May 8, 2025, Thursday

Spelling Bee Answers for Thursday, May 08, 2025

May 08, 2025, Thursday Spelling Bee Answers for the R, A, P, I, C, T, L honeycomb (center letter R) feature 58 words, a 263-point total, 1 Pangram (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 9-letter longest word: PRACTICAL.

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Spelling Bee hive for May 8, 2025 with center letter R and surrounding letters A,P,I,C,T and L

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Thursday, May 8, 2025 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights

A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.

Difficulty

8/10

Hard

79th percentile

Avg Word Length

5.40

Typical length

All-time avg: 5.4

Rarity

76/100

Very Rare

Rarer than 76% of puzzles

Avg Solve Time

56 minutes

Longer than usual

To reach Genius

2LL

Typical spread

Unique two-letter openings

Bingo Status

Missing: I

All 7 letters start at least 1 word

GN4L

words to Genius

1×9L3×8L10×7L9×6L4×5L

GN4L OTN

Yes

Exact 184 pts

27 words1×9L3×8L10×7L9×6L4×5L

Vowel Split

39%

Balanced mix

121 vowels · 192 consonants

Score Milestones

0%Beginner0 PTS
5%Good Start13 PTS
15%Moving Up39 PTS
25%Good66 PTS
40%Solid105 PTS
50%Nice132 PTS
60%Great158 PTS
65%Amazing171 PTS
70%Genius184 PTS
100%Queen Bee263 PTS

Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers

Here is the complete list of 58 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Thursday, May 8, 2025. 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

22%

21%

17%

Try starting with these letters when you're stuck.

Puzzle Letters

Previous2025-05-07

Today's AnswersGo to Today

Pangrams

Reveal letter by letter or uncover a full solution

The Center letter is highlighted in Yellow.

Complete Answers

Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.

Browse calendar of past puzzles

Word Length Distribution

19 words

16 words

9 words

10 words

3 words

1 word (Pangram)

Share of 58 answers at each word length.

Letter Coverage

58 words

100%

52 words

90%

39 words

67%

36 words

62%

22 words

38%

22 words

38%

21 words

36%

Share of 58 words using each hive letter.

Points by Length

19 pts

80 pts

54 pts

70 pts

24 pts

16 pts (Pangram)

Total points available at each word length.

Letter Frequency Distribution

1322%

1221%

1017%

916%

47%

Share of 58 words starting with each letter.

How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today’s score of 263 ranks in the 78th percentile among all puzzles.
The last time a score this low appeared was on 2025-05-07.
The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
With 58 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 86th percentile overall.
The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2025-05-07.
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 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 2025-05-07.
The estimated solve time of 48–64 min is slower than typical puzzles.
Players can expect a challenging solving experience.

Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List

Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:

acara
acari
accipitral
accra
acratia
acrita
acritical
airt
alar
alaric
altair
altricial
apar
appair
appar
apractic
april
araca
aracari
aralia
arara
arati
arca
arilli
artal
artic
atar
ataractic
atrip
attrap
caiarara
cair
calcar
calcaria
callicarpa
caltrap
capri
capric
capricci
cara
caracal
caracara
caract
caraipi
carap
carapacial
carapacic
cariri
carl
carli
carpalia
carr
carrara
carrat
carri
cataractal
cataria
cicatricial
circ
circar
cirl
citral
citril
clair
clar
clara
clart
craal
cric
crip
crit
ctrl
iatraliptic
iatric
iatrical
icaria
ilpirra
iritic
itatartaric
ittria
laari
laralia
lararia
lari
latria
liri
litra
paar
palar
pallar
papillar
paprica
para
paralalia
parallactic
parallactical
pararctalia
paratactic
paratactical
paratitla
parc
pari
parial
parica
parilia
parr
parra
parral
parti
participial
pataria
patrial
patricia
picara
picra
picric
picritic
pilar
pipra
piratical
piripiri
pirl
practic
pratal
pratap
pratt
priapi
prill
raia
rall
rapilli
rata
ratal
ratti
rcpt
riata
ricrac
rictal
ripa
riparial
riprap
rita
taar
talar
talari
talaria
talaric
talliar
tara
tarai
tarairi
tarata
tari
tarr
tartaric
tartralic
tatar
tataric
tiar
tipcart
tirl
tirralirra
trac
tralira
trapt
triac
triact
triarii
triatic
trica
tricalcic
tricar
tricia
tricipital
trictrac
trilli
tripara
tripart
tript
trit
tritactic
tritical

*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.