Spelling Bee · Thursday

Spelling Bee Answers for October 23, 2025

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

Words49
Pangrams1
Points possible234
Center letterA
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published October 23, 2025·3 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.

BL
CAK
IF

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
19 pts
Good
36 pts
Solid
59 pts
Nice
94 pts
Great
117 pts
Amazing
164 pts
Genius
199 pts
Queen Bee
234 pts
Total words
49
Pangrams
1
Possible points
234

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
backfill +15 pts

The full word list

All 49 valid Spelling Bee solutions for October 23, 2025, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters15 words
acaibababackbailbalkballblabcalfcallfailfallflabflaklacklaic
5 letters15 words
abaciabackalackalibibabkablackcabalcallaciliaclackflackflaililiaclabialilac
6 letters7 words
acaciaalkalicabalafacialfiliallabiallaical
7 letters3 words
alfalfabacillibailiff
8 letters7 words
backfillbiblicalbilabialcallbackfallbackkickbackkickball
9 letters2 words
balalaikablackball

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.

backfill +15balalaika +9blackball +9biblical +8bilabial +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for October 23, 2025 has 49 valid words for a total of 234 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 199 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.