NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 20, 2026

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Wednesday, May 20, 2026 puts A in the center, with O, C, R, K, B, D around it. There are 87 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 A. Tap a word for a short definition.

87Words
387Points
271Genius
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 A.

Pangrams

3

4-letter words

33

5-letter words

26

6-letter words

11

7-letter words

7

8-letter words

4

9-letter words

5

11-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterA
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words87
Points387
Pangrams3
Longest word11
Average length5.3

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 271 points. Queen Bee is 387.

Genius · 116 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start8
Moving Up19
Good31
Solid58
Nice97
Great155
Amazing194
271Genius271
Queen Bee387

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

Pangram Breakdown

BACKBOARD
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: B ×2, A ×2

BACKDOOR
8 letters 15 points 3 vowels 5 consonants

Repeated letters: O ×2

CORKBOARD
9 letters 16 points 3 vowels 6 consonants

Repeated letters: O ×2, R ×2

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 390 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 70th percentile
Total points 62th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words8773.815418
Points387354.789260
Pangrams32.06131

This Puzzle in Context

The May 20, 2026 hive put A in the center with O, C, R, K, B, D around it. Queen Bee needed all 87 words (387 points). Genius sat at 271.

Pangrams on this date: BACKBOARD, BACKDOOR, CORKBOARD. Top starting letters: C (26), B (19). Longest accepted word: 11 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for May 20, 2026