The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

ACDHKRT

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
34
Points
145
Genius
101
Pangram
1

Official answers

Show the 34 answersHide answers

Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • arhat

    noun — One who has attained enlightenment; a Buddhist saint.

    noun — One of the stages of the ascetic's spiritual evolution, when all passions (anger, ego, deception, greed, attachment, hatred and ignorance) are destroyed; arhanta.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • attach

    verb — To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).

    verb — To adhere; to be attached.

    verb — To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest.

    verb — To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to.

    verb — To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to.

    verb — To take, seize, or lay hold of.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • attack

    noun — An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of opponent or enemy.

    verb — To apply violent force to someone or something.

    noun — An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault.

    noun — A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle.

    noun — (by extension) The beginning of active operations on anything.

    noun — An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • attar

    noun — An essential oil extracted from flowers.

    noun — A perfume made from this oil.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • attract

    verb — To pull toward without touching.

    verb — To arouse interest.

    verb — To draw by moral, emotional or sexual influence; to engage or fix, as the mind, attention, etc.; to invite or allure.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • carat

    noun — A unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 200 milligrams.

    noun — Any of several units of weight, varying from 189 to 212 mg, the weight of a carob seed.

    noun — A measure of the purity of gold, pure gold being 24 carats.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cart

    noun — A small, open, wheeled vehicle, drawn or pushed by a person or animal, more often used for transporting goods than passengers.

    verb — To carry goods.

    noun — A tape cartridge used for pre-recorded material such as jingles and advertisements.

    noun — A small motor vehicle resembling a car; a go-cart.

    noun — A shopping cart.

    verb — To carry or convey in a cart.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cataract

    noun — A waterspout

    noun — A large waterfall; steep rapids in a river.

    noun — A flood of water

    noun — An overwhelming downpour or rush

    noun — A clouding of the lens in the eye leading to a decrease in vision.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • catarrh

    noun — Inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat.

    noun — A discharge of fluid associated with this condition.

  • catch

    noun — The act of seizing or capturing.

    verb — (heading) To capture, overtake.

    noun — The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball.

    noun — The act of noticing, understanding or hearing.

    noun — The game of catching a ball.

    noun — Something which is captured or caught.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • chart

    noun — A map.

    verb — To draw a chart or map of.

    noun — A systematic non-narrative presentation of data.

    noun — A written deed; a charter.

    noun — A subspace of a manifold used as part of an atlas

    verb — To draw or figure out (a route or plan).

  • chat

    noun — Informal conversation.

    verb — To be engaged in informal conversation.

    noun — A small potato, such as is given to swine.

    noun — (local use) Mining waste from lead and zinc mines.

    noun — A louse (small, parasitic insect).

    noun — Any savory snack, sold from a roadside stall in India, or served as a starter in an Indian restaurant

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • dart

    noun — A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand, for example a short lance or javelin

    verb — To throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch.

    noun — Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.

    noun — (sometimes figurative) Anything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.

    noun — A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts.

    noun — A dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • data

    noun — (plural: data) A measurement of something on a scale understood by both the recorder (a person or device) and the reader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply true or false, on or off, yes, no, or maybe, etc.

    noun — (plural: data) A fact known from direct observation.

    noun — (plural: data) A premise from which conclusions are drawn.

    noun — (plural: datums) A fixed reference point, or a coordinate system.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • drat

    verb — To damn or curse.

    interjection — Expressing anger, annoyance or frustration.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • hardhat

    noun — A helmet, usually made from rigid plastic, used on construction sites to protect the head from falling objects.

    noun — A person who wears a hard hat, such as a construction worker.

  • hardtack

    noun — A large, hard biscuit made from unleavened flour and water; formerly used as a long-term staple food aboard ships.

  • hart

    noun — A male deer, especially the male of the red deer after his fifth year.

    noun — A muscular organ that pumps blood through the body, traditionally thought to be the seat of emotion.

    noun — A red deer or one of related species.

    noun — Emotions, kindness, moral effort, or spirit in general.

    noun — The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, etc.; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; usually in a good sense; personality.

    noun — Courage; courageous purpose; spirit.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • hatch

    noun — A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.

    verb — To close with a hatch or hatches.

    noun — The act of hatching.

    verb — (of young animals) To emerge from an egg.

    verb — To shade an area of (a drawing, diagram, etc.) with fine parallel lines, or with lines which cross each other (cross-hatch).

    noun — A trapdoor.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • hath

    verb — To possess, own.

    verb — To hold, as something at someone's disposal.

    verb — Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.

    verb — To partake of (a particular substance, especially food or drink, or action or activity).

    verb — To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.

    verb — To experience, go through, undergo.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • hatha

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • hatrack

    noun — A piece of furniture used to store hats and clothing, consisting of a pole with pegs on a moderately broad base; a hatstand.

  • karat

    noun — A unit of fineness or concentration of gold equalling 1/24 part of gold in an alloy.

  • kart

    noun — A go-cart.

    verb — To ride in a go-cart.

  • ratatat

    noun — A swiftly repeated knocking sound.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • tach

    noun — Tachometer

    noun — (costers) A hat.

    noun — Tachycardia.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • tack

    noun — A small nail with a flat head.

    verb — To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).

    noun — A stain; a tache.

    noun — That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.

    noun — A thumbtack.

    noun — A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • tact

    noun — The sense of touch; feeling.

    verb — To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).

    noun — A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.

    noun — The stroke in beating time.

    noun — Sensitive mental touch; special skill or faculty; keen perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances; the ability to say the right thing.

    noun — A verbal operant which is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise).

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • tart

    adjective — Sharp to the taste; acid; sour.

    noun — A type of small open pie, or piece of pastry, containing jelly or conserve; a sort of fruit pie.

    noun — A prostitute.

    verb — To practice prostitution

    adjective — (of wine) high or too high in acidity.

    adjective — Sharp; keen; severe.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • tartar

    noun — A red compound deposited during wine making; mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate - a source of cream of tartar.

    noun — A fearsome or angrily violent person.

    noun — A hard yellow deposit on the teeth.

    Appeared in 13 recorded puzzles.

  • that

    noun — Something being indicated that is there; one of those.

    adverb — (degree) To a given extent or degree.

    pronoun — (demonstrative) The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action or time indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote geographically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "this", or if expressing distinction.

    conjunction — Introducing a clause which is the subject or object of a verb (such as one involving reported speech), or which is a complement to a previous statement.

    adverb — (degree) To a great extent or degree; very, particularly (in negative constructions).

    adverb — To such an extent; so. (in positive constructions).

    Appeared in 9 recorded puzzles.

  • thatch

    noun — Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain.

    verb — To cover the roof with straw, reed, leaves, etc.

    noun — Any of several kinds of palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching.

    noun — A buildup of cut grass, stolons or other material on the soil in a lawn.

    noun — (by extension) Any straw-like material, such as a person's hair.

    Appeared in 3 recorded puzzles.

  • track

    noun — A mark left by something that has passed along.

    verb — To continue over time.

    noun — A mark or impression left by the foot, either of man or animal.

    noun — The entire lower surface of the foot; said of birds, etc.

    noun — A road or other similar beaten path.

    noun — Physical course; way.

  • tract

    noun — An area or expanse.

    verb — To pursue, follow; to track.

    noun — A series of connected body organs, as in the digestive tract.

    noun — A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.

    noun — A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.

    noun — A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ar×1
  • at×4
  • ca×5
  • ch×2
  • da×2
  • dr×1
  • ha×7
  • ka×2
  • ra×1
  • ta×5
  • th×2
  • tr×2

Words by first letter and length

45678Σ
a ·221· 5
c 23·11 7
d 3···· 3
h 22·21 7
k 11··· 2
r ···1· 1
t 522·· 9
Σ 1310452 34

The numbers

Genius today takes 101 points of 145 available. The average answer runs 5.2 letters.

Total points vs. all 388 recorded puzzles
21st percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
24th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17558 recorded answers

413 today34.6% all-time510 today22.8% all-time64 today19.9% all-time75 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 Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Friday, July 3, 2026
c Saturday, July 18, 2026 Saturday, July 18, 2026
d Thursday, July 16, 2026 Thursday, July 16, 2026
h Monday, July 20, 2026 Monday, June 15, 2026
k Sunday, July 12, 2026 Sunday, July 12, 2026
r Thursday, July 16, 2026 Saturday, June 20, 2026
t ● Monday, July 20, 2026 Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 42
  2. onion 30
  3. naan 30
  4. nana 30
  5. toot 28
  6. loll 28
  7. mama 25
  8. mamma 25
  9. cocoon 23
  10. acacia 23
  11. acai 23
  12. loon 23
  13. nene 23
  14. olio 23
  15. bill 22
  16. neon 22
  17. none 22
  18. lilt 21
  19. till 21
  20. tilt 21
  21. aria 21
  22. onto 21
  23. toon 21
  24. cancan 21
  25. canna 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.