Spelling Bee

How to play Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee is a daily word puzzle where you create words using the letters in the honeycomb. Every word must contain the center letter and be at least 4 letters long.

• Every word must be at least 4 letters long. Three-letter words are never accepted.
• Every word must contain the centre letter, the yellow one. That is what makes the puzzle a hive rather than an anagram.
• Only the seven letters in the honeycomb are available. Any word needing an eighth is out.
• Letters can be reused as often as you like within one word, so LEVEL and BANANA are perfectly legal if their letters are all in the hive.
• No proper nouns, abbreviations or hyphenated words.

Spelling Bee scoring

• 4-letter words = 1 point each
• 5+ letter words = 1 point per letter
• Pangrams (words using all 7 letters) = letter count + 7 bonus points
• Example: "AMAZING" (7 letters) = 7 + 7 = 14 points total

Pangram: A special word that uses all 7 letters in the honeycomb. These are rare and worth bonus points!

A worked example

If your honeycomb has center letter A and outer letters E, R, T, S, N, I:

• ANTE (4 letters) = 1 point
• TRAIN (5 letters) = 5 points
• ANTSIER (7 letters, pangram) = 7 + 7 = 14 points

Ranks, from Beginner to Genius

Your score climbs through nine ranks, and the thresholds are fixed — they do not move with the difficulty of the day. Genius is the top of the ladder at 336 points, and reaching it does not require finding every word.

• Beginner — 0 points
• Novice — 11 points
• Okay — 24 points
• Good — 41 points
• Solid — 78 points
• Nice — 118 points
• Great — 189 points
• Amazing — 242 points
• Genius — 336 points

Tips for a higher score

• Work the affixes. RE-, UN-, -ING, -ED, -ER and -IEST turn one word you have already found into two or three more, and longer words are worth a point per letter.
• Grow every word you find. If STAR is accepted, try STARS, START and STARTS — the hive reuses letters, so extensions are usually there.
• Hunt the pangram early. It uses all seven letters and pays its length plus 7, which is often the difference between Amazing and Genius on its own.
• Let the centre letter lead. It has to appear in every answer, so try building words around it rather than searching for words that happen to contain it.
• Shuffle when you stall. Rearranging the outer letters changes nothing about the puzzle and a great deal about what your eye picks out.
• Remember letters repeat. Nothing stops you using the same letter three times in one word, which is where most missed long answers hide.

Convinced the hive is holding out on you? The Spelling Bee Solver — seven letters in, every valid word out.

Spelling Bee FAQ

What is Spelling Bee?

Spelling Bee is a daily word puzzle played on a honeycomb of seven letters. You build as many words as you can from those letters, every word has to be at least four letters long, and every word has to include the letter in the middle. A new hive is published each day and it is free to play in the browser.

Can I use a letter more than once in the same word?

Yes. The seven letters are always available, so LEVEL, BANANA or ASSESS are all fair game provided every letter used is in the hive and the centre letter appears at least once.

How does scoring work?

A four-letter word is worth 1 point. Anything longer scores one point per letter, so a seven-letter word is worth 7. A pangram scores its length plus a 7-point bonus, which makes it the most valuable single word on any board.

What is a pangram?

A pangram is a word that uses all seven letters of the hive at least once. Every puzzle contains at least one, and finding it is usually worth more than several short words put together.

How many points do I need for Genius?

The ranks sit at fixed scores: Novice 11, Okay 24, Good 41, Solid 78, Nice 118, Great 189, Amazing 242 and Genius 336. They are the same on every puzzle, so 336 points always means Genius.

Why was my word rejected?

There are five reasons: it is shorter than four letters, it is missing the centre letter, it uses a letter that is not in the hive, it is a proper noun, hyphenated or an abbreviation, or it simply is not in the puzzle's word list. The message under the hive tells you which one applies.

What does the shuffle button do?

It rearranges the six outer letters. The centre letter stays put and the puzzle does not change at all — it is purely a way of making the same seven letters look different so you spot combinations you had stopped seeing.

Do I have to find every word?

No. Reaching Genius takes a large share of the available points but never all of them, and most players stop somewhere in the middle of the ladder. Finding every single word is an extra challenge rather than the goal.

Does my progress save?

Yes. Each day's found words and score are stored in your browser, so you can leave the hive and come back to it later the same day on the same device.