The Spelling Bee Two-Letter List, Explained
The two-letter list is the most useful hint the NYT Spelling Bee gives you — and the one most players never learn to read. It tells you exactly how many words you are still missing, and where to look for them, without spoiling a single answer.
What Is the Two-Letter List?
The two-letter list is one of the New York Times Spelling Bee’s own official hints. For every two-letter combination that begins at least one valid word in the day’s puzzle, it shows how many words start with that pair — and nothing more. It never prints the words themselves.
Each entry looks like a pair of letters followed by a number. CO-3 means three valid answers begin with the letters C-O. TA-4 means four answers begin with T-A. Read the whole list and you have a complete, spoiler-free map of every word in the puzzle, sorted by its first two letters.
The two-letter list turns “I’m stuck” into a checklist. It tells you the number of words hiding behind each starting pair — so you always know how many are left and exactly where to hunt.
How to Read It
Here is a short illustrative example (not a real puzzle) for a letter set with center letter T:
| Starting pair | Words that start with it |
|---|---|
| AT | 2 |
| TA | 4 |
| TI | 3 |
| TO | 1 |
| OT | 2 |
From this you know, before finding a single word, that there are exactly four TA words and three TI words. If you have already found two TA words (say TART and TAROT), the list tells you two more are still out there — so you keep pushing on TA before wasting time elsewhere.
How to Use It to Reach Genius
- Find your weak pairs. Scan the list for pairs where your found-word count is below the listed number. Those are your missing words, located precisely.
- Attack one pair at a time. For a pair like RE with words remaining, walk the third letter: REA, REB, REC, RED… using only the puzzle’s letters. Systematic beats random every time.
- Cross-check with word length. Pair the two-letter list with the puzzle’s letter-by-length grid (the other half of the hint grid) to know not just how many words start with TA, but how long they are.
- Leave the pangram for a rich pair. A pair with a surprisingly high count often hides the pangram or a long word — worth extra attention.
Where to Find Today’s List
The New York Times publishes the two-letter list in its daily Spelling Bee hints column. You can also read the same kind of breakdown — today’s words grouped by starting letter and length, with a spoiler-free pangram nudge — on our daily hints page, which updates every day the moment the puzzle unlocks. When you are truly done and want to confirm you found everything, the free solver shows the complete word list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the two-letter list in the Spelling Bee?
The two-letter list is one of the NYT Spelling Bee’s official hints. For every two-letter combination that starts at least one valid word, it shows how many words begin with that pair — for example CO-3 means three answers start with the letters CO. It never reveals the words themselves, only the counts.
Where do I find the two-letter list?
The New York Times publishes it in its daily Spelling Bee hints. SpellingBeeFinder also shows a spoiler-free breakdown of the day’s words by starting letter and length on its daily hints page, so you can read the same kind of information without seeing the answers.
How do you read the two-letter list?
Each entry is a two-letter starting pair followed by a count. TA-4 means four valid words start with TA. Add up the counts for a given first letter and you know exactly how many words you are still missing that start with that letter, which tells you where to focus.
How does the two-letter list help you reach Genius?
It turns a vague search into a checklist. If the list shows RE-5 and you have found only two RE words, you know three more exist and can hunt them specifically. It is the fastest way to find the exact words standing between you and Genius or Queen Bee.
Does the two-letter list spoil the puzzle?
No. It only shows starting pairs and counts, never the full words, so it is a hint rather than an answer. It is designed to nudge you toward the words you are missing while leaving the solving to you.
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