What is a Spelling Bee solver?
A Spelling Bee solver lists every word you can make from a seven-letter honeycomb puzzle. Enter the center letter and the six letters around it, and Unknot Words returns every word of four or more letters that uses only those letters and always includes the center. It highlights the pangrams, which use all seven letters, groups the rest by length and adds up the score.
By Unknot Words · Last updated
How to use the solver
- Type the center letter, the one in the middle of the hive. Every answer must contain it.
- Type the six outer letters in any order. Spaces and repeats are ignored, and the center letter can't be entered twice.
- Choose a minimum length. Four letters matches the New York Times rules. Three letters suits variations that allow shorter words, and five hides the short words so you can focus on bigger scores.
- Pick a dictionary and search. Pangrams appear first, followed by every word grouped by length, with the total number of words, pangrams and points.
A worked example
Take a hive with O in the center and C, D, E, I, N, R around it. With the US dictionary the solver finds 237 words worth 1,305 points in total. Everyday words such as CODE, DOOR, ICON, IRON, ONCE, CORNER, RECORD, DECODE, IODINE, CONCERN and CORNICE are all there, because letters can repeat and only the center O is compulsory. Words like NICE and DINER don't qualify because they have no O.
Three words use all seven letters: CORNICED, ENDOCRINE and RECOINED. ENDOCRINE is the kind of pangram that turns up in a real puzzle: a familiar word that is hard to see in a jumble of letters. Switch to the UK dictionary and the list grows to 323 words and six pangrams, adding CICERONED, CORDINER and ENDOCRINIC.
How Spelling Bee scoring works
| Word | Points | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Four letters | 1 | CODE = 1 |
| Five or more letters | 1 per letter | RECORD = 6 |
| Pangram | 1 per letter + 7 bonus | ENDOCRINE = 9 + 7 = 16 |
Because long words and pangrams are worth so much more than four-letter words, finding the pangram early is the fastest way up the rankings. The solver's total is for every word in the selected dictionary, so it will usually be higher than the maximum in the official puzzle, which uses a smaller list.
Strategies for finding more words
- Hunt for the pangram first. Look for common endings that use several letters at once: -ING, -ED, -ER, -TION and -MENT often appear in pangrams when their letters are in the hive.
- Build families of words. Once you find RECORD, try RECORDED, RECORDER and the shorter CORD, CORDED and CORDER. Adding prefixes such as RE- and DE- or suffixes such as -ER and -ED unlocks whole groups.
- Use doubled letters. Letters can repeat, so look for words with double letters (DOOR, NOON, COCOON) that are easy to overlook.
- Rearrange the hive. Shuffling the outer letters in your head or on paper breaks the patterns you have been stuck on. The same trick works for anagrams; see how to unscramble words.
- Check, then learn. When you have found all you can, compare your list with the solver and note the words you missed. Many players do this after each puzzle to build their vocabulary.
Why the list includes words the puzzle won't accept
The New York Times Spelling Bee uses an editor-curated word list. It leaves out many obscure, technical, regional and offensive words, and the puzzle never uses the letter S, which keeps plurals out. Unknot Words searches the complete Scrabble tournament lists instead: NWL2023 for the US and CSW24 for the UK. That means every word in the results is a valid Scrabble word, but some, like CORNICED, may not count in the official game. Start with the words you recognise, and treat the rest as a vocabulary lesson.
Prefer a different puzzle? Use the Wordle solver for five-letter clue games, or the word unscrambler when each letter can only be used once.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of Spelling Bee?
You get seven letters arranged in a honeycomb. Every word must be at least four letters long, must include the center letter and can only use the seven letters, which may be repeated. Words that use all seven letters are pangrams.
How is a Spelling Bee score calculated?
Four-letter words score 1 point. Longer words score 1 point per letter, so a six-letter word is worth 6. A pangram earns a 7-point bonus on top of its letter score. The solver totals the points for every word it lists.
Why are some results not accepted by the New York Times?
The New York Times uses its own curated word list that leaves out many obscure, technical and offensive words. This solver searches the full Scrabble tournament lists, so it shows every valid Scrabble word and some of them will not count in the official puzzle.
Can I find just the pangram?
Yes. Pangrams appear in their own highlighted section at the top of the results, and they are also marked within the lists grouped by length.
Can letters be used more than once?
Yes. In Spelling Bee each letter can be used as many times as you like, so words such as DOOR and NOON count as long as they include the center letter.
What does the minimum word length setting do?
It hides words shorter than the length you choose. Keep it at 4 for New York Times rules, lower it to 3 for variations that allow shorter words, or raise it to 5 to focus on longer, higher-scoring words.