Spelling Bee Answers for Friday, October 17, 2025
Oct 17, 2025, Friday Spelling Bee Answers for the B, E, I, M, L, O, Z honeycomb (center letter L) feature 38 words, a 139-point total, 2 Pangrams (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 10-letter longest word: IMMOBILIZE.
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Friday, October 17, 2025 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
3/10
Medium25th percentile
Avg Word Length
4.95
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
30/100
UncommonRarer than 30% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
31 minutes
Quicker than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
12
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: ZAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
13
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 97 ptsVowel Split
45%
Balanced mix84 vowels · 104 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start7 PTS
- 15%Moving Up21 PTS
- 25%Good35 PTS
- 40%Solid56 PTS
- 50%Nice70 PTS
- 60%Great83 PTS
- 65%Amazing90 PTS
- 70%Genius97 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee139 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 38 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Friday, October 17, 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
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Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
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Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
10-Letter Words 1 word
8-Letter Words 3 words
7-Letter Words 1 word
6-Letter Words 3 words
5-Letter Words 9 words
4-Letter Words 21 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 38 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 38 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 38 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 139 ranks in the 23rd percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2025-10-13.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 38 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 36th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2025-10-14.
- 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 2025-10-16.
- The estimated solve time of 26–36 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*:
- belibel
- belime
- belli
- bello
- bemoil
- bemol
- bezil
- bezzle
- bibble
- bibl
- bilbie
- bilbo
- bilimbi
- billie
- bilo
- bilobe
- biol
- bleb
- blee
- bleeze
- blooie
- bobol
- bole
- bool
- elem
- elemi
- elemol
- elle
- emblemize
- embloom
- emboil
- embole
- emboli
- embolize
- emil
- izle
- leme
- lemel
- lezzie
- libellee
- lile
- lill
- limbi
- limbie
- lizzie
- lobi
- lobolo
- loli
- lolo
- lomilomi
- loob
- looie
- mele
- mell
- mille
- millie
- millieme
- millile
- millime
- millimol
- millimole
- milo
- mizzle
- mobil
- moble
- moile
- molle
- mollie
- mool
- obeli
- obelize
- obol
- obole
- oboli
- zill
- zizel
- zizzle
- zoll
*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.