Heads up — this shows the hardest word of the day.
⭐ Today’s Pangram
HAYFORK
Uses all 7 letters — worth 14 points
With Y required in every answer, the August 5, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee was one of the harder puzzle — 17 valid words in all.
With only 17 valid words, this puzzle had a smaller word pool than average, which often makes it trickier to reach Genius. The outer letters were A, F, H, K, O, R, and the longest answer aside from the pangram ran 6 letters for 6 points. Reaching Genius required 58 points out of a possible 82; see how this compares in the full answers archive.
At 14 points, the pangram was the most valuable single word in the grid. 4 of the 17 answers were 4-letter words worth 1 point each, so the real climb toward Genius came from the longer finds — our Genius strategy guide breaks down how to spot them.
Prefer to solve it yourself? Get spoiler-free hints for today's Spelling Bee instead — the words grouped by starting letter and length, with a nudge toward the pangram, so nothing is spoiled until you ask.
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✓ Official NYT Answers
This list is confirmed against NYT’s official answers for today. Words NYT doesn’t accept are marked with an orange box below.
Word List Hints — August 5, 2026
Prefer a nudge over the full answer key? Here is how the 17 words for the August 5, 2026 Spelling Bee break down — how many begin with each letter, at each word length — followed by the two-letter start list. Work these first, then reveal the complete list only if you get stuck.
Start \ Len
4
5
6
7
Total
A
1
1
2
·
4
F
1
1
·
·
2
H
·
3
1
1
5
K
·
2
·
·
2
O
2
·
·
·
2
Y
·
1
1
·
2
Total
4
8
4
1
17
Two-letter starts
AF1AH1AR2FO1FR1HA2HO3KA1KO1OA1OK1YA1YO1
All 17 Words — Sorted by Length
Tap to reveal all 17 answers (spoiler)
Spoiler warning — the complete answer list is below.
7 Letters1 word
HAYFORK ★ 14
6 Letters6 words
AFFRAY6
ARROYO6
HOORAY6
YOOHOO6
HORARY6
ORFRAY6
5 Letters11 words
ARRAY5
FORAY5
HARRY5
HOARY5
HOOKY5
KAYAK5
KOOKY5
YAHOO5
FORKY5
RAYAH5
ROOKY5
4 Letters12 words
AHOY1
FRAY1
OAKY1
OKAY1
AYAH1
HOYA1
KAYO1
KYAK1
KYAR1
OFAY1
RAYA1
YAFF1
Pangram ★ — uses all 7 lettersHigh Value (8+ pts)StandardValid word — not in NYT’s official listY= required center letter
Scroll to see all 17 words
What the Words Mean
Definitions for the August 5, 2026 answers — so you know exactly what you found, or what you missed. Pangrams are marked ★.
Tap to reveal all 14 definitions (spoiler)
Spoiler warning — every answer word is spelled out and defined below.
AFFRAY
noun Noisy quarrel
ARRAY
noun An orderly arrangement
ARROYO
noun A stream or brook
FORAY
noun A sudden short attack
FRAY
noun A noisy fight
HARRY
verb Annoy continually or chronically
HAYFORK ★
noun A long-handled fork for turning or lifting hay
HOARY
adjective Showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair
HOOKY
noun Failure to attend (especially school)
HOORAY
noun A victory cheer
KAYAK
noun A small canoe consisting of a light frame made watertight with animal skins
KOOKY
adjective Informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
OKAY
noun An endorsement
YAHOO
noun A person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture
Word definitions from WordNet® 3.1, Princeton University.
Miss Words Like These Every Week?
The players who find AFFRAY and ARROYO consistently know their Latin and Greek roots. These books teach the exact system that unlocks words like HAYFORK before you ever see the puzzle.
There were 17 valid words in the August 5, 2026 Spelling Bee, below average (most puzzles have 30–45 valid words), making this a tougher-than-typical solve. The pangram HAYFORK (14 points) led a list built around the center letter Y, with a maximum score of 82 and a Genius threshold of 58. HAYFORK was the longest word at 14 points.
The pangram for August 5, 2026 was HAYFORK. A pangram uses all 7 letters of the puzzle at least once — in this case A, F, H, K, O, R, Y — and earns a 7-point bonus on top of its length score, making HAYFORK worth 14 points total. Finding the pangram is the fastest way to jump from Amazing to Genius in a single word.
17 words were accepted in the August 5, 2026 puzzle — below average (most puzzles have 30–45 valid words), making this a tougher-than-typical solve. Lengths ran from 1-point 4-letter words up to 7 letters, every entry containing the center letter Y and drawing only on A, F, H, K, O, R, Y. Letters may repeat, and the 4-letter minimum always applies.
The Genius threshold for August 5, 2026 was 58 points — exactly 70% of the maximum score of 82. The NYT scoring tiers work as follows: Beginner starts at 2 points, Amazing requires roughly 41 points (50% of max), and Genius requires 58 points (70% of max). Queen Bee requires finding all 17 words for the maximum 82 points. Most competitive solvers aim for Genius; Queen Bee is reserved for completionists.
August 5, 2026's letters were A, F, H, K, O, R, Y, with Y in the center — required in every answer — surrounded by A, F, H, K, O, R. Valid words run 4+ letters, may repeat letters freely, and must be dictionary words; proper nouns and hyphenated forms never count.
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