NYT Spelling Bee Answers for August 21, 2026

Friday, August 21, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Friday, August 21, 2026 puts U in the center, with H, O, R, D, G, N around it. There are 34 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 U. Tap a word for a short definition.

34Words
140Points
98Genius
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 U.

Pangrams

1

4-letter words

15

5-letter words

6

6-letter words

7

7-letter words

3

8-letter words

2

9-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterU
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words34
Points140
Pangram1
Longest word9
Average length5.2

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 98 points. Queen Bee is 140.

Genius · 42 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start3
Moving Up7
Good11
Solid21
Nice35
Great56
Amazing70
98Genius98
Queen Bee140

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

Pangram Breakdown

GROUNDHOG
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: G ×2, O ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 391 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 7th percentile
Total points 6th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words3473.715418
Points140354.389260
Pangrams12.06131

This Puzzle in Context

The August 21, 2026 hive put U in the center with H, O, R, D, G, N around it. Queen Bee needed all 34 words (140 points). Genius sat at 98.

Pangram on this date: GROUNDHOG. Top starting letters: D (8), G (6). Longest accepted word: 9 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for August 21, 2026