Spelling Bee Answers for Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Feb 17, 2026, Tuesday Spelling Bee Answers for the G, W, O, N, I, L, P honeycomb (center letter P) feature 52 words, a 288-point total, 2 Pangrams (1 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 9-letter longest word: LOLLOPING, PILLOWING, PINIONING.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
8/10
Hard84th percentile
Avg Word Length
6.08
Typical lengthAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
81/100
Very RareRarer than 81% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
50 minutes
Longer than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
10
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: IAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
26
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 202 ptsVowel Split
36%
Consonant-heavy puzzle113 vowels · 203 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start14 PTS
- 15%Moving Up43 PTS
- 25%Good72 PTS
- 40%Solid115 PTS
- 50%Nice144 PTS
- 60%Great173 PTS
- 65%Amazing187 PTS
- 70%Genius202 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee288 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 52 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Tuesday, February 17, 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.
9-Letter Words 3 words
8-Letter Words 4 words
7-Letter Words 17 words
6-Letter Words 12 words
5-Letter Words 2 words
4-Letter Words 14 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 52 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 52 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 52 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 288 ranks in the 86th percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2026-02-16.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 52 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 74th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2026-02-15.
- 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 2026-02-16.
- The estimated solve time of 42–58 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*:
- gipping
- gippo
- gollop
- golp
- gowpin
- ipil
- lipin
- lwop
- ningpo
- nippling
- nippon
- noop
- oping
- pigg
- piggin
- pigling
- pignoli
- piing
- pili
- pilin
- pilon
- pingo
- pino
- pinon
- pion
- pipi
- pipil
- pipping
- pogonion
- pogonip
- polliwig
- polloi
- ponging
- pongo
- poon
- poppling
- powwowing
- wollop
*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.