Spelling Bee Answers for Friday, January 16, 2026
Jan 16, 2026, Friday Spelling Bee Answers for the A, M, L, F, E, I, C honeycomb (center letter C) feature 45 words, a 178-point total, 1 Pangram (1 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 8-letter longest word: CAMELLIA.
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Friday, January 16, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
4/10
Medium38th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.00
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
41/100
UncommonRarer than 41% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
37 minutes
Typical solveTo reach Genius
2LL
17
Typical spreadUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
Yes
All 7 coveredAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
20
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 125 ptsVowel Split
45%
Balanced mix102 vowels · 123 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start9 PTS
- 15%Moving Up27 PTS
- 25%Good45 PTS
- 40%Solid71 PTS
- 50%Nice89 PTS
- 60%Great107 PTS
- 65%Amazing116 PTS
- 70%Genius125 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee178 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 45 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Friday, January 16, 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
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Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
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Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
8-Letter Words 1 word
7-Letter Words 3 words
6-Letter Words 9 words
5-Letter Words 14 words
4-Letter Words 18 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 45 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 45 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 45 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 178 ranks in the 41st percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2026-01-15.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 45 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 54th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2026-01-15.
- 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 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 Low, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2026-01-14.
- The estimated solve time of 31–43 min is comparable 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*:
- acca
- accel
- acle
- acmaea
- acmic
- aecia
- aecial
- aface
- alcaic
- alce
- alec
- alice
- alicia
- allelic
- allice
- amic
- amical
- amice
- amici
- caama
- caca
- cace
- caeca
- caecal
- caff
- caffa
- caffeic
- caffle
- cafila
- caimacam
- calami
- calc
- calcaemia
- calcemia
- calcic
- calcific
- calicle
- calif
- calli
- calmecac
- camaca
- camail
- camelia
- camilla
- ceca
- cecal
- cecil
- cecile
- cecilia
- ceil
- cele
- celia
- cella
- cellae
- cicala
- cicale
- cilice
- cill
- cima
- cimelia
- clallam
- cleam
- clem
- ecca
- ecce
- eccl
- elec
- elfic
- ellice
- emic
- facia
- facie
- faecal
- falcial
- famelic
- fecial
- felicific
- fellic
- femcee
- femic
- fica
- fice
- ficelle
- filical
- filicic
- filmic
- flic
- flicflac
- iceleaf
- ileac
- imamic
- laccic
- laceleaf
- lamaic
- licca
- limace
- macaca
- macle
- mafic
- malacca
- malacia
- malefical
- malefice
- maleficial
- maleic
- meece
- melic
- mellific
- micell
- micella
- micellae
- micelle
- micmac
- milice
- mimical
*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.