The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ADORTUB

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
48
Points
187
Genius
130
Pangrams
2

Official answers

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Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • abbot

    noun — The superior or head of an abbey or monastery.

    noun — The pastor and/or administrator of an order, including minor and major orders starting with the minor order of porter.

    noun — A layman who received the abbey's revenues, after the closing of the monasteries.

    noun — (British slang) A brothel-owner's husband or lover.

    noun — (British slang) A ponce; a man employed by a prostitute to find clients, and who may also act as a bodyguard or equivalent to a bouncer.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • aboard

    adverb — On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car.

    preposition — On board of; onto or into a ship, boat, train, plane.

    adverb — On or onto a horse, a camel, etc.

    adverb — On base.

    adverb — Into a team, group, or company.

    adverb — Alongside.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • abort

    noun — A miscarriage; an untimely birth; an abortion.

    verb — (now rare outside medicine) To miscarry; to bring forth (non-living) offspring prematurely.

    noun — The product of a miscarriage; an aborted offspring; an abortion.

    noun — An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission.

    noun — The function used to abort a process.

    noun — An event involving the abort of a process.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • about

    adjective — Moving around; astir.

    adverb — On all sides; around.

    preposition — In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of.

    adjective — In existence; being in evidence; apparent.

    adjective — Near; in the vicinity or neighbourhood.

    adverb — Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down.

  • abroad

    noun — Countries or lands abroad.

    adverb — Beyond the bounds of a country; in foreign countries.

    preposition — Throughout, over.

    adverb — At large; widely; broadly; over a wide space.

    adverb — Without a certain confine; outside the house; away from one's abode.

    adverb — Before the public at large; throughout society or the world; here and there; moving without restriction.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • abut

    verb — To touch by means of a mutual border, edge or end; to border on; to lie adjacent (to); to be contiguous (said of an area of land)

    verb — To lean against on one end; to end on, of a part of a building or wall.

    verb — To border upon; be next to; abut on; be adjacent to.

  • adobo

    noun — A Philippine dish in which pork or chicken is slowly cooked in a sauce including soy sauce, vinegar, and crushed garlic.

    noun — A marinade.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • arbor

    noun — A shady sitting place or pergola usually in a park or garden, surrounded by climbing shrubs, vines or other vegetation.

    noun — An axis or shaft supporting a rotating part on a lathe.

    noun — A grove of trees.

    noun — A bar for supporting cutting tools.

    noun — A spindle of a wheel.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • baba

    noun — A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.

    noun — (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.

    noun — An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.

    noun — (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.

    noun — (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.

    noun — A baby, child.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • baobab

    noun — A tree, Adansonia digitata (and similar species), native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • barb

    noun — The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.

    verb — To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.

    noun — The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.

    noun — A barbiturate.

    noun — A hurtful or disparaging remark.

    noun — A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • bard

    noun — A professional poet and singer, like among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.

    noun — A piece of defensive (or, sometimes, ornamental) armor for a horse's neck, breast, and flanks; a barb. (Often in the plural.)

    verb — To cover a horse in defensive armor.

    noun — (by extension) A poet.

    noun — Defensive armor formerly worn by a man at arms.

    noun — A thin slice of fat bacon used to cover any meat or game.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • baud

    noun — A unit of data transmission symbol rate; the number of signalling events per second.

    noun — Bps (bits per second), regardless of how many bits are represented by each symbol.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • boar

    noun — A wild boar (Sus scrofa), the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig.

    noun — A male pig.

    noun — A male boar (sense 1).

    noun — A male bear.

    noun — A male guinea pig.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • board

    noun — A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.

    verb — To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance.

    noun — A rebound.

    noun — A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.

    noun — A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.

    noun — Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, message board (on the Internet), etc.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • boat

    noun — A craft used for transportation of goods, fishing, racing, recreational cruising, or military use on or in the water, propelled by oars or outboard motor or inboard motor or by wind.

    verb — To travel by boat.

    noun — A full house.

    noun — A vehicle, utensil, or dish somewhat resembling a boat in shape.

    noun — One of two possible conformations of cyclohexane rings (the other being chair), shaped roughly like a boat.

    noun — The refugee boats arriving in Australian waters, and by extension, refugees generally.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • boba

    noun — Short for boba tea.

    noun — A small edible ball made primarily from tapioca starch; used in bubble tea.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • boob

    noun — Idiot, fool.

    verb — To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.

    adjective — Idiotic, foolish.

    noun — A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent human female.

    noun — A prison; jail.

    verb — To make a mistake

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • booboo

    noun — A mistake or error.

    noun — (by or to young children) A minor injury, such as a cut or a bruise.

    noun — (by or to young children) Feces.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • boor

    noun — A peasant.

    noun — A Boer, white South African of Dutch or Huguenot descent.

    noun — A yokel, country bumpkin.

    noun — An uncultured person.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • boot

    noun — A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg.

    verb — To kick.

    noun — Remedy, amends.

    verb — To avail, benefit, profit.

    noun — The act or process of bootstrapping; the starting or re-starting of a computing device.

    verb — To bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • bout

    noun — A period of something, usually painful or unpleasant.

    verb — To contest a bout.

    preposition — In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of.

    noun — A boxing match.

    noun — An assault (a fencing encounter) at which the score is kept.

    noun — A roller derby match.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • brad

    noun — A thin, small nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head, or occasionally with a small domed head, similar to that of an escutcheon pin.

    verb — To attach using a brad.

    noun — (elementary school usage) A paper fastener, a fastening device formed of thin, soft metal, such as shim brass, with a round head and a flat, split shank, which is spread after insertion in a hole in a stack of pages, in much the same way as a cotter pin or a split rivet.

    verb — To upset the end of a rod inserted in a hole so as to prevent it from being pulled out, as when riveting.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • brat

    noun — A child who is regarded as mischievous, unruly, spoiled, or selfish.

    noun — Bratwurst

    noun — A thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.

    noun — Acronym of Born, Raised, And Transferred.

    noun — A son or daughter (at any age) of an active military service member.

    noun — A turbot or flatfish

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • broad

    noun — A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.

    adjective — Wide in extent or scope.

    noun — A prostitute, a woman of loose morals.

    noun — A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.

    noun — A British gold coin worth 20 shillings, issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.

    adjective — Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • brood

    noun — The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time by the same mother.

    verb — To keep an egg warm to make it hatch.

    adjective — Kept or reared for breeding, said of animals.

    noun — The young of any egg-laying creature, especially if produced at the same time.

    noun — The eggs and larvae of social insects such as bees, ants and some wasps, especially when gathered together in special brood chambers or combs within the colony.

    noun — The children in one family; offspring.

  • brut

    adjective — (of champagne) very dry, and not sweet

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • bubba

    noun — Brother; used as term of familiar address.

    noun — A working-class white male from the southern US, stereotyped as loutish.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • burb

    noun — (chiefly in the plural) A suburb.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • burbot

    noun — A freshwater fish, taxonomic name Lota lota, which is similar to the ling and the cusk and spawns in the winter.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • burr

    noun — A sharp, pointy object, such as a sliver or splinter.

    noun — A rough humming sound.

    verb — To pronounce with a uvular "r".

    noun — A metal ring at the top of the hand-rest on a spear.

    noun — A tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner.

    noun — A bur; a seed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • burrata

    noun — A fresh southern Italian cheese similar to creamy mozzarella.

  • burro

    noun — A small donkey

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • butt

    noun — The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end

    verb — To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.

    noun — A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.

    verb — To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.

    noun — (English units) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun; equivalent to the pipe.

    noun — Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • dartboard

    noun — A board used as a target for throwing darts.

  • daub

    noun — Excrement or clay used as a bonding material in construction.

    verb — To apply (something) to a surface in hasty or crude strokes.

    noun — A soft coating of mud, plaster etc.

    noun — A crude or amateurish painting.

    verb — To paint (a picture, etc.) in a coarse or unskilful manner.

    verb — To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • doubt

    noun — Disbelief or uncertainty (about something); a particular instance of such disbelief or uncertainty.

    verb — To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.

    noun — A point of uncertainty; a query.

    verb — To harbour suspicion about; suspect.

    verb — To anticipate with dread or fear; to apprehend.

    verb — To fill with fear; to affright.

  • drab

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • drub

    noun — Carbonaceous shale; small coal; slate, dross, or rubbish in coal.

    verb — To beat (someone or something) with a stick.

    verb — To defeat someone soundly; to annihilate or crush.

    verb — To forcefully teach something.

    verb — To criticize harshly; to excoriate.

  • outboard

    noun — An outboard motor.

    adjective — Situated outside the hull of a vessel.

    noun — A vessel fitted with an outboard motor.

    noun — A studio having outboard gear (compressor, equalizer, etc.).

    adjective — Positioned away from the centre line of a ship or aircraft.

    adjective — Being or relating to an external effects unit such as compressor or equalizer.

  • robot

    noun — A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.

    noun — An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.

    noun — A person who does not seem to have any emotions.

    noun — A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).

    noun — A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.

    noun — A style of dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • tabard

    noun — A silk banner attached to a bugle or trumpet.

    noun — A woman's or girl's sleeveless jerkin or loose overgarment.

    noun — A sleeveless garment made of coarse cloth formerly worn outdoors by the common people.

    noun — A cape or tunic worn by a knight, emblazoned with the coat of arms of his king or queen on the front.

    noun — A similar garment officially worn by a herald and emblazoned with his sovereign's coat of arms.

  • taboo

    noun — An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.

    verb — To mark as taboo.

    adjective — Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

    noun — (in Polynesia) Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

    verb — To ban.

    verb — To avoid.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • tabor

    noun — A small drum.

    verb — To make (a sound) with a tabor.

    noun — A military train of men and wagons; an encampment of such resources.

    verb — To strike lightly and frequently.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • troubadour

    noun — An itinerant composer and performer of songs in medieval Europe; a jongleur or travelling minstrel.

  • tuba

    noun — A large brass musical instrument, usually in the bass range, played through a vibration of the lips upon the mouthpiece and fingering of the keys.

    noun — A Malayan plant whose roots are a significant source of rotenone, Derris malaccensis.

    noun — A reddish palm wine made from coconut or nipa sap.

    noun — A tube or tubular organ.

    noun — A type of Roman military trumpet, distinct from the modern tuba.

    noun — A large reed stop in organs.

  • turbo

    noun — Turbocharger.

    verb — To autofire.

    adjective — With rapidly-increasing blind levels.

    noun — A turban shell.

    noun — Turbojet.

    noun — Turbomolecular pump.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • turbot

    noun — A species of flatfish native to Europe (Scophthalmus maximus, earlier Psetta maxima).

    noun — Any of various other flatfishes of family Scophthalmidae that are found in marine or brackish waters.

    noun — Triggerfish, Canthidermis sufflamen.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ab×6
  • ad×1
  • ar×1
  • ba×5
  • bo×9
  • br×5
  • bu×7
  • da×2
  • do×1
  • dr×2
  • ou×1
  • ro×1
  • ta×3
  • tr×1
  • tu×3

Words by first letter and length

45678910Σ
a 152···· 8
b 17531··· 26
d 31···1· 5
o ····1·· 1
r ·1····· 1
t 132···1 7
Σ 221571111 48

The numbers

Genius today takes 130 points of 187 available. The average answer runs 5.0 letters.

Total points vs. all 395 recorded puzzles
41st percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
54th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17863 recorded answers

422 today34.6% all-time515 today22.8% all-time67 today19.9% all-time71 today12.0% all-time81 today6.3% all-time91 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
a Monday, July 27, 2026 Friday, July 3, 2026
b ● Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Saturday, July 4, 2026
d Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Thursday, July 16, 2026
o Sunday, July 26, 2026 Sunday, July 26, 2026
r Wednesday, July 22, 2026 Saturday, June 20, 2026
t Monday, July 27, 2026 Wednesday, July 22, 2026
u Thursday, July 23, 2026 Friday, July 17, 2026

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 42
  2. onion 31
  3. naan 30
  4. nana 30
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. acacia 24
  10. acai 24
  11. olio 24
  12. cocoon 23
  13. loon 23
  14. nene 23
  15. bill 22
  16. mini 22
  17. minim 22
  18. neon 22
  19. none 22
  20. lilt 21
  21. till 21
  22. tilt 21
  23. aria 21
  24. imam 21
  25. maim 21

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.