All 60 valid words for the NYT Spelling Bee. Center letter: L.
💬 Join the discussionHeads up — this shows the hardest words of the day.
August 31, 2026 brought one of the more word-rich NYT Spelling Bee: 60 valid words, every single one containing the center letter L.
With 60 valid words, this was an unusually large puzzle — patient, systematic solvers had plenty of material to work with. The outer letters were A, B, D, O, R, Y, and the longest answer aside from the pangram ran 8 letters for 8 points. Reaching Genius required 194 points out of a possible 276; see how this compares in the full answers archive.
The pangram used all 7 letters for 15 points — the highest-scoring word of the day (tap the spoiler above if you want it). If pangrams are where you get stuck, the pangram-spotting guide walks through the letter patterns that give them away.
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.
Prefer a nudge over the full answer key? Here is how the 60 words for the August 31, 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 | 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | 2 | · | · | 1 | 5 |
| B | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| D | 1 | 6 | 4 | · | · | 11 |
| L | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| O | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 4 |
| R | 1 | 2 | · | 2 | · | 5 |
| Total | 19 | 18 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 60 |
AB1AD1AL3BA8BL6BO6BR1DA1DO4DR6LA3LO11OD2OR2RA1RO4
Spoiler warning — the complete answer list is below.
Definitions for the August 31, 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 BALLADRY and BALLYARD consistently know their Latin and Greek roots. These books teach the exact system that unlocks words like ADORABLY 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.
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