Your Spelling Bee Companion for Monday, May 4, 2026
A field guide for the L F G H I T Y 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.
Today's Board
Verified Answers
27
Disputed Words
5
Pangrams
2
Score for Queen Bee
111
Genius estimate: 78 points
Verified Answers
27
Find every accepted word in today's source list
Pangrams
2
Use all seven letters
Disputed Words
5
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
Moderate
The L-center hive has 27 verified answers, 1 pangram, and a 111-point Queen Bee ceiling. Start with the longer L words and pattern families before cleaning up the 12 four-letter answers.
Verified answers
27
Max score
111
Genius
78
2 pangrams
Pangram Hunt
Start by forcing every letter into longer shapes before clearing short entries. Pangrams are the fastest way to move the score.
111 possible points
Point Density
The current candidate pool estimates a Genius target around 78 points. Longer words matter more than raw word count.
27 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: flighty, highlight, filthily, lightly, tightly.
- Use long-word stems before cleanup: There are 5 verified answers with seven or more letters. Work their stems first, because each one can be worth several short words. Examples: highlight, filthily, flighty, lightly, tightly.
- Group by recurring starts: The strongest two-letter openings give you a structured scan instead of a random search through the hive. Examples: fill, filly, filth, fitly, filthy.
- Save four-letter words for the last pass: 12 verified answers are four letters. They matter for Queen Bee, but they are low-value compared with pangrams and longer answers. Examples: fill, flit, gill, gilt, hill.
Common Prefixes
FI- starts
Several verified answers start with FI, making it a productive opening scan.
Examples: filly, filth, fitly, filthy, filthily
HI- starts
Several verified answers start with HI, making it a productive opening scan.
Examples: hilly, highly, highlight
FL- starts
Several verified answers start with FL, making it a productive opening scan.
Examples: flight, flighty
LI- starts
Several verified answers start with LI, making it a productive opening scan.
Examples: light, lightly
Common Suffixes
-GHT endings
The GHT ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.
Examples: light, flight, highlight
-TLY endings
The TLY ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.
Examples: fitly, lightly, tightly
-LLY endings
The LLY ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.
Examples: filly, hilly
-LTH endings
The LTH ending repeats across verified answers, so test it against the center letter and available stems.
Examples: filth, tilth
Progressive Help
Pangram Hints
Pangram 1
Look for a 7-letter answer that uses every letter in the hive and keeps L in the word.
Reveal words: flighty
Spoiler Control
Notable Words
- flightyPangram
- highlight9 pts
- filthily8 pts
- lightly7 pts
- tightly7 pts
- filthy6 pts
- flight6 pts
- giggly6 pts
- highly6 pts
- filly5 pts
Why these matter
- flighty
FLIGHTY is a pangram, so it uses all seven letters and earns the bonus on top of its 7-letter base score.
- highlight
HIGHLIGHT is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.
- filthily
FILTHILY is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.
- lightly
LIGHTLY is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.
- tightly
TIGHTLY is worth checking because repeated letters are allowed and often unlock accepted answers that a strict tile mindset misses.
- filthy
FILTHY is a useful verified answer for this hive and a good checkpoint when scanning L-center patterns.
Hard Finds
Tricky Accepted Words
- flighty
FLIGHTY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- highlight
HIGHLIGHT is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- filthily
FILTHILY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- lightly
LIGHTLY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- tightly
TIGHTLY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- filthy
FILTHY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- lily
LILY is verified for this date; keep it on the list even if it feels less obvious than the cleaner pattern words.
- till
TILL 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
- flightily
FLIGHTILY fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.
- fifthly
FIFTHLY fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.
- ghyll
GHYLL fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.
- thill
THILL fits the letters and BuzzyWords can generate it, but it was not in the verified source answer list for this puzzle.
- lith
LITH 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.