116 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start8
Moving Up19
Good31
Solid58
Nice97
Great155
Amazing194
272Genius272
Queen Bee388

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

Pangram Breakdown

EXCELLING
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: E ×2, L ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 380 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 46th percentile
Total points 61th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words6874.715418
Points388359.189260
Pangrams12.08131

This Puzzle in Context

The March 16, 2026 hive put N in the center with L, I, C, G, E, X around it. Queen Bee needed all 68 words (388 points). Genius sat at 272.

Pangram on this date: EXCELLING. Top starting letters: G (17), N (16). Longest accepted word: 10 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for March 16, 2026