Spelling Bee · Tuesday

Spelling Bee Answers for February 16, 2021

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

Words54
Pangrams1
Points possible259
Center letterN
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published February 16, 2021·3 min read

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

Share:

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.

TI
MNE
LB

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
21 pts
Good
39 pts
Solid
65 pts
Nice
104 pts
Great
130 pts
Amazing
182 pts
Genius
221 pts
Queen Bee
259 pts
Total words
54
Pangrams
1
Possible points
259

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
belittlement +19 pts

The full word list

All 54 valid Spelling Bee solutions for February 16, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters19 words
beenbentblinlentlienlimnlinelintmienmineminimintnenenineniteteententtinetint
5 letters8 words
bliniinletinnieintellinenminimnimbitenet
6 letters11 words
bittenintentlentillinnetlintelmenteemittennettlenibblenimbletelnet
7 letters8 words
beelinebellmenelementeminentententeentitlelenientlinemen
8 letters6 words
beltlineimminentlinimentnineteentenementtimeline
11 letters1 word
entitlement
12 letters1 word
belittlement

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.

belittlement +19entitlement +11beltline +8imminent +8liniment +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for February 16, 2021 has 54 valid words for a total of 259 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 221 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.

Share:

Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

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