All 42 valid words for the NYT Spelling Bee. Center letter: B.
💬 Join the discussionHeads up — this shows the hardest words of the day.
The NYT Spelling Bee for August 18, 2026 was a generous puzzle, with 42 valid words built entirely around the center letter B — which must appear in every answer.
With 42 valid words, this puzzle offered more paths to Genius than most, though finding every word still required broad vocabulary coverage. The outer letters were A, D, E, G, H, N, and the longest answer aside from the pangram ran 8 letters for 8 points. Reaching Genius required 160 points out of a possible 228; see how this compares in the full answers archive.
The pangram was worth 15 points — more than any other word that day. With answers ranging from 4 letters up to 8, working methodically from the shortest words up is the surest route to Genius; see the full method in our strategy guide.
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.
Not ready to spoil the whole puzzle? The grid below shows how many of the August 18, 2026 answers start with each letter and how long they run, and the two-letter list gives the count for each opening pair. It is the fastest way to close out the last few words without seeing every answer.
| Start \ Len | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| B | 10 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 3 | · | 32 |
| D | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 1 |
| E | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| G | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 1 |
| H | · | · | · | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| N | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 1 |
| Total | 11 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 42 |
AB1BA19BE13DA1EB1GA1HA1HE4NA1
Spoiler warning — the complete answer list is below.
Definitions for the August 18, 2026 answers — so you know exactly what you found, or what you missed. Pangrams are marked ★.
Spoiler warning — every answer word is spelled out and defined below.
Word definitions from WordNet® 3.1, Princeton University.
The players who find BANDAGED and BANDANNA consistently know their Latin and Greek roots. These books teach the exact system that unlocks words like HEADBANG before you ever see the puzzle.
How did today go? Share your progress, favorite finds, or where you got stuck. Be kind — no spoilers-shaming.
No comments yet — be the first!