Which dictionary does this use, and why do the answers differ from the puzzle's?

The tool uses ENABLE, a public domain list of 172,823 words. Each displayed word obeys your letters and minimum length. It does not use a published puzzle’s curated answers, so a word here may be rejected by that puzzle and an accepted puzzle word may be absent here.

What counts as a pangram here?

A pangram uses all seven distinct letters at least once. Pangrams appear first and also remain in their word-length group. If none fits your letters in ENABLE, no pangram row appears.

Does every word have to contain the centre letter?

Yes, and that is the rule that makes a Spelling Bee different from an anagram. A word qualifies only when the centre letter appears in it, so a word made entirely from the six outside letters is left out even though every letter it uses is on the honeycomb. The centre hexagon is filled in the accent colour to keep that visible while you work, and the chip beside the comb names the required letter in words. If you want to see what a different required letter yields, choose any outside hexagon: it becomes the centre and the old centre moves to the hexagon you chose.

Can a letter be used more than once in a word?

Yes. The letters form a permitted set, rather than tiles that get used up. For centre L with A, G, N, I, T and O outside, TOLLING may use L twice and INTAGLIO may use I twice. The seven honeycomb letters themselves must be different.

Can this solve today’s or yesterday’s NYT Spelling Bee?

You can enter the seven letters from any day and find words in ENABLE, but this page does not fetch today’s letters, yesterday’s puzzle or the New York Times answer list. Its results are dictionary suggestions, not an official or complete list of accepted NYT answers.

What does the minimum length control change?

Choose a minimum of four, five or six letters. Raising it removes shorter groups from the list. Every remaining word still contains the centre letter and uses only the seven permitted letters.

Is anything I type uploaded?

No. The page makes one request, to this site, for the word list, and it makes that request when you first solve rather than when the page loads, so reading the page costs nothing. Your seven letters are matched against the list inside your browser, so there is no search history to keep and nothing to send. Once the list is in memory, solving carries on working with the network switched off. The letters and the minimum length are remembered in this browser so the page opens where you left it, and Start over at the top of the page forgets them.

Why does the first solve download a file, and how big is it?

The first solve fetches this site’s 1.7 MB ENABLE dictionary file. Later solves reuse the in-memory list for the current session. If the request fails, Try again requests the file once more.

Spelling Bee Solver

Enter one required centre letter and six different outside letters, then choose Solve. Find ENABLE dictionary words and pangrams, grouped by length. Letters may repeat within a word. Choose an outside hexagon to make it the required letter.

Solve any Spelling Bee

Type the centre letter and the six around it, and every word the ENABLE list allows appears, grouped by length, with the pangrams first.

All 172,823 ENABLE wordsSolved in your browserNo account, nothing uploadedPangrams called out first

Honeycomb: the centre letter and the six outside letters are empty. Type them into the two fields below.

Centre

Outside

Minimum length

A word counts when it contains the centre letter, uses only these 7 letters and is at least 4 letters long. Letters may be reused as often as the word needs. The ENABLE list, 1.7 MB, downloads once when you first solve and every answer after that is worked out in this browser.

Three rules, and nothing else. A Spelling Bee word is at least four letters long, contains the centre letter, and uses only the seven letters on the honeycomb. Letters repeat as often as you like, which is why TOLLING is legal on a comb with one L. A word that uses all seven at least once is a pangram, and published puzzles are normally built around one, so it is usually worth hunting for.

Accuracy. Every word shown satisfies the rules you typed in: it contains the centre letter, uses only your seven letters and is at least the length you set. The word list is ENABLE, a public domain dictionary of 172,823 words, and not any puzzle's own answer list, so a word here may be rejected there and a word it accepts may be missing here.

Common questions

Which dictionary does this use, and why do the answers differ from the puzzle's?: The tool uses ENABLE, a public domain list of 172,823 words. Each displayed word obeys your letters and minimum length. It does not use a published puzzle’s curated answers, so a word here may be rejected by that puzzle and an accepted puzzle word may be absent here.
What counts as a pangram here?: A pangram uses all seven distinct letters at least once. Pangrams appear first and also remain in their word-length group. If none fits your letters in ENABLE, no pangram row appears.
Does every word have to contain the centre letter?: Yes, and that is the rule that makes a Spelling Bee different from an anagram. A word qualifies only when the centre letter appears in it, so a word made entirely from the six outside letters is left out even though every letter it uses is on the honeycomb. The centre hexagon is filled in the accent colour to keep that visible while you work, and the chip beside the comb names the required letter in words. If you want to see what a different required letter yields, choose any outside hexagon: it becomes the centre and the old centre moves to the hexagon you chose.
Can a letter be used more than once in a word?: Yes. The letters form a permitted set, rather than tiles that get used up. For centre L with A, G, N, I, T and O outside, TOLLING may use L twice and INTAGLIO may use I twice. The seven honeycomb letters themselves must be different.
Can this solve today’s or yesterday’s NYT Spelling Bee?: You can enter the seven letters from any day and find words in ENABLE, but this page does not fetch today’s letters, yesterday’s puzzle or the New York Times answer list. Its results are dictionary suggestions, not an official or complete list of accepted NYT answers.
What does the minimum length control change?: Choose a minimum of four, five or six letters. Raising it removes shorter groups from the list. Every remaining word still contains the centre letter and uses only the seven permitted letters.
Is anything I type uploaded?: No. The page makes one request, to this site, for the word list, and it makes that request when you first solve rather than when the page loads, so reading the page costs nothing. Your seven letters are matched against the list inside your browser, so there is no search history to keep and nothing to send. Once the list is in memory, solving carries on working with the network switched off. The letters and the minimum length are remembered in this browser so the page opens where you left it, and Start over at the top of the page forgets them.
Why does the first solve download a file, and how big is it?: The first solve fetches this site’s 1.7 MB ENABLE dictionary file. Later solves reuse the in-memory list for the current session. If the request fails, Try again requests the file once more.

Every word shown satisfies the rules you typed in: it contains the centre letter, uses only your seven letters and is at least the length you set. The word list is ENABLE, a public domain dictionary of 172,823 words, and not any puzzle's own answer list, so a word here may be rejected there and a word it accepts may be missing here.