Spelling Bee Answers for Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Dec 16, 2025, Tuesday Spelling Bee Answers for the W, A, R, N, H, O, T honeycomb (center letter T) feature 69 words, a 296-point total, 1 Pangram (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 9-letter longest word: ANNOTATOR, ARROWROOT, WARRANTOR.
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Tuesday, December 16, 2025 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
8/10
Hard81st percentile
Avg Word Length
5.32
Typical lengthAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
72/100
RareRarer than 72% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
66 minutes
Longer than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
21
Typical spreadUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
Yes
All 7 coveredAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
31
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 207 ptsVowel Split
34%
Consonant-heavy puzzle126 vowels · 241 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start15 PTS
- 15%Moving Up44 PTS
- 25%Good74 PTS
- 40%Solid118 PTS
- 50%Nice148 PTS
- 60%Great178 PTS
- 65%Amazing192 PTS
- 70%Genius207 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee296 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 69 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Tuesday, December 16, 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.
9-Letter Words 3 words
8-Letter Words 2 words
7-Letter Words 8 words
6-Letter Words 14 words
5-Letter Words 16 words
4-Letter Words 26 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 69 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 69 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 69 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 296 ranks in the 88th percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2025-12-15.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 69 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 98th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2025-12-15.
- 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 Medium, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2025-12-15.
- The estimated solve time of 56–76 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*:
- ananta
- anat
- anatron
- anatta
- anatto
- annat
- annotto
- anotta
- anta
- antar
- antara
- anton
- antra
- arnatta
- arnatto
- arnotta
- arnotto
- artha
- arthra
- arthron
- atar
- athanor
- atnah
- atta
- attn
- attorn
- awat
- hant
- hartwort
- hathor
- hatt
- hornwort
- nanowatt
- natator
- nathan
- nato
- natron
- natt
- nonnat
- nontan
- nota
- nowhat
- nowt
- oont
- orant
- orthant
- ortho
- ottar
- ottawa
- otto
- rata
- ratan
- rath
- rato
- ratoon
- ratton
- rattoon
- ratwa
- rort
- rota
- rotan
- roto
- rotta
- rowt
- taar
- taha
- taharah
- tahona
- tahr
- tana
- tanha
- tanna
- tano
- tanoa
- tanoan
- tantarara
- tanto
- tara
- tarantara
- tarata
- taratantara
- tarn
- tarr
- tartana
- tatar
- tath
- tathata
- tatoo
- tatta
- tawa
- tawn
- thana
- thanah
- thar
- thawn
- thon
- thoo
- thor
- thoro
- thoron
- thort
- thow
- thowt
- thro
- throatwort
- toat
- toatoa
- toho
- tonn
- tonto
- tooart
- toona
- toothwort
- tora
- toran
- torana
- toronto
- torot
- toroth
- torr
- totara
- toto
- totora
- totoro
- towan
- tran
- trant
- troat
- tron
- trona
- trow
- twana
- twat
- waratah
- warnoth
- warnt
- warth
- wartwort
- wath
- whatna
- whoot
- whort
- wonnot
- wrnt
- wroot
*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.