Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 11, 2026

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

Words26
Pangrams1
Points possible100
Center letterK
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 11, 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.

CH
IKA
DE

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
15 pts
Solid
25 pts
Nice
40 pts
Great
50 pts
Amazing
70 pts
Genius
85 pts
Queen Bee
100 pts
Total words
26
Pangrams
1
Possible points
100

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
chickadee +16 pts

The full word list

All 26 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 11, 2026, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters12 words
cakedeckdekedikeekedhackhakahakeheckhickhikekick
5 letters7 words
cakedcheckcheekchickdekedhikedkhaki
6 letters5 words
deckedhackedkickedkiddedkiddie
7 letters1 word
checked
9 letters1 word
chickadee

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.

chickadee +16checked +7decked +6hacked +6kicked +6

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 11, 2026 has 26 valid words for a total of 100 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 85 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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