NYT Spelling Bee Answers for January 9, 2026

Friday, January 9, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Friday, January 9, 2026 puts H in the center, with E, I, D, P, A, C around it. There are 60 valid words. It plays like a Medium puzzle.

Try the hive yourself first if you want, then use the list below to catch what you missed. Every word includes H. Tap a word for a short definition.

60Words
279Points
195Genius
2Pangrams
Medium★★★

NYT Spelling Bee Answers

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

Pangrams

2

4-letter words

20

5-letter words

16

6-letter words

11

7-letter words

8

8-letter words

3

9-letter words

1

10-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterH
Vowels3
Rare lettersNone
Words60
Points279
Pangrams2
Longest word10
Average length5.4

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 195 points. Queen Bee is 279.

Genius · 84 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start6
Moving Up14
Good22
Solid42
Nice70
Great112
Amazing140
195Genius195
Queen Bee279

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

Pangram Breakdown

EDAPHIC
7 letters 14 points 3 vowels 4 consonants
HEADPIECE
9 letters 16 points 5 vowels 4 consonants

Repeated letters: E ×3

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 397 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 36th percentile
Total points 36th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words6073.415418
Points279352.989260
Pangrams22.05131

This Puzzle in Context

The January 9, 2026 hive put H in the center with E, I, D, P, A, C around it. Queen Bee needed all 60 words (279 points). Genius sat at 195.

Pangrams on this date: EDAPHIC, HEADPIECE. Top starting letters: C (21), H (18). Longest accepted word: 10 letters. Difficulty: Medium.

FAQs for January 9, 2026