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BuzzyWords

Your Spelling Bee Companion for Friday, May 1, 2026

A field guide for the L C D E H I K hive: how many words you need, strategies for finding them, and (if you turn hint mode off) the full word lists you need to reach Genius and Queen Bee today.

Open SolverArchive

Today's Board

lcdehik

Verified Answers

49

Disputed Words

13

Pangrams

1

Score for Queen Bee

212

Genius estimate: 148 points

Verified Answers

49

Find every accepted word in today's source list

Pangrams

1

Use all seven letters

Disputed Words

13

In our dictionary but not the Spelling Bee list

Puzzle Snapshot

Solve The Hive Before The Spoilers

This page is currently in hint mode: you get the board, counts, estimated score targets, and strategy prompts without answer words. Reveal specific words only when you are ready to check your solve.

Today's Read

Balanced

The L-center hive has 49 verified answers, 1 pangram, and a 212-point Queen Bee ceiling. Start with the longer L words and pattern families before cleaning up the 18 four-letter answers.

Verified answers

49

Max score

212

Genius

148

1 pangram

Pangram Hunt

Start by forcing every letter into longer shapes before clearing short entries. Pangrams are the fastest way to move the score.

212 possible points

Point Density

The current candidate pool estimates a Genius target around 148 points. Longer words matter more than raw word count.

49 verified answers

Queen Bee Path

Use the word lists below to scoop up every point you need to reach Queen Bee.

Study mode

Definition Pass

Click unfamiliar words to reveal their definitions and cement them in your memory for next time.

Pattern Prompts

Work The Board Without Reveals

  • Start with the biggest point swings: This board has 1 pangram, so the fastest route is to solve the all-letter shapes before sweeping short words. Examples: childlike, chilled, cichlid, cliched, clicked.
  • Use long-word stems before cleanup: There are 8 verified answers with seven or more letters. Work their stems first, because each one can be worth several short words. Examples: childlike, chilled, cichlid, cliched, clicked.
  • Group by recurring starts: The strongest two-letter openings give you a structured scan instead of a random search through the hive. Examples: lice, lick, lied, like, liked.
  • Save four-letter words for the last pass: 18 verified answers are four letters. They matter for Queen Bee, but they are low-value compared with pangrams and longer answers. Examples: cell, deli, dell, dill, heel.

Common Prefixes

  • CH- starts

    Several verified answers start with CH, making it a productive opening scan.

    Examples: child, chili, chill, chicle, chilled

  • CL- starts

    Several verified answers start with CL, making it a productive opening scan.

    Examples: click, cliche, cliched, clicked

  • HE- starts

    Several verified answers start with HE, making it a productive opening scan.

    Examples: heckle, heeled, heckled

  • LI- starts

    Several verified answers start with LI, making it a productive opening scan.

    Examples: liked, licked, lidded

Common Suffixes

  • -LED endings

    The LED ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.

    Examples: idled, celled, heeled, hilled, keeled

  • -KED endings

    The KED ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.

    Examples: liked, licked, clicked

  • -CLE endings

    The CLE ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.

    Examples: chicle, icicle

  • -DED endings

    The DED ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.

    Examples: elided, lidded

Progressive Help

Pangram Hints

Pangram 1

Look for a 9-letter answer that uses every letter in the hive and keeps L in the word.

Reveal words: childlike

Spoiler Control

Notable Words

Why these matter

  • childlike

    CHILDLIKE is a pangram, so it uses all seven letters and earns the bonus on top of its 9-letter base score.

  • chilled

    CHILLED is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.

  • cichlid

    CICHLID is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.

  • cliched

    CLICHED is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.

  • clicked

    CLICKED is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.

  • diddled

    DIDDLED is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.

Hard Finds

Tricky Accepted Words

  • childlike

    CHILDLIKE is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • chilled

    CHILLED is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • cichlid

    CICHLID is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • cliched

    CLICHED is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • clicked

    CLICKED is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • diddled

    DIDDLED is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • lick

    LICK is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

  • lied

    LIED is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.

Disputed Candidates

Plausible Rejections

  • ceilidh

    CEILIDH fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • eellike

    EELLIKE fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • killick

    KILLICK fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • childe

    CHILDE fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • cilice

    CILICE fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • decile

    DECILE fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • heddle

    HEDDLE fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

  • leched

    LECHED fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.

Answer Vault

All The Words You Need And A Few You Don't.

Trusted words are those you'll need to solve the puzzle. Disputed words are the ones we found in our dictionary that don't appear in the Spelling Bee's curated list. But we thought you might like to see them anyway.