The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

AILOPTM

Friday, July 31, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
48
Points
164
Genius
114
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 48 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • ammo

    noun — Ammunition.

    verb — To load up on ammunition.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • atom

    noun — The smallest possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.

    noun — (history of science) A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.

    noun — The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something.

    noun — In logical atomism, a fundamental fact that cannot be further broken down.

    noun — The smallest medieval unit of time, equal to fifteen ninety-fourths of a second.

    noun — A mote of dust in a sunbeam.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • imam

    noun — (usually capitalized) A Shi'ite Muslim leader.

    noun — One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • impala

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lama

    noun — A master of Tibetan Buddhism.

    noun — A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • lamp

    noun — A device that generates heat, light or other radiation. Especially an electric light bulb.

    verb — To hit, clout, belt, wallop.

    noun — A device containing oil, burnt through a wick for illumination; an oil lamp.

    noun — A piece of furniture holding one or more electric light sockets.

    verb — To hunt at night using a lamp; see lamping.

    verb — To hang out or chill; to do nothing in particular.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • lima

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • limit

    noun — A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.

    verb — To restrict; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries.

    noun — The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.

    noun — A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.

    noun — A value to which a sequence converges. Equivalently, the common value of the upper limit and the lower limit of a sequence: if the upper and lower limits are different, then the sequence has no limit (i.e., does not converge).

    noun — (as "the limit") A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • limo

    noun — An automobile body with seats and permanent top like a coupe, and with the top projecting over the driver and a projecting front.

    noun — An automobile with such a body.

    noun — A luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur.

    noun — An automobile for transportation to or from an airport, including sedans, vans, and buses.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • limp

    noun — An irregular, jerky or awkward gait.

    verb — To walk lamely, as if favouring one leg.

    noun — A scraper of board or sheet-iron shaped like half the head of a small cask, used for scraping the ore off the sieve in the operation of hand-jigging.

    verb — To be inadequate or unsatisfactory.

    adjective — Flaccid; flabby, like flesh.

    verb — To happen; befall; chance.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • lipoma

    noun — A nonmalignant tumor comprising fat cells.

  • llama

    noun — A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • loam

    noun — A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.

    verb — To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

    adjective — Made of loam; consisting of loam.

    noun — A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • loom

    noun — A utensil; tool; a weapon; (usually in compound) an article in general.

    noun — Loon (bird of order Gaviiformes)

    noun — A distorted appearance of something as seen indistinctly or from afar.

    verb — To appear indistinctly, eg. when seen on the horizon or through the murk.

    noun — A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making.

    noun — The part of an oar which is between the grip or handle and the blade, the shaft.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • mail

    noun — A bag or wallet.

    verb — (ditransitive) To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.

    noun — Armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together.

    verb — To arm with mail.

    noun — An old French coin worth half a denier.

    noun — A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • maillot

    noun — A one-piece swimsuit (for women)

    noun — A leotard or tights of stretchable jersey fabric, generally worn by dancers and gymnasts.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • maim

    noun — A serious wound

    verb — To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.

    Appeared in 22 recorded puzzles.

  • mall

    noun — A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.

    verb — To beat with a mall, or mallet; to beat with something heavy; to bruise

    noun — An enclosed shopping centre.

    noun — An alley where the game of pall mall was played.

    noun — A public walk; a level shaded walk, a promenade.

    noun — A heavy wooden mallet or hammer used in the game of pall mall.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • malt

    noun — Malted grain (sprouted grain) (usually barley), used in brewing and otherwise.

    verb — To convert a cereal grain into malt by causing it to sprout (by soaking in water) and then halting germination (by drying with hot air) in order to develop enzymes that can break down starches and proteins in the grain.

    noun — Malt liquor, especially malt whisky.

    noun — A milkshake with malted milk powder added for flavor.

    noun — Maltose-rich sugar derived from malted grain.

    verb — To become malt.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • mama

    noun — (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

    Appeared in 26 recorded puzzles.

  • mamma

    noun — The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder. (plural: mammae)

    noun — (hypocoristic, usually childish) Mother, female parent.

    noun — An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera

    Appeared in 26 recorded puzzles.

  • mammal

    noun — An animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair and feeding milk to its young.

    noun — A vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • militia

    noun — An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which may also be called upon, or a private force not under government control.

    noun — The police in the Soviet Union and some related or successor states (e.g. modern Belarus).

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • mill

    noun — A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc.

    verb — (followed by around, about, etc.) To move about in an aimless fashion.

    noun — A manufacturing plant for paper, steel, textiles, etc.

    noun — An establishment that handles a certain type of situation or procedure routinely, or produces large quantities of an item without much regard to quality, such as a divorce mill, a puppy mill, etc.

    noun — An institution awarding educational certificates not officially recognised

    noun — The building housing such a grinding apparatus.

    Appeared in 16 recorded puzzles.

  • mitt

    noun — An oversized, protective glove such as an oven mitt or a baseball mitt.

    noun — A mitten

    noun — (especially in plural) A hand.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • moat

    noun — A deep, wide defensive ditch, normally filled with water, surrounding a fortified habitation.

    verb — To surround with a moat.

    noun — An aspect of a business which makes it more "defensible" from competitors, either because of the nature of its products, services, franchise or other reason.

    noun — A circular lowland between a resurgent dome and the walls of the caldera surrounding it.

    noun — A hill or mound.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • moil

    noun — Hard work.

    verb — To toil, to work hard.

    noun — The glass circling the tip of a blowpipe or punty, such as the residual glass after detaching a blown vessel, or the lower part of a gather.

    noun — Confusion, turmoil.

    noun — A spot; a defilement.

    verb — To churn continually; to swirl.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • moll

    noun — A female companion of a gangster, especially a former or current prostitute.

    adjective — Minor; in the minor mode

    noun — A prostitute or woman with loose sexual morals.

    noun — Bitch, slut; an insulting epithet applied to a female.

    noun — A girlfriend of a bikie.

    noun — A girlfriend of a surfie; blends with pejorative sense.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • molt

    noun — The process of shedding or losing a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.

    verb — To shed or lose a covering of hair or fur, feathers, skin, horns, etc, and replace it with a fresh one.

    verb — To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.

    noun — The skin or feathers cast off during the process of moulting.

    verb — To shed in such a manner.

    verb — To dissolve, disperse, vanish.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • momma

    noun — Mother

    noun — A voluptuous woman.

    noun — One's wife or girlfriend.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • moola

    noun — Money, cash.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • moot

    noun — A moot court.

    adjective — Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.

    noun — A whisper, or an insinuation, also gossip or rumors.

    verb — To bring up as a subject for debate, to propose.

    noun — Vagina.

    noun — The stump of a tree; the roots and bottom end of a felled tree.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • motto

    noun — A sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement.

    noun — A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.

    noun — A paper packet containing a sweetmeat, cracker, etc., together with a scrap of paper bearing a motto.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • omit

    verb — To leave out or exclude.

    verb — To fail to perform.

    verb — To neglect or take no notice of.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • optima

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • optimal

    noun — The best of its kind

    adjective — The best, most favourable or desirable, especially under some restriction.

    adjective — Describing a search algorithm that always returns the best result.

  • palm

    noun — Any of various evergreen trees from the family Palmae or Arecaceae, which are mainly found in the tropics.

    noun — The inner and somewhat concave part of the human hand that extends from the wrist to the bases of the fingers.

    verb — To hold or conceal something in the palm of the hand, e.g, for an act of sleight of hand or to steal something.

    noun — A branch or leaf of the palm, anciently borne or worn as a symbol of victory or rejoicing.

    noun — (by extension) Triumph; victory.

    noun — Any of 23 awards that can be earned after obtaining the Eagle Scout rank, but generally only before turning 18 years old.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • pampa

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • papilloma

    noun — An epithelial tumour, usually benign, with the appearance of a papilla

  • pimp

    noun — Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.

    verb — To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.

    adjective — Excellent, fashionable, stylish

    numeral — Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting

    noun — A man who can easily attract women.

    verb — To prostitute someone.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • pomp

    noun — Show of magnificence; parade; display; power.

    verb — To make a pompous display; to conduct.

    noun — A procession distinguished by ostentation and splendor; a pageant.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • pompom

    noun — A decorative ball made of pieces of soft fabric bound at the centre, most notably used in cheerleading.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • taillamp

    noun — A taillight.

  • tamp

    verb — (blasting) To plug up with clay, earth, dry sand, sod, or other material, as a hole bored in a rock.

    verb — To drive in or pack down by frequent gentle strokes

    verb — To reduce the intensity of.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • tatami

    noun — Straw matting, in a standard size, used as a floor covering in Japanese houses

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • tomatillo

    noun — A plant of the nightshade family originating in Mexico, Physalis philadelphica, cultivated for its tomato-like green to green-purple fruit surrounded by a thin papery skin.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • tomato

    noun — A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.

    verb — To pelt with tomatoes

    noun — The savory fruit of this plant, red when ripe, treated as a vegetable in horticulture and cooking.

    noun — A shade of red, the colour of a ripe tomato.

    noun — A desirable-looking woman.

    noun — A stupid act or person.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • tomtit

    noun — Petroica macrocephala, the miromiro or New Zealand tit, a bird of the Petroicidae (Australasian robin) family.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

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

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • am×1
  • at×1
  • im×2
  • la×2
  • li×5
  • ll×1
  • lo×2
  • ma×8
  • mi×3
  • mo×8
  • om×1
  • op×2
  • pa×3
  • pi×1
  • po×2
  • ta×3
  • to×3

Words by first letter and length

456789Σ
a 2····· 2
i 1·1··· 2
l 721··· 10
m 12412·· 19
o 1·11·· 3
p 311··1 6
t 1·3·11 6
Σ 2778312 48

The numbers

Genius today takes 114 points of 164 available. The average answer runs 5.0 letters.

Total points vs. all 397 recorded puzzles
30th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
54th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17939 recorded answers

427 today34.7% all-time57 today22.8% all-time68 today19.9% all-time73 today12.0% all-time81 today6.3% all-time92 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 Wednesday, July 29, 2026 Friday, July 3, 2026
i Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Monday, July 27, 2026
l Sunday, July 26, 2026 Tuesday, June 2, 2026
m ● Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Tuesday, July 28, 2026
o Thursday, July 30, 2026 Sunday, July 26, 2026
p Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Tuesday, July 7, 2026
t Thursday, July 30, 2026 Wednesday, July 22, 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 26
  8. mamma 26
  9. acacia 24
  10. acai 24
  11. olio 24
  12. cocoon 23
  13. loon 23
  14. nene 23
  15. imam 22
  16. maim 22
  17. bill 22
  18. mini 22
  19. minim 22
  20. neon 22
  21. none 22
  22. lilt 21
  23. till 21
  24. tilt 21
  25. aria 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.