NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 12, 2026

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Tuesday, May 12, 2026 puts C in the center, with T, O, M, B, A, N around it. There are 69 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 C. Tap a word for a short definition.

69Words
378Points
265Genius
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 C.

Pangrams

3

4-letter words

14

5-letter words

20

6-letter words

18

7-letter words

11

8-letter words

1

9-letter words

2

10-letter words

2

12-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterC
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words69
Points378
Pangrams3
Longest word12
Average length5.8

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 265 points. Queen Bee is 378.

Genius · 113 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start8
Moving Up19
Good30
Solid57
Nice95
Great151
Amazing189
265Genius265
Queen Bee378

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

Pangram Breakdown

COMBATANT
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: A ×2, T ×2

NONCOMBAT
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: N ×2, O ×2

NONCOMBATANT
12 letters 19 points 4 vowels 8 consonants

Repeated letters: N ×3, O ×2, A ×2, T ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 390 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 49th percentile
Total points 61th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words6973.815418
Points378354.789260
Pangrams32.06131

This Puzzle in Context

The May 12, 2026 hive put C in the center with T, O, M, B, A, N around it. Queen Bee needed all 69 words (378 points). Genius sat at 265.

Pangrams on this date: COMBATANT, NONCOMBAT, NONCOMBATANT. Top starting letters: C (45), T (7). Longest accepted word: 12 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for May 12, 2026