NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 21, 2026

Thursday, May 21, 2026

The NYT Spelling Bee for Thursday, May 21, 2026 puts G in the center, with N, A, D, C, E, H around it. There are 51 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 G. Tap a word for a short definition.

51Words
224Points
157Genius
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 G.

Pangrams

1

4-letter words

18

5-letter words

10

6-letter words

15

7-letter words

6

8-letter words

1

9-letter words

1

Puzzle Breakdown

Center letterG
Vowels2
Rare lettersNone
Words51
Points224
Pangram1
Longest word9
Average length5.3

Rank Calculator

Enter the score you reached on this hive. Genius is 157 points. Queen Bee is 224.

Genius · 67 points to Queen Bee
Beginner0
Good Start4
Moving Up11
Good18
Solid34
Nice56
Great90
Amazing112
157Genius157
Queen Bee224

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

Pangram Breakdown

CHANGED
7 letters 14 points 2 vowels 5 consonants

How This Puzzle Compares

Measured against the 390 puzzles in our archive.

Word count 21th percentile
Total points 22th percentile
MetricThis puzzleArchive averageHighestLowest
Words5173.815418
Points224354.789260
Pangrams12.06131

This Puzzle in Context

The May 21, 2026 hive put G in the center with N, A, D, C, E, H around it. Queen Bee needed all 51 words (224 points). Genius sat at 157.

Pangram on this date: CHANGED. Top starting letters: G (14), E (10). Longest accepted word: 9 letters. Difficulty: Hard.

FAQs for May 21, 2026