Spelling Bee Answers for Friday, May 09, 2025
May 09, 2025, Friday Spelling Bee Answers for the R, D, W, L, I, O, Y honeycomb (center letter R) feature 30 words, a 133-point total, 2 Pangrams (2 Perfect Pangrams perfect), and the 7-letter longest word: ROWDILY, WORDILY, WORLDLY.
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Friday, May 9, 2025 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
5/10
Medium45th percentile
Avg Word Length
4.97
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
61/100
RareRarer than 61% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
25 minutes
Quicker than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
9
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: I, YAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
14
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 93 ptsVowel Split
26%
Consonant-heavy puzzle38 vowels · 111 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start7 PTS
- 15%Moving Up20 PTS
- 25%Good33 PTS
- 40%Solid53 PTS
- 50%Nice67 PTS
- 60%Great80 PTS
- 65%Amazing86 PTS
- 70%Genius93 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee133 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 30 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Friday, May 9, 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
Try starting with these letters when you're stuck.
Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
Reveal letter by letter or uncover a full solution
Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
7-Letter Words 3 words
6-Letter Words 3 words
5-Letter Words 14 words
4-Letter Words 10 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 30 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 30 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 30 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 133 ranks in the 20th percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2025-05-02.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 30 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 17th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2025-05-02.
- 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 Medium puzzles, based on overall difficulty scoring.
- Compared to recent puzzles, today’s challenge is easier than usual.
- The letter set in this puzzle is considered Medium, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2025-05-06.
- The estimated solve time of 21–29 min is faster than typical puzzles.
- Players can expect a steady solving experience.
Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List
Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:
- dorr
- drily
- droil
- drow
- irid
- liri
- loir
- loord
- loory
- lordlily
- lori
- lory
- lowry
- lyrid
- oord
- ordo
- orlo
- orly
- rilly
- riroriro
- rodd
- rodwood
- roid
- roily
- rollo
- rool
- rori
- rorid
- rory
- rowdydow
- rowdydowdy
- rowy
- wirily
- woodrow
- worldlily
- worldy
*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.