Spelling Bee Answers for Thursday, May 18, 2023
May 18, 2023, Thursday Spelling Bee Answers for the B, U, R, L, I, N, G honeycomb (center letter L) feature 49 words, a 272-point total, 4 Pangrams (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 8-letter longest word: BLURRING, BUBBLING, BULLRING, BUNGLING, BURBLING, BURGLING, GIGGLING, GLUGGING, GRILLING, GURGLING, LINGUINI, NIBBLING, NIGGLING.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
9/10
Very Hard85th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.96
Typical lengthAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
86/100
Very RareRarer than 86% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
54 minutes
Longer than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
13
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: U, IAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
22
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 190 ptsVowel Split
28%
Consonant-heavy puzzle82 vowels · 210 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start14 PTS
- 15%Moving Up41 PTS
- 25%Good68 PTS
- 40%Solid109 PTS
- 50%Nice136 PTS
- 60%Great163 PTS
- 65%Amazing177 PTS
- 70%Genius190 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee272 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 49 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Thursday, May 18, 2023. The answers are organized by word length and point value, along with today's pangram. Prefer a spoiler-free approach? Try the spelling bee hints for today or browse the full list of NYT spelling bee words.
Common openings
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Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
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Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
8-Letter Words 13 words
7-Letter Words 8 words
6-Letter Words 8 words
5-Letter Words 4 words
4-Letter Words 16 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 49 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 49 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 49 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 272 ranks in the 82nd percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2023-05-17.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 49 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 66th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2023-05-17.
- The highest number of answers in any puzzle is 80, on 2026-02-01.
- The lowest number of answers in any puzzle is 16, on 2023-03-27.
- This puzzle ranks among the Very Hard puzzles, based on overall difficulty scoring.
- Compared to recent puzzles, today’s challenge is harder than average.
- The letter set in this puzzle is considered Low, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2023-05-16.
- The estimated solve time of 46–62 min is slower than typical puzzles.
- Players can expect a grind-heavy solving experience.
Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List
Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:
- bibbling
- bibl
- bilging
- bilin
- bilirubin
- billbug
- birl
- birling
- birlinn
- blub
- blubbing
- bluing
- blunging
- blurbing
- brill
- bulbil
- bulbul
- bulling
- burling
- gibli
- gilgul
- gingili
- gingilli
- girling
- glub
- guggling
- guiling
- gulgul
- gurl
- iglu
- illing
- inulin
- libbing
- libri
- lignin
- lill
- ling
- linin
- linn
- liri
- luigi
- luigini
- lungi
- lunn
- lurg
- luri
- nill
- nilling
- nubbling
- nulling
- nurl
- nurling
- rigling
- rilling
- ringbill
- rubbling
- ugli
- ulling
- ululu
- unbungling
- ungluing
*Every word here uses only the hive's seven letters, includes the center letter, and appears in our dictionary, but it was never published in the NYT's official answer list.