The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

CDEHNUK

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
34
Points
150
Genius
105
Pangrams
2

Official answers

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Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • check

    noun — A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece.

    verb — To inspect; to examine.

    noun — (usually pluralized) A pattern made up of a grid of squares of alternating colors; a checkered pattern.

    verb — To mark with a check pattern.

    adjective — Divided into small squares by transverse, perpendicular, and horizontal lines.

    noun — An inspection or examination.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • checked

    verb — To inspect; to examine.

    verb — To mark with a check pattern.

    adjective — Having a pattern of checks; checkered.

    verb — To verify the accuracy of a text or translation, usually making some corrections (proofread) or many (copyedit).

    verb — (often used with "off") To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example, completed or verified as correct or satisfactory).

    verb — To control, limit, or halt.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • cheek

    noun — The soft skin on each side of the face, below the eyes; the outer surface of the sides of the oral cavity.

    verb — To be impudent towards.

    noun — (usually in the plural) The lower part of the buttocks that is often exposed beneath very brief underwear, swimwear, or extremely short shorts.

    noun — Impudence.

    noun — One of the genae, flat areas on the sides of a trilobite's cephalon.

    noun — One of the pieces of a machine, or of timber or stonework, that form corresponding sides or a similar pair.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • chuck

    noun — Meat from the shoulder of a cow or other animal.

    verb — To place in a chuck, or hold by means of a chuck, as in turning.

    noun — A chicken, a hen.

    verb — To make a clucking sound.

    noun — A gentle touch or tap.

    verb — To touch or tap gently.

  • chucked

    verb — To place in a chuck, or hold by means of a chuck, as in turning.

    verb — To make a clucking sound.

    verb — To touch or tap gently.

    verb — To bore or turn (a hole) in a revolving piece held in a chuck.

    verb — To call, as a hen her chickens.

    verb — To throw, especially in a careless or inaccurate manner.

  • chunk

    noun — A part of something that has been separated.

    verb — To break into large pieces or chunks.

    noun — A representative portion of a substance, often large and irregular.

    noun — A sequence of two or more words that occur in language with high frequency but are not idiomatic; a bundle or cluster.

    noun — A discrete segment of a file, stream, etc. (especially one that represents audiovisual media); a block.

    noun — A segment of a comedian's performance

  • chunked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • cuke

    noun — A cucumber.

    noun — A cucoloris.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • deck

    noun — Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop.

    verb — To furnish with a deck, as a vessel.

    verb — (sometimes with out) To dress (someone) up, to clothe with more than ordinary elegance

    noun — The floorlike covering of the horizontal sections, or compartments, of a ship. Small vessels have only one deck; larger ships have two or three decks.

    noun — A main aeroplane surface, especially of a biplane or multiplane.

    noun — A pack or set of playing cards.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • decked

    verb — To furnish with a deck, as a vessel.

    verb — (sometimes with out) To dress (someone) up, to clothe with more than ordinary elegance

    adjective — Adorned or embellished.

    verb — To knock someone to the floor, especially with a single punch.

    verb — To cause a player to run out of cards to draw and usually lose the game as a result.

    verb — (sometimes with out) To decorate (something).

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • deke

    noun — A feint, fake, or other move made by the player with the puck to deceive a goaltender or defenceman.

    verb — To avoid, go around, or dodge an object, person, or conversation topic; often by using trickery.

    noun — As in hockey, a fake or other move to confuse other players on a team.

    noun — A quick detour.

    verb — To execute a deke in ice hockey or other sports.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • deked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • duck

    verb — To quickly lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.

    noun — An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.

    noun — A person or thing that is helpless, inefficient or disabled.

    noun — A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.

    noun — A term of endearment; pet; darling.

    verb — To quickly lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • ducked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • duke

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • duked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • dunk

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • dunked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • eked

    verb — Chiefly in the form eke out: to add to, to augment; to increase; to lengthen.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • heck

    noun — Hell.

    noun — The bolt or latch of a door.

    noun — A rack for cattle to feed at.

    noun — A door, especially one partly of latticework.

    noun — A latticework contrivance for catching fish.

    noun — An apparatus for separating the threads of warps into sets, as they are wound upon the reel from the bobbins, in a warping machine.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • hunk

    noun — A large or dense piece of something.

    noun — A goal or base in children's games.

    noun — A sexually attractive boy or man, especially one who is muscular.

    noun — A record of differences between almost contiguous portions of two files (or other sources of information). Differences that are widely separated by areas which are identical in both files would not be part of a single hunk. Differences that are separated by small regions which are identical in both files may comprise a single hunk. Patches are made up of hunks.

    noun — A honyock.

  • keen

    adjective — Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.

    adjective — Having a fine edge or point; sharp.

    adjective — Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.

    adjective — Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.

    adjective — Fierce, intense, vehement.

    adjective — Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • keened

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • knee

    noun — In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.

    noun — The part of a garment that covers the knee.

    noun — An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.

    verb — To poke or strike with the knee.

    verb — To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.

    noun — A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • kneed

    verb — To kneel to.

    adjective — Having a knee or knees, or, in combination, the stated type of knee or knees.

    verb — To poke or strike with the knee.

    verb — To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.

    adjective — Having angular joints like the knee.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • kudu

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • neck

    noun — The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.

    verb — To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate

    noun — The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.

    noun — The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.

    noun — The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.

    noun — The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • necked

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • nuke

    noun — A nuclear weapon.

    verb — To use a nuclear weapon on a target.

    noun — A nucleus colony; a small bee colony created from a larger colony.

    noun — The spinal cord.

    noun — A small corner formed by two walls; an alcove.

    noun — (by extension) Something that destroys or negates, especially on a catastrophic scale.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • nuked

    verb — To use a nuclear weapon on a target.

    verb — To destroy or erase completely.

    verb — (by extension) To carry out a denial-of-service attack against (an IRC user).

    verb — To expose to some form of radiation.

    verb — To cook in a microwave oven.

    verb — To over-analyze or overly despair over something.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • nunchuck

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • nunchuk

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • uncheck

    verb — To remove a checkmark.

    verb — (travel) To remove a previously checked-in passenger from the check-in system, allowing changes to the ticket.

  • unchecked

    adjective — Unrestrained, not held back.

    verb — To remove a checkmark.

    adjective — Not examined for accuracy, efficiency, etc.

    adjective — Of a check box: not checked (ticked or enabled).

    adjective — (crossword puzzles) Of a square: part of only one entry (that is, across or down, but not both).

    verb — (travel) To remove a previously checked-in passenger from the check-in system, allowing changes to the ticket.

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

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ch×7
  • cu×1
  • de×4
  • du×6
  • ek×1
  • he×1
  • hu×1
  • ke×2
  • kn×2
  • ku×1
  • ne×2
  • nu×4
  • un×2

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
c 14·3·· 8
d 523··· 10
e 1····· 1
h 2····· 2
k 311··· 5
n 21111· 6
u ···1·1 2
Σ 1485511 34

The numbers

Genius today takes 105 points of 150 available. The average answer runs 5.2 letters.

Total points vs. all 425 recorded puzzles
24th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
24th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 19174 recorded answers

414 today34.4% all-time58 today23.0% all-time65 today20.0% all-time75 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
c Saturday, August 22, 2026 Sunday, August 16, 2026
d Monday, August 24, 2026 Thursday, August 6, 2026
e Sunday, August 23, 2026 Friday, July 10, 2026
h Friday, August 21, 2026 Sunday, August 9, 2026
k ● Wednesday, August 5, 2026 Friday, July 24, 2026
n Tuesday, August 25, 2026 Monday, August 24, 2026
u Tuesday, August 25, 2026 Friday, August 21, 2026

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

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