NYT Spelling Bee Answers for February 22, 2026

Sunday, February 22, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Sunday, February 22, 2026 puts L in the center, with N, G, K, I, R, U around it. There are 62 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 L. Tap a word for a short definition.

62Words
329Points
230Genius
3Pangrams
Hard★★★★

NYT Spelling Bee Answers

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

Pangrams

3

4-letter words

20

5-letter words

5

6-letter words

9

7-letter words

16

8-letter words

11

9-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterL
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words62
Points329
Pangrams3
Longest word9
Average length5.9

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 230 points. Queen Bee is 329.

Genius · 99 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start7
Moving Up16
Good26
Solid49
Nice82
Great132
Amazing165
230Genius230
Queen Bee329

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

Pangram Breakdown

KNURLING
8 letters 15 points 2 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: N ×2

LURKING
7 letters 14 points 2 vowels 5 consonants
RUNKLING
8 letters 15 points 2 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: N ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 394 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 38th percentile
Total points 50th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words6273.515418
Points329353.289260
Pangrams32.05131

This Puzzle in Context

The February 22, 2026 hive put L in the center with N, G, K, I, R, U around it. Queen Bee needed all 62 words (329 points). Genius sat at 230.

Pangrams on this date: KNURLING, LURKING, RUNKLING. Top starting letters: L (21), G (16). Longest accepted word: 9 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for February 22, 2026