The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ILOPRUN

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Words
29
Points
123
Genius
86
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 29 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • inurn

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • iron

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 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 14 recorded puzzles.

  • 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 14 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 23 recorded puzzles.

  • noir

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • nonillion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 14 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 42 recorded puzzles.

  • nori

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • noun

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 14 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.

  • 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 29 recorded puzzles.

  • opinion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • pillion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • pinion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • pinup

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • pippin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • poplin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • porn

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • porno

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • prion

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • pronoun

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • purloin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • ruin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • union

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • unpin

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • unroll

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • upon

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

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

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • in×1
  • ir×1
  • li×1
  • lo×2
  • no×6
  • nu×1
  • on×1
  • op×1
  • pi×4
  • po×3
  • pr×2
  • pu×1
  • ru×1
  • un×3
  • up×1

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
i 11···· 2
l 3····· 3
n 5···11 7
o ·1·1·· 2
p 1333·· 10
r 1····· 1
u 121··· 4
Σ 1274411 29

The numbers

Genius today takes 86 points of 123 available. The average answer runs 5.2 letters.

Total points vs. all 383 recorded puzzles
12th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
12th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17359 recorded answers

412 today34.7% all-time57 today22.8% all-time64 today19.9% all-time74 today12.1% all-time81 today6.3% all-time91 today2.6% all-time101.2% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
i Tuesday, October 7, 2025 Tuesday, September 30, 2025
l Monday, October 6, 2025 Monday, October 6, 2025
n ● Wednesday, October 8, 2025 Wednesday, October 8, 2025
o Sunday, October 5, 2025 Sunday, September 28, 2025
p Sunday, October 5, 2025 Monday, September 29, 2025
r Tuesday, October 7, 2025 Wednesday, September 10, 2025
u Wednesday, October 8, 2025 Thursday, September 25, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 42
  2. naan 30
  3. nana 30
  4. onion 29
  5. toot 28
  6. loll 28
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. cocoon 23
  10. loon 23
  11. nene 23
  12. acacia 22
  13. acai 22
  14. bill 22
  15. neon 22
  16. none 22
  17. olio 22
  18. aria 21
  19. onto 21
  20. toon 21
  21. cancan 21
  22. canna 21
  23. lull 20
  24. lulu 20
  25. lilt 20

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.