Spelling Bee Answers for Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Mar 17, 2026, Tuesday Spelling Bee Answers for the B, D, E, L, O, U, F honeycomb (center letter F) feature 41 words, a 173-point total, 1 Pangram (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 9-letter longest word: BEFUDDLED.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
9/10
Very Hard89th percentile
Avg Word Length
5.29
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
94/100
Very RareRarer than 94% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
45 minutes
Longer than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
11
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: E, UAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
18
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 121 ptsVowel Split
38%
Balanced mix83 vowels · 134 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start9 PTS
- 15%Moving Up26 PTS
- 25%Good43 PTS
- 40%Solid69 PTS
- 50%Nice87 PTS
- 60%Great104 PTS
- 65%Amazing112 PTS
- 70%Genius121 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee173 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 41 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Tuesday, March 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 1 word
8-Letter Words 2 words
7-Letter Words 4 words
6-Letter Words 11 words
5-Letter Words 6 words
4-Letter Words 17 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 41 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 41 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 41 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 173 ranks in the 39th percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2026-03-14.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 41 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 44th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2026-03-16.
- 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 Very 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 2026-03-15.
- The estimated solve time of 38–52 min is slower than typical puzzles.
- Players can expect a grind-heavy solving experience.
Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List
Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:
- befell
- befool
- befooled
- bodeful
- boff
- boof
- bouffe
- buffe
- buffle
- bufo
- deedful
- defoul
- delf
- doleful
- dueful
- duff
- duffed
- duffel
- duffle
- feeb
- feeble
- feed
- feeded
- fele
- felloe
- feod
- feoff
- feoffed
- feoffee
- feued
- flee
- flob
- flubdub
- flued
- fobbed
- fole
- foll
- foodful
- foud
- fubbed
- fuddle
- fuddled
- fuelled
- fuff
- fuffle
- fulfulde
- fulldo
- fulled
- leef
- loof
- olof
*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.