Spelling Bee Answers for Sunday, January 04, 2026
Jan 04, 2026, Sunday Spelling Bee Answers for the A, R, L, I, M, Y, F honeycomb (center letter F) feature 42 words, a 201-point total, 1 Pangram (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 10-letter longest word: FAMILIARLY.
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Sunday, January 4, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
7/10
Hard68th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.55
Typical lengthAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
73/100
RareRarer than 73% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
40 minutes
Typical solveTo reach Genius
2LL
11
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: L, YAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
20
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 141 ptsVowel Split
34%
Consonant-heavy puzzle80 vowels · 153 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start10 PTS
- 15%Moving Up30 PTS
- 25%Good50 PTS
- 40%Solid80 PTS
- 50%Nice101 PTS
- 60%Great121 PTS
- 65%Amazing131 PTS
- 70%Genius141 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee201 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 42 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Sunday, January 4, 2026. 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.
10-Letter Words 1 word
8-Letter Words 5 words
7-Letter Words 2 words
6-Letter Words 12 words
5-Letter Words 9 words
4-Letter Words 13 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 42 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 42 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 42 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 201 ranks in the 53rd percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2026-01-02.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 42 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 48th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2026-01-02.
- 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 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 2026-01-03.
- The estimated solve time of 34–46 min is comparable 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*:
- afara
- affy
- airify
- alfa
- alfilaria
- alif
- faff
- faffy
- fairily
- fala
- falla
- fallal
- fama
- familia
- familiary
- farfara
- farl
- farmy
- fayal
- fiar
- fila
- filar
- filaria
- filarial
- fili
- filla
- filmily
- firry
- firy
- flam
- flamy
- flary
- fram
- frary
- friarly
- frillily
- frim
- maffia
- mayfair
- miffy
- raff
- rarify
- riffi
- rifi
- yaff
- yaffil
*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.