The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

EGNOTUH

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Edited by Sam Ezersky

Words
28
Points
122
Genius
85
Pangram
1

Official answers

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Pangram highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • enough

    adverb — Sufficiently.

    pronoun — A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.

    interjection — Stop! Don't do that any more!

    adverb — Fully; quite; used to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.

  • ghee

    noun — A type of clarified butter used in South Asian cooking; usli ghee.

    noun — Vegetable oil for cooking.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • ghetto

    noun — An (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.)

    verb — To confine (a specified group of people) to a ghetto.

    adjective — Of or relating to a ghetto or to ghettos in general.

    noun — An (often impoverished) area of a city inhabited predominantly by members of a specific nationality, ethnicity or race.

    noun — An area in which people who are distinguished by sharing something other than ethnicity concentrate or are concentrated.

    noun — (sometimes derogatory) An isolated, self-contained, segregated subsection, area or field of interest; often of minority or specialist interest.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • goth

    noun — A punk-derived subculture of people who predominantly dress in black, associated with mournful music and attitudes.

    adjective — Relating to this music or these people.

    noun — A style of punk rock influenced by glam rock; gothic rock.

    noun — A person who is part of the goth subculture.

    Appeared in 5 recorded puzzles.

  • henge

    noun — A prehistoric enclosure in the form of a circle or circular arc defined by a raised circular bank and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank, with one or more entrances leading into the enclosed open space.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • hone

    noun — A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.

    verb — To sharpen with a hone; to whet.

    noun — A kind of swelling in the cheek.

    verb — To grumble.

    noun — A machine tool used in the manufacture of precision bores.

    verb — To use a hone to produce a precision bore.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • hoot

    noun — A derisive cry or shout.

    verb — To cry out or shout in contempt.

    noun — The cry of an owl.

    noun — A fun event or person. (See hootenanny)

    noun — A small particle.

    verb — To make the cry of an owl, a hoo.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • huge

    adjective — Very large.

    adjective — Distinctly interesting, significant, important, likeable, well regarded.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hung

    verb — To be or remain suspended.

    adjective — Suspended by hanging.

    verb — To float, as if suspended.

    verb — (of a ball in cricket, tennis, etc.) To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of the ground.

    verb — To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.

    verb — To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger, hinges or the like.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • hunt

    noun — The act of hunting.

    verb — To find or search for an animal in the wild with the intention of killing the animal for its meat or for sport.

    noun — A hunting expedition.

    noun — An organization devoted to hunting, or the people belonging to it.

    noun — A pack of hunting dogs.

    verb — To try to find something; search (for).

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • nought

    noun — Nothing; something which does not exist.

    verb — To abase, to set at nought.

    adjective — Good for nothing; worthless.

    adverb — To no extent; in no way; not at all.

    pronoun — Nothing; zero.

    noun — A thing or person of no worth or value; nil.

  • ought

    noun — Property; possession

    noun — Duty; place; office

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • outthought

    verb — To best an opponent by thinking.

    Appeared in 4 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 6 recorded puzzles.

  • teethe

    verb — To grow teeth.

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

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • tenth

    noun — The person or thing coming next after the ninth in a series; that which is in the tenth position.

    verb — To divide by ten, into tenths.

    adjective — The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth.

    noun — One of ten equal parts of a whole.

    noun — The interval between any tone and the tone represented on the tenth degree of the staff above it, as between one of the scale and three of the octave above; the octave of the third.

    noun — (in the plural) A temporary aid issuing out of personal property, and granted to the king by Parliament; formerly, the real tenth part of all the movables belonging to the subject.

  • 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 6 recorded puzzles.

  • then

    conjunction — Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.

    noun — That time

    adjective — Being so at that time.

    adverb — (temporal location) At that time.

    conjunction — (obsolete outside dialectal, usually used with for) Because; for.

    adverb — (temporal location) Soon afterward.

  • thong

    noun — A strip of leather.

    noun — (usually in the plural) An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.

    noun — An undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.

    noun — The largest section of a bullwhip constructed of many straps of braided leather.

  • thou

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • though

    adverb — Despite that; however.

    conjunction — Despite the fact that; although.

    adverb — (degree) Used to intensify statements or questions; indeed.

    conjunction — If, that, even if.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • thought

    verb — To ponder, to go over in one's head.

    verb — To seem, to appear.

    noun — Form created in the mind, rather than the forms perceived through the five senses; an instance of thinking.

    verb — To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.

    verb — To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of; infrequently, by on).

    verb — To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • thug

    noun — Someone with an intimidating and unseemly appearance and mannerisms, who treats others violently and roughly, often for hire.

    verb — To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, or to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of someone who does.

    noun — One of a band of assassins formerly active in northern India who worshipped Kali and offered their victims to her.

    noun — In gardening, an over-vigorous plant that spreads and dominates the flowerbed.

    noun — A punk; a hoodlum; a hooligan.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • tooth

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

    verb — To provide or furnish with 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.

    noun — A projection or point in other parts of the body resembling the tooth of a vertebrate animal.

    noun — A pointed projection from the margin of a leaf.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • tough

    noun — A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

    verb — To endure.

    adjective — Strong and resilient; sturdy.

    interjection — Used to indicate lack of sympathy

    verb — To toughen.

    adjective — (of food) Difficult to cut or chew.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • toughen

    verb — To make tough.

    verb — To become tough.

  • unhung

    adjective — (of a person) Not (yet) executed by hanging; unhanged.

    adjective — (of a painting) Not selected for exhibition.

    adjective — (of game) Cooked without being hung to mature.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • unthought

    verb — To undo the process of thinking.

    noun — That which has not been (yet) thought; that which has yet to enter into the mind; a non-existent thought.

    adjective — Not having been thought.

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

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • en×1
  • gh×2
  • go×1
  • he×1
  • ho×2
  • hu×3
  • no×1
  • ou×2
  • te×3
  • th×7
  • to×3
  • un×2

Words by first letter and length

4567910Σ
e ··1··· 1
g 2·1··· 3
h 51···· 6
n ··1··· 1
o ·1···1 2
t 4522·· 13
u ··1·1· 2
Σ 1176211 28

The numbers

Genius today takes 85 points of 122 available. The average answer runs 5.3 letters.

Total points vs. all 396 recorded puzzles
12th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
10th percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 17891 recorded answers

411 today34.6% all-time57 today22.8% all-time66 today19.9% all-time72 today12.0% all-time86.3% 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
e Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Friday, July 10, 2026
g Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Wednesday, July 8, 2026
h ● Sunday, July 26, 2026 Monday, June 15, 2026
n Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Friday, June 12, 2026
o Wednesday, July 29, 2026 Sunday, July 26, 2026
t Wednesday, July 29, 2026 Wednesday, July 22, 2026
u Wednesday, July 29, 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.