NYT Spelling Bee Answers for February 18, 2026

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Wednesday, February 18, 2026 puts N in the center, with A, V, D, O, C, R around it. There are 55 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.

55Words
234Points
164Genius
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

19

5-letter words

17

6-letter words

12

7-letter words

5

8-letter words

2

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterN
Vowels2
Rare lettersV
Words55
Points234
Pangram1
Longest word8
Average length5.2

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 164 points. Queen Bee is 234.

Genius · 70 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start5
Moving Up12
Good19
Solid35
Nice59
Great94
Amazing117
164Genius164
Queen Bee234

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

Pangram Breakdown

CORDOVAN
8 letters 15 points 3 vowels 5 consonants

Repeated letters: O ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 394 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 29th percentile
Total points 25th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words5573.515418
Points234353.289260
Pangrams12.05131

This Puzzle in Context

The February 18, 2026 hive put N in the center with A, V, D, O, C, R around it. Queen Bee needed all 55 words (234 points). Genius sat at 164.

Pangram on this date: CORDOVAN. Top starting letters: C (22), N (10). Longest accepted word: 8 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for February 18, 2026