Tuesday · 71 words

Spelling Bee December 16, 2025 answers

All accepted words for today's NYT Spelling Bee, with the pangram revealed, point totals, and progress thresholds for each rank.

Today's letter set · Center: T

A
H
N
O
R
T
W

Puzzle stats

accepted words

Total words

70

accepted entries

Total points

311

Queen Bee score

Pangrams

2

words using all 7 letters

Genius score

217

70% of total

Center letter

T

required in every word

Pangrams

+7 bonus per word

Uses all 7 letters

  • HAWTHORN
  • HAWTHORN

Rank thresholds

Points needed for each rank

Beginner

0 pts

0%

Good Start

6 pts

2%

Moving Up

15 pts

5%

Good

24 pts

8%

Solid

46 pts

15%

Nice

77 pts

25%

Great

124 pts

40%

Amazing

155 pts

50%

Genius

217 pts

70%

Queen Bee

311 pts

100%

All accepted words

Grouped by starting letter
A 8 words
  • annatto
  • annotator
  • aorta
  • arhat
  • arrant
  • arrowroot
  • athwart
  • attar
H 6 words
  • hart
  • hath
  • hatha
  • hawthorn
  • hawthorn
  • hoot
N 5 words
  • narrator
  • natant
  • nonart
  • north
  • notator
O 3 words
  • oath
  • onto
  • orator
R 6 words
  • rant
  • ratatat
  • rattan
  • root
  • rotator
  • rotor
T 27 words
  • tantara
  • tantra
  • taro
  • tarot
  • tart
  • tartan
  • tartar
  • tattoo
  • than
  • that
  • thaw
  • thorn
  • throat
  • throw
  • thrown
  • thwart
  • toon
  • toot
  • tooth
  • torah
  • torn
  • toro
  • tort
  • torta
  • town
  • trot
  • troth
W 15 words
  • want
  • wanton
  • warrant
  • warrantor
  • wart
  • watt
  • what
  • whatnot
  • wont
  • wonton
  • woot
  • wort
  • worth
  • wrath
  • wroth

About this puzzle

The NYT Spelling Bee for Tuesday, December 16, 2025 uses the seven letters A, H, N, O, R, T, W, with T as the center letter that must appear in every word.

Today's puzzle has 70 accepted words for a total of 311 points. To reach Genius rank, players need 217 points — about 70% of the total. The full Queen Bee score requires every word.

This puzzle has 2 pangrams — words that use all seven letters. Each pangram earns a 7-point bonus on top of its regular score.

Play today's Spelling Bee on The New York Times.

Spelling Bee december 16 2025 Answers — Pangram & Word List | AppWalkthrough