Spelling Bee May 1, 2026 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: L
Puzzle stats
Total words
50
Total points
228
Pangrams
2
Genius score
159
Center letter
L
Pangrams
Uses all 7 letters
- CHILDLIKE
- CHILDLIKE
Rank thresholds
Beginner
0 pts
0%
Good Start
4 pts
2%
Moving Up
11 pts
5%
Good
18 pts
8%
Solid
34 pts
15%
Nice
57 pts
25%
Great
91 pts
40%
Amazing
114 pts
50%
Genius
159 pts
70%
Queen Bee
228 pts
100%
All accepted words
- cell
- celled
- celli
- chicle
- child
- childlike
- childlike
- chili
- chill
- chilled
- cichlid
- cliche
- cliched
- click
- clicked
- deckle
- deli
- dell
- diddle
- diddled
- dill
- elide
- elided
- heckle
- heckled
- heel
- heeled
- held
- hell
- hill
- hilled
- icicle
- idle
- idled
- keel
- keeled
- kill
- killed
- lech
- lede
- leech
- leeched
- leek
- lice
- lick
- licked
- lidded
- lied
- like
- liked
About this puzzle
The NYT Spelling Bee for Friday, May 1, 2026 uses the seven letters C, D, E, H, I, K, L, with L as the center letter that must appear in every word.
Today's puzzle has 50 accepted words for a total of 228 points. To reach Genius rank, players need 159 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.