Spelling Bee Game
Find as many words as you can from seven letters in a honeycomb; every word must use the center letter. There's a new daily puzzle every day plus unlimited random puzzles, all generated in your browser.
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Type on your keyboard or tap the letters. Enter submits, Backspace deletes, Space shuffles.
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How to use the Spelling Bee Game
- Look at the honeycomb: seven letters, with the required letter in the orange center.
- Build a word of at least 4 letters by typing or tapping letters. Letters can be reused, and the center letter must appear.
- Press Submit word (or Enter). Valid words are added to your list and earn points.
- Hunt for the pangram that uses all seven letters for a 7-point bonus, and climb the ranks toward Genius and Queen Bee.
- Stuck? Press Shuffle (or Space) to rearrange the letters, open Show hints, or switch to a new random puzzle.
Spelling Bee scoring and ranks
Each word scores by length, and pangrams earn a bonus. Ranks are a percentage of the maximum score for that puzzle, so they work the same on easy and hard letter sets.
| Word | Points |
|---|---|
| 4 letters | 1 |
| 5 letters | 5 |
| 6 letters | 6 |
| 7+ letters | 1 per letter |
| Pangram (uses all 7 letters) | Length + 7 bonus |
| Rank | Share of max score |
|---|---|
| Beginner | 0% |
| Good Start | 2% |
| Moving Up | 5% |
| Good | 8% |
| Solid | 15% |
| Nice | 25% |
| Great | 40% |
| Amazing | 50% |
| Genius | 70% |
| Queen Bee | 100% (every word) |
Worked example: with the letters A, C, E, I, N, P and the center letter L, CLAN and LACE score 1 point each, PLACE, PANEL and PLAIN score 5 each, and the pangram PELICAN scores 7 + 7 = 14. PANIC is not allowed because it has no L.
Tips for finding more words
- Find the pangram first. Look for common endings such as -ING, -TION, -ED or -ER among the letters; long words usually use most of them.
- Use suffixes and prefixes. Once you have a root like PLAY, try PLAYED, REPLAY and PLAYER if the letters allow.
- Repeat letters. Letters can be reused, so words like NOON, TOTAL or DEEDED are fair game.
- Shuffle often. Rearranging the outer letters helps your brain see new combinations.
- Work the hint grid. It shows how many words remain by first letter and length, so you know where to look.
How puzzles are generated
Every puzzle starts from a word with exactly seven different letters (the pangram). One of those letters becomes the center, and the game collects every word in its English word list that uses only those letters, contains the center and has at least four letters. Puzzles with too few or too many answers are skipped, so a typical game has roughly 20 to 65 words. The daily puzzle uses the date as its random seed. Love word games? Try the Word Guess Game or Hangman.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of Spelling Bee?
Make words of four or more letters using only the seven letters in the honeycomb. Every word must contain the center letter, and letters can be used more than once. Proper nouns, hyphenated words and abbreviations do not count.
How is the score calculated?
Four-letter words are worth 1 point. Longer words score one point per letter, so a six-letter word earns 6 points. A pangram, a word that uses all seven letters at least once, earns an extra 7 points on top.
What is a pangram?
In Spelling Bee a pangram is a word that uses every one of the seven letters at least once. Every puzzle here is built around at least one pangram, and pangrams are highlighted in your word list.
How do the ranks work?
Ranks are based on the share of the puzzle's maximum score you have reached: Good Start at 2%, Moving Up 5%, Good 8%, Solid 15%, Nice 25%, Great 40%, Amazing 50%, Genius 70% and Queen Bee when you find every word.
Why was my word not accepted?
The game uses a built-in English word list of about 100,000 words. Very rare words, abbreviations, Roman numerals and offensive words are filtered out, and the letter S is never used in puzzles, so plurals ending in S never appear.
Is there a new puzzle every day?
Yes. The daily puzzle is generated from the date, so everyone playing on the same day gets the same letters. You can also press New random puzzle for unlimited extra games. Your found words are saved in this browser.
Is this the New York Times Spelling Bee?
No. This is an independent free game inspired by the classic honeycomb word puzzle format. Puzzles are generated automatically from an open word list, so the answer lists differ from other spelling bee games.