NEW YORK: The NYT Spelling Bee hints for August 2, 2026, show 74 accepted words worth 406 points, with N as the centre letter and two pangrams.
The six outside letters are A, C, D, E, H and L, according to the official Spelling Bee Forum. Every accepted word must contain N and use only the seven available letters.
The puzzle also carries a bingo designation. That means its answer list contains at least one word beginning with each of the seven letters.
C starts 22 answers, the largest group. Meanwhile, six-letter words form the biggest length category, with 21 entries.
| Initial | 4 letters | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | 7 |
| C | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 22 |
| D | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| E | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | 8 |
| H | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 9 |
| L | 4 | 2 | 4 | — | — | — | 10 |
| N | 5 | — | 2 | 2 | — | — | 9 |
| Total | 16 | 12 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 74 |
The two-letter list is: AC-1, AD-2, AN-4; CA-12, CH-5, CL-5; DA-5, DE-4; EL-2, EN-6; HA-5, HE-4; LA-6, LE-4; NA-4 and NE-5. Players can use Spelling Bee Buddy for a live grid that updates as they find words.
