Spelling Bee May 16, 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: A
Puzzle stats
Total words
67
Total points
329
Pangrams
6
Genius score
230
Center letter
A
Pangrams
Uses all 7 letters
- PANTHEON
- PANTHEON
- PHAETON
- PHONATE
- PHAETON
- PHONATE
Rank thresholds
Beginner
0 pts
0%
Good Start
6 pts
2%
Moving Up
16 pts
5%
Good
26 pts
8%
Solid
49 pts
15%
Nice
82 pts
25%
Great
131 pts
40%
Amazing
164 pts
50%
Genius
230 pts
70%
Queen Bee
329 pts
100%
All accepted words
- aeon
- annatto
- annotate
- anon
- ante
- antenna
- antennae
- apnea
- atone
- atop
- eaten
- ethane
- happen
- hate
- hath
- hatha
- heap
- heat
- heath
- heathen
- henna
- heptane
- naan
- nana
- nape
- natant
- neap
- neat
- neaten
- neath
- neonate
- notate
- oaten
- oath
- paean
- pane
- panettone
- pant
- pantheon
- pantheon
- papa
- pate
- patent
- patentee
- path
- peahen
- peat
- pennant
- pentane
- phaeton
- phaeton
- phat
- phonate
- phonate
- poppa
- potato
- potentate
- tapa
- tape
- tattoo
- teapot
- teat
- tenant
- than
- thane
- that
- theta
About this puzzle
The NYT Spelling Bee for Saturday, May 16, 2026 uses the seven letters A, E, H, N, O, P, T, with A as the center letter that must appear in every word.
Today's puzzle has 67 accepted words for a total of 329 points. To reach Genius rank, players need 230 points — about 70% of the total. The full Queen Bee score requires every word.
This puzzle has 6 pangrams — words that use all seven letters. Each pangram earns a 7-point bonus on top of its regular score.