NYT Spelling Bee Answers for January 2, 2026

Friday, January 2, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Friday, January 2, 2026 puts N in the center, with U, O, B, Y, H, E around it. There are 33 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.

33Words
115Points
81Genius
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

17

5-letter words

10

6-letter words

3

7-letter words

1

8-letter words

2

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterN
Vowels3
Rare lettersY
Words33
Points115
Pangram1
Longest word8
Average length4.8

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 81 points. Queen Bee is 115.

Genius · 34 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start2
Moving Up6
Good9
Solid17
Nice29
Great46
Amazing58
81Genius81
Queen Bee115

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

Pangram Breakdown

HONEYBUN
8 letters 15 points 3 vowels 5 consonants

Repeated letters: N ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 397 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 7th percentile
Total points 3th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words3373.415418
Points115352.989260
Pangrams12.05131

This Puzzle in Context

The January 2, 2026 hive put N in the center with U, O, B, Y, H, E around it. Queen Bee needed all 33 words (115 points). Genius sat at 81.

Pangram on this date: HONEYBUN. Top starting letters: B (13), N (7). Longest accepted word: 8 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for January 2, 2026