The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

AHMPTYE

Monday, October 12, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
55
Points
183
Genius
128
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 55 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • ahem

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • attempt

    noun — The action of trying at something.

    verb — To try.

    noun — An assault or attack, especially an assassination attempt.

    verb — To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.

    verb — To try to win, subdue, or overcome.

    verb — To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • empath

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • empathy

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • empty

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • epee

    noun — A sharp-pointed dueling sword with a bell-shaped guard, used (with the end blunted) in sport fencing.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • eyeteeth

    noun — A canine tooth of the upper jaw in humans.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • hamate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • hate

    noun — An object of hatred.

    verb — To dislike intensely or greatly.

    noun — Hatred.

    noun — Negative feedback, abusive behaviour.

    verb — To experience hatred.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • heap

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • heat

    noun — Thermal energy.

    verb — To cause an increase in temperature of (an object or space); to cause to become hot (often with "up").

    noun — The condition or quality of being hot.

    noun — An attribute of a spice that causes a burning sensation in the mouth.

    noun — A period of intensity, particularly of emotion.

    noun — An undesirable amount of attention.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • heath

    noun — A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.

    noun — Any small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae.

    noun — Certain butterflies and moths

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • heme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • hemp

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • hype

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • mate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • matey

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • matte

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • mayhem

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • meat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • meaty

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • meet

    verb — To make contact (with) while in proximity.

    verb — To make physical or perceptual contact.

    verb — To satisfy; to comply with.

    noun — A meeting.

    noun — A sports competition, especially for track and field (a track meet) or swimming (a swim meet).

    verb — (Of groups) To come together.

    Appeared in 17 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 19 recorded puzzles.

  • meta

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • mete

    verb — (usually with “out”) To dispense, measure (out), allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).

    verb — To measure.

    adjective — Suitable; right; proper.

    noun — A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • meth

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • pate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • payee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • peat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • peaty

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • peep

    verb — To look, especially through a narrow opening, or while trying not to be seen or noticed.

    noun — A quick look or glimpse, especially a furtive one.

    noun — A quiet sound, particularly one from a baby bird.

    verb — To make a soft, shrill noise like a baby bird.

    noun — A feeble utterance or complaint.

    verb — To begin to appear; to look forth from concealment; to make the first appearance.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • peppy

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • petty

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • tame

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • tape

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • tappet

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • team

    noun — A set of draught animals, such as two horses in front of a carriage.

    verb — To form a group, as for sports or work.

    noun — Any group of people involved in the same activity, especially sports or work.

    noun — A group of animals moving together, especially young ducks.

    noun — A royalty or privilege granted by royal charter to a lord of a manor, of having, keeping, and judging in his court, his bondmen, neifes, and villains, and their offspring, or suit, that is, goods and chattels, and appurtenances thereto.

    verb — (by extension) To go together well; to harmonize.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • teammate

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • teat

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • teem

    verb — To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.

    verb — To be stocked to overflowing.

    verb — To pour (especially with rain)

    Appeared in 17 recorded puzzles.

  • teepee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • teeth

    noun — The ability to be enforced, or to be enforced to any useful effect.

    verb — To grow teeth.

    noun — A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for eating.

    verb — To bite on something to relieve discomfort caused by growing teeth.

    noun — A sharp projection on the blade of a saw or similar implement.

    noun — A projection on the edge of a gear that meshes with similar projections on adjacent gears, or on the circumference of a cog that engages with a chain.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • teethe

    verb — To grow teeth.

    verb — To bite on something to relieve discomfort caused by growing teeth.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • temp

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • tempeh

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • tempt

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • tepee

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • thee

    verb — To address (a person) using the pronoun thee.

    pronoun — Objective and reflexive case of thou.

    verb — To thrive; prosper.

    noun — The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.

    verb — To use the word thee.

    pronoun — Thou.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • them

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • theme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • theta

    noun — The eighth letter of the Modern Greek alphabet, ninth in Old Greek: Θ, θ.

    noun — The measure of an angle.

    noun — The sensitivity of the value of a derivative with respect to time; the "time decay".

    noun — Designating a level of brain activity as measured by electroencephalography having a frequency of between four and seven cycles per second (associated with drowsiness in adults).

    noun — The voiceless dental fricative represented by θ.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • they

    pronoun — (the third-person plural) A group of people, animals, plants or objects previously mentioned.

    pronoun — There (especially as an expletive subject of be).

    pronoun — (the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender, but typically not if previously named and identified as male or female.

    pronoun — (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • thyme

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • type

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • yeah

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

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

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ah×1
  • at×1
  • em×3
  • ep×1
  • ey×1
  • ha×2
  • he×5
  • hy×1
  • ma×4
  • me×7
  • pa×2
  • pe×5
  • ta×3
  • te×11
  • th×6
  • ty×1
  • ye×1

Words by first letter and length

45678Σ
a 1··1· 2
e 11111 5
h 611·· 8
m 731·· 11
p 34··· 7
t 1064·1 21
y 1···· 1
Σ 2915722 55

The numbers

Genius today takes 128 points of 183 available. The average answer runs 4.8 letters.

Total points vs. all 470 recorded puzzles
39th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
71st percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 21286 recorded answers

429 today34.4% all-time515 today22.8% all-time67 today20.2% all-time72 today12.1% all-time82 today6.3% all-time92.6% 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
a Sunday, October 11, 2026 Wednesday, October 7, 2026
e ● Friday, October 9, 2026 Sunday, August 30, 2026
h Thursday, October 8, 2026 Thursday, October 1, 2026
m Saturday, October 10, 2026 Thursday, September 17, 2026
p Sunday, October 4, 2026 Wednesday, September 30, 2026
t Sunday, October 11, 2026 Friday, October 2, 2026
y Friday, October 9, 2026 Friday, October 9, 2026

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 47
  2. naan 39
  3. nana 39
  4. onion 33
  5. toot 33
  6. acacia 30
  7. acai 30
  8. loll 30
  9. mama 29
  10. mamma 29
  11. nene 29
  12. mini 27
  13. minim 27
  14. imam 26
  15. maim 26
  16. onto 26
  17. toon 26
  18. cancan 26
  19. canna 26
  20. cocoon 25
  21. lilt 25
  22. till 25
  23. tilt 25
  24. mitt 25
  25. natant 25

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.