Tuesday · 41 words

Spelling Bee May 12, 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: C

A
B
C
M
N
O
T

Puzzle stats

accepted words

Total words

40

accepted entries

Total points

236

Queen Bee score

Pangrams

4

words using all 7 letters

Genius score

165

70% of total

Center letter

C

required in every word

Pangrams

+7 bonus per word

Uses all 7 letters

  • NONCOMBATANT
  • NONCOMBATANT
  • COMBATANT
  • COMBATANT

Rank thresholds

Points needed for each rank

Beginner

0 pts

0%

Good Start

4 pts

2%

Moving Up

11 pts

5%

Good

18 pts

8%

Solid

35 pts

15%

Nice

59 pts

25%

Great

94 pts

40%

Amazing

118 pts

50%

Genius

165 pts

70%

Queen Bee

236 pts

100%

All accepted words

Grouped by starting letter
B 3 words
  • bacon
  • banc
  • bobcat
C 28 words
  • cabana
  • cacao
  • camo
  • cancan
  • canna
  • cannon
  • cannot
  • canon
  • cant
  • cantata
  • canton
  • catacomb
  • coat
  • coca
  • cocoa
  • cocoon
  • coma
  • comb
  • combat
  • combatant
  • combatant
  • combo
  • comma
  • common
  • concoct
  • contact
  • coot
  • cotton
N 3 words
  • noncom
  • noncombatant
  • noncombatant
O 1 word
  • octant
T 5 words
  • taco
  • tact
  • tobacco
  • toccata
  • tomcat

About this puzzle

The NYT Spelling Bee for Tuesday, May 12, 2026 uses the seven letters A, B, C, M, N, O, T, with C as the center letter that must appear in every word.

Today's puzzle has 40 accepted words for a total of 236 points. To reach Genius rank, players need 165 points — about 70% of the total. The full Queen Bee score requires every word.

This puzzle has 4 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 may 12 2026 Answers — Pangram & Word List | AppWalkthrough