Spelling Bee · Wednesday

Spelling Bee Answers for August 26, 2026

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

Words34
Pangrams2
Points possible150
Center letterK
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published August 26, 2026·3 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.

UN
CKH
ED

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
12 pts
Good
23 pts
Solid
38 pts
Nice
60 pts
Great
75 pts
Amazing
105 pts
Genius
128 pts
Queen Bee
150 pts
Total words
34
Pangrams
2
Possible points
150

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 2 pangrams
unchecked +16 ptschunked +14 pts

The full word list

All 34 valid Spelling Bee solutions for August 26, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters14 words
cukedeckdekeduckdukedunkekedheckhunkkeenkneekudunecknuke
5 letters8 words
checkcheekchuckchunkdekeddukedkneednuked
6 letters5 words
deckedduckeddunkedkeenednecked
7 letters5 words
checkedchuckedchunkednunchukuncheck
8 letters1 word
nunchuck
9 letters1 word
unchecked

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.

unchecked +16chunked +14nunchuck +8checked +7chucked +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for August 26, 2026 has 34 valid words for a total of 150 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 128 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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Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.