The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ABCIMNE

Friday, December 5, 2025

Words
50
Points
205
Genius
143
Pangrams
2

Official answers

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Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • acme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • acne

    noun — A skin condition, usually of the face, that is common in adolescents. It is characterised by red pimples, and is caused by the inflammation of sebaceous glands through bacterial infection.

    noun — A pattern of blemishes in an area of skin resulting from the skin condition.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • ambiance

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • ambience

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • ameba

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • amebae

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • amebic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • amen

    noun — An instance of saying ‘amen’.

    verb — To say amen.

    adverb — At the end of religious prayers: so be it.

    interjection — An expression of strong agreement. Often, though dated, in the phrase "Amen to that".

    noun — A title of Christ; the Faithful One (especially with reference to Revelation 3:14)

    verb — To say amen to; to ratify solemnly.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • anemia

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • anemic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • anime

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • babe

    noun — A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

    noun — An attractive person, especially a young woman.

    noun — Darling (term of endearment).

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • bane

    noun — A cause of misery or death.

    verb — To kill, especially by poison; to be the poison of.

    noun — Bone

    noun — Poison, especially any of several poisonous plants.

    noun — A killer, murderer, slayer.

    noun — Destruction; death.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • beam

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • bean

    noun — A reusable software component written in Java.

    noun — Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.

    verb — To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

    noun — The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean or garbanzo bean).

    noun — The edible seedpod of such a plant.

    noun — (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such a a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • beanie

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • became

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • been

    noun — A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • biennia

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • cabbie

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • came

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • cane

    noun — A plant with simple stems, like bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem thereof

    noun — The stem of such a plant adapted for use as a tool

    verb — To strike or beat with a cane or similar implement

    noun — A rod-shaped tool or device, somewhat like a cane

    noun — Split rattan, as used in wickerwork, basketry and the like

    verb — To make or furnish with cane or rattan.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • canine

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • cinema

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • emcee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • eminence

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • enema

    noun — An injection of fluid into the large intestine by way of the rectum, usually for medical purposes.

    noun — The fluid so injected.

    noun — A device for administering such an injection.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • iceman

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • icemen

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • imbibe

    verb — To drink (used frequently of alcoholic beverages).

    verb — To take in; absorb.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • imminence

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • inane

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • innie

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 16 recorded puzzles.

  • mace

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • mane

    noun — Longer hair growth on back of neck of an animal, especially a horse or lion

    noun — Long or thick hair of a person's head.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • mean

    verb — To lament.

    verb — To intend.

    adjective — Common; general.

    noun — (now chiefly in the plural) A method or course of action used to achieve some result.

    adjective — Having the mean (see noun below) as its value.

    verb — To convey (a meaning).

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • meanie

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • mecca

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • meme

    noun — Something, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, including quizzes, basic pictures, video templates etc.

    noun — A myth circulating as truth; something ineffective presented as effective, or similar.

    noun — Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.

    verb — To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve something in real life.

    verb — To create and use humorous memes.

    verb — To joke around.

    Appeared in 18 recorded puzzles.

  • menace

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mice

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • mien

    noun — Demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer.

    noun — A specific facial expression.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • mime

    noun — A form of acting without words; pantomime.

    noun — A pantomime actor.

    verb — To act without words.

    verb — To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.

    verb — To mimic.

    noun — A person who mimics others in a comical manner.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • mince

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • mine

    pronoun — My; belonging to me; that which belongs to me.

    noun — A device intended to explode when stepped upon or touched, or when approached by a ship, vehicle, or person.

    noun — An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.

    noun — Any source of wealth or resources.

    verb — To earn new units of cryptocurrency by doing certain calculations.

    noun — A machine or network of machines used to extract units of a cryptocurrency.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • name

    noun — Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing.

    verb — (ditransitive) To give a name to.

    noun — Any of several types of true yam (Dioscorea) used in Caribbean Spanish cooking.

    noun — Reputation.

    noun — An abusive or insulting epithet.

    noun — A person (or legal person).

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • nene

    noun — The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957.

    Appeared in 26 recorded puzzles.

  • nice

    noun — Niceness.

    adjective — Pleasant, satisfactory.

    adverb — Nicely.

    interjection — Used to signify a job well done.

    verb — To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.

    adjective — Of a person: friendly, attractive.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • niece

    noun — A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • nine

    noun — The digit or figure 9.

    numeral — A numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and preceding ten.

    noun — A playing card with nine pips.

    noun — A nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol.

    noun — (usually in the plural) A statistical unit of proportion (of reliability, purity, etc.).

    noun — A baseball club, team, or lineup (composed of nine players).

    Appeared in 16 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ac×2
  • am×6
  • an×3
  • ba×2
  • be×5
  • bi×1
  • ca×4
  • ci×1
  • em×2
  • en×1
  • ic×2
  • im×2
  • in×2
  • ma×2
  • me×5
  • mi×5
  • na×1
  • ne×1
  • ni×3

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 324·2· 11
b 5·21·· 8
c 2·3··· 5
e ·2··1· 3
i ·23··1 6
m 822··· 12
n 41···· 5
Σ 22914131 50

The numbers

Genius today takes 143 points of 205 available. The average answer runs 5.1 letters.

Total points vs. all 427 recorded puzzles
49th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
60th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 19259 recorded answers

422 today34.4% all-time59 today22.9% all-time614 today20.0% all-time71 today12.1% all-time83 today6.3% all-time91 today2.6% all-time101.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
a Thursday, December 4, 2025 Friday, November 28, 2025
b Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Sunday, October 12, 2025
c Wednesday, December 3, 2025 Tuesday, December 2, 2025
e ● Thursday, December 4, 2025 Tuesday, November 25, 2025
i Monday, December 1, 2025 Monday, December 1, 2025
m Wednesday, December 3, 2025 Tuesday, November 18, 2025
n Monday, December 1, 2025 Monday, November 17, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 45
  2. naan 34
  3. nana 34
  4. toot 32
  5. onion 31
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 27
  8. mamma 27
  9. nene 26
  10. acacia 25
  11. acai 25
  12. cocoon 24
  13. onto 24
  14. toon 24
  15. mini 24
  16. minim 24
  17. loon 24
  18. olio 24
  19. aria 23
  20. imam 23
  21. maim 23
  22. mitt 23
  23. cancan 23
  24. canna 23
  25. neon 23

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.