Find every word and the pangram. The patterns and habits that take you from Solid to Genius — and all the way to Queen Bee.
You’re given seven letters arranged in a honeycomb, with one center letter. Build as many words as you can (four letters or longer), and every word must use the center letter. Letters can repeat. Each puzzle has at least one pangram — a word that uses all seven letters — worth a big bonus. You climb a ranking from Beginner up to Genius (about 70% of the total points) and finally Queen Bee (every word). Genius is the realistic target; Queen Bee takes patience.
The pangram uses all seven letters at least once, so start by reading the unusual letters. If the set includes a rare letter like G, C, P, B or Y, ask what common word shape would need it. Pangrams very often hide common suffixes: words ending in -ING, -IER, -IEST, -TION, -MENT, or -ABLE. If you have the letters for -ING plus a center letter, try building a verb and tacking it on.
Another reliable move: write the seven letters out and consciously try to use each one exactly once. The brain wants to drop the awkward letter — forcing it in is how most pangrams reveal themselves.
Most of your word count comes from systematically applying affixes to a base. Once you find a valid root, test every legal variation:
Example pattern: from a root like FORM you might reach FORMING, FORMED, REFORM, INFORM, and more — if the day’s letters support them. One good base word can be worth five entries.
Since every word must contain the center letter, treat it as a fixed anchor and cycle the other six around it. Say the center letter is T: probe common positions — words starting with T, words ending in T, and the high-value -TION ending. Going position by position is far more thorough than free-associating.
Also lean into repeated letters. A single letter can appear many times in one word (think double consonants), and the Bee loves to reward words that reuse the same letter.
The Bee’s dictionary is curated and sometimes surprising — common words can be missing while old-fashioned ones count. Don’t take a rejection personally; just move on and keep feeding it variations.
To reach Genius reliably: lock the pangram early for its bonus, sweep every four-letter combination using the center letter, then squeeze the long words by stacking affixes. Four-letter words are worth one point each; longer words score by length, so a single seven- or eight-letter find can jump your rank. When you stall near Genius, step away for an hour — fresh eyes catch the words you skimmed past.
Hit a wall? Our Spelling Bee Solver generates valid words from the seven letters and flags the pangram, and the Word Unscrambler is handy for untangling a stubborn letter set. For today’s puzzle, see our Spelling Bee hints page.