Spelling Bee · Tuesday

Spelling Bee Answers for April 20, 2021

The complete word list, every pangram, and the seven letters of the hive for today's NYT Spelling Bee. Hand-checked at release.

Words25
Pangrams1
Points possible91
Center letterR
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published April 20, 2021·3 min read

Hand-checked every word in this list against the live Spelling Bee on the morning of release. Spotted an error?

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Today's seven letters

The center letter is yellow and must appear in every valid word. The six surrounding letters are optional. Every word in the puzzle is at least four letters long.

CY
BRA
KD

Stats & rank thresholds

The Spelling Bee scoring tops out at Queen Bee — the rank you earn for finding every word, including all pangrams. Here are today's point thresholds:

Beginner
0 pts
Moving Up
8 pts
Good
14 pts
Solid
23 pts
Nice
37 pts
Great
46 pts
Amazing
64 pts
Genius
78 pts
Queen Bee
91 pts
Total words
25
Pangrams
1
Possible points
91

Pangrams

A pangram uses all seven letters from today's hive at least once. Each pangram is worth its letter count + a 7-point bonus.

Today's 1 pangram
backyard +15 pts

The full word list

All 25 valid Spelling Bee solutions for April 20, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters14 words
barbbardbarkbradbraycarbcardcrabdarkdrabdrayrackracyyard
5 letters5 words
arraycarrycrackdryadradar
6 letters2 words
crabbycracky
7 letters2 words
barrackcrybaby
8 letters1 word
backyard
11 letters1 word
abracadabra

Top-scoring words today

The five words worth the most points in today's puzzle — mostly pangrams and long compound words. These alone can push you over the Genius threshold.

backyard +15abracadabra +11barrack +7crybaby +7crabby +6

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for April 20, 2021 has 25 valid words for a total of 91 possible points. Hitting Queen Bee means finding every single one. The Genius threshold is roughly 85 percent of the total, so today that's about 78 pts.

Stuck on a clue? Jump back to the Spelling Bee hub for strategy tips, the rank-by-rank breakdown, the full archive, and an explainer on how the NYT picks each day's seven letters.

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Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.