The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

CILOTUN

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Words
51
Points
260
Genius
182
Pangrams
2

Official answers

Show the 51 answersHide answers

Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • clinic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • coconut

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cocoon

    noun — The silky protective case spun by the larvae of some insects in which they metamorphose, the pupa.

    verb — To envelop in a protective case

    noun — Any similar protective case, whether real or metaphorical.

    verb — To withdraw into such a case.

    Appeared in 24 recorded puzzles.

  • coin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • colon

    noun — The punctuation mark ":".

    noun — Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the anus.

    noun — A husbandman.

    noun — The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).

    noun — A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.

    noun — A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • colonic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • concoct

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • concoction

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • conic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • cotillion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • cotton

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • council

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • count

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • icon

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • iconic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • into

    preposition — To or towards the inside of.

    preposition — To or towards the region of.

    preposition — Against, especially with force or violence.

    preposition — Indicates transition into another form or substance.

    preposition — After the start of.

    preposition — Interested in or attracted to.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • intuit

    verb — To know intuitively or by immediate perception.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • intuition

    noun — Immediate cognition without the use of conscious rational processes.

    noun — A perceptive insight gained by the use of this faculty.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • ionic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • linocut

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lint

    noun — Clinging fuzzy fluff that clings to fabric or accumulates in one's pockets or navel etc.

    verb — To perform a static check on (source code) to detect stylistic or programmatic errors.

    noun — A fine material made by scraping cotton or linen cloth; used for dressing wounds.

    noun — The fibrous coat of thick hairs covering the seeds of the cotton plant.

    noun — Raw cotton ready for baling.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • lion

    noun — A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.

    adjective — Of the light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.

    noun — (by extension) Any of various extant and extinct big cats, especially the mountain lion.

    noun — A Chinese foo dog.

    noun — An individual who shows strength and courage, attributes associated with the lion.

    noun — A famous person regarded with interest and curiosity.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • locution

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • loin

    noun — The part of the body (of humans and quadrupeds) at each side of the backbone, between the ribs and hips

    noun — Any of several cuts of meat taken from this part of an animal

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • loon

    noun — An idler, a lout.

    noun — Any of various birds, of the order Gaviiformes, of North America and Europe that dive for fish and have a short tail, webbed feet and a yodeling cry.

    noun — A boy, a lad.

    noun — A harlot; mistress.

    noun — A simpleton.

    noun — A crazy or deranged person.

    Appeared in 24 recorded puzzles.

  • lotion

    noun — A low- to medium-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin.

    verb — To cover or treat with a lotion.

    noun — A washing, especially of the skin for the purpose of beautification.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • nonillion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • nonunion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • noon

    noun — The ninth hour of the day counted from sunrise; around three o'clock in the afternoon.

    verb — To relax or sleep around midday

    noun — The letter ن in the Arabic script.

    noun — Time of day when the sun is in its zenith; twelve o'clock in the day, midday.

    noun — The corresponding time in the middle of the night; midnight.

    noun — The highest point; culmination.

    Appeared in 44 recorded puzzles.

  • notion

    noun — Mental apprehension of whatever may be known, thought, or imagined; idea, concept.

    noun — A sentiment; an opinion.

    noun — Sense; mind.

    noun — An invention; an ingenious device; a knickknack.

    noun — Any small article used in sewing and haberdashery, either for attachment to garments or as a tool, such as a button, zipper, or thimble.

    noun — Inclination; intention; disposition.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • noun

    noun — (grammar, narrow sense) A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.

    verb — To convert a word to a noun.

    noun — (grammar, now rare, broad sense) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • null

    noun — A non-existent or empty value or set of values.

    verb — To nullify; to annul.

    adjective — Having no validity; "null and void"

    noun — Zero quantity of expressions; nothing.

    noun — Something that has no force or meaning.

    noun — The ASCII or Unicode character (␀), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • nuncio

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • octillion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • onion

    noun — A monocotyledonous plant (Allium cepa), allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.

    noun — The bulb of such a plant.

    noun — The genus as a whole.

    noun — A ball.

    noun — A person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent.

    Appeared in 31 recorded puzzles.

  • onto

    adjective — (of a function) Assuming each of the values in its codomain; having its range equal to its codomain.

    preposition — Upon; on top of.

    preposition — Aware of.

    preposition — Being an onto function with a codomain of (see below).

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • tinct

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • tint

    verb — To shade, to color.

    noun — A slight coloring.

    noun — A pale or faint tinge of any color; especially, a variation of a color obtained by adding white (contrast shade)

    noun — A color considered with reference to other very similar colors.

    noun — A shaded effect in engraving, produced by the juxtaposition of many fine parallel lines.

    Appeared in 21 recorded puzzles.

  • tonic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • toon

    noun — A cartoon, especially an animated television show.

    noun — A southeast Asian and Australian tree (Toona ciliata or Toona australis) of the mahogany family with fragrant dark red wood and flowers that yield a dye.

    noun — A town.

    noun — A melody.

    noun — A player's avatar or visible character in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

    noun — The wood of this tree.

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • tuition

    noun — A sum of money paid for instruction (such as in a high school, boarding school, university, or college).

    noun — The training or instruction provided by a teacher or tutor.

    noun — Care, guardianship.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • tunic

    noun — A garment worn over the torso, with or without sleeves, and of various lengths reaching from the hips to the ankles.

    noun — Any covering, such as seed coat or the organ that covers a membrane.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • uncoil

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • uncool

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • unction

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • uncut

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • union

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • unit

    noun — An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.

    noun — A measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household; an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.

    noun — A standard measure of a quantity.

    noun — An item which may be sold singly.

    noun — A unit of alcohol.

    noun — The number one.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • unlit

    adjective — Not lit

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • until

    preposition — Up to the time of (something happening).

    conjunction — Up to the time that (a condition becomes true).

    preposition — Up to (a certain place)

    preposition — Before (a time).

    conjunction — Before (a condition becoming true).

    preposition — To; physically towards.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • unto

    preposition — Up to, indicating a motion towards a thing and then stopping at it.

    conjunction — Up to the time or degree that; until.

    preposition — To, indicating an indirect object.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

linocut is a perfect pangram — all seven letters, each used exactly once.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • cl×1
  • co×12
  • ic×2
  • in×3
  • io×1
  • li×3
  • lo×4
  • no×5
  • nu×2
  • oc×1
  • on×2
  • ti×2
  • to×2
  • tu×2
  • un×9

Words by first letter and length

45678910Σ
c 1334·11 13
i 212··1· 6
l 4·111·· 7
n 3·2·11· 7
o 11···1· 3
t 23·1··· 6
u 2421··· 9
Σ 1512107241 51

The numbers

Genius today takes 182 points of 260 available. The average answer runs 5.7 letters.

Total points vs. all 419 recorded puzzles
73rd percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
64th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18933 recorded answers

415 today34.4% all-time512 today23.0% all-time610 today20.0% all-time77 today12.0% all-time82 today6.3% all-time94 today2.6% all-time101 today1.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
c Tuesday, September 16, 2025 Tuesday, September 16, 2025
i Saturday, September 13, 2025 Friday, September 12, 2025
l Tuesday, September 16, 2025 Wednesday, August 27, 2025
n ● Tuesday, September 16, 2025 Tuesday, September 9, 2025
o Tuesday, September 16, 2025 Sunday, September 14, 2025
t Monday, September 15, 2025 Monday, August 25, 2025
u Tuesday, September 16, 2025 Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 44
  2. naan 33
  3. nana 33
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 30
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 27
  8. mamma 27
  9. acacia 25
  10. acai 25
  11. nene 25
  12. cocoon 24
  13. loon 24
  14. olio 24
  15. aria 23
  16. imam 23
  17. maim 23
  18. cancan 23
  19. canna 23
  20. mini 23
  21. minim 23
  22. neon 23
  23. none 23
  24. mitt 22
  25. onto 22

Valid words the Bee rejected

Dictionary words the Bee never takes

Legitimate words (per the ENABLE list) that fit the letters but aren't official answers — usually judged too obscure.