Spelling Bee
About Spelling Bee
If you’ve ever opened up The New York Times puzzle section, chances are you’ve spotted a bright little hive of letters. That’s Spelling Bee, a daily word challenge that blends vocabulary, logic, and just enough obsession to keep you coming back. The rules are simple to learn but surprisingly tough to master.
How the Hive Works
Every puzzle starts with seven letters arranged like a flower: six on the outside petals and one in the center. That center letter is special - you have to use it in every word you make. Words must be at least four letters long, and you’re free to use letters more than once. Sounds easy, right? Not always.
The game has boundaries: no obscure dictionary scraps, no hyphenated oddities, and definitely no proper nouns or swear words. You’re working with pure, clean wordplay here.
Scoring
Points are scored by length. A four-letter word is worth one point. You find a word that has more than 4 letters? You gain points equal to the letters in this word, which is massive. Hidden in every puzzle is at least one pangram, a word that uses all seven letters. Find it, and you’ll score big with a 7-point bonus on top.
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