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BuzzyWords

Your Spelling Bee Companion for Saturday, May 16, 2026

A field guide for the A E H N O P T 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

aehnopt

Verified Answers

64

Disputed Words

34

Pangrams

3

Score for Queen Bee

286

Genius estimate: 200 points

Verified Answers

64

Find every accepted word in today's source list

Pangrams

3

Use all seven letters

Disputed Words

34

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

Generous

The A-center hive has 64 verified answers, 3 pangrams, and a 286-point Queen Bee ceiling. Start with the longer A words and pattern families before cleaning up the 26 four-letter answers.

Verified answers

64

Max score

286

Genius

200

3 pangrams

Pangram Hunt

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

286 possible points

Point Density

The current candidate pool estimates a Genius target around 200 points. Longer words matter more than raw word count.

64 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 3 pangrams, so the fastest route is to solve the all-letter shapes before sweeping short words. Examples: pantheon, phaeton, phonate, panettone, potentate.
  • Use long-word stems before cleanup: There are 15 verified answers with seven or more letters. Work their stems first, because each one can be worth several short words. Examples: panettone, potentate, annotate, antennae, pantheon.
  • Group by recurring starts: The strongest two-letter openings give you a structured scan instead of a random search through the hive. Examples: pane, pant, papa, pate, path.
  • Save four-letter words for the last pass: 26 verified answers are four letters. They matter for Queen Bee, but they are low-value compared with pangrams and longer answers. Examples: aeon, anon, ante, atop, hate.

Common Prefixes

  • PA- starts

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

    Examples: paean, patent, pantheon, patentee, panettone

  • AN- starts

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

    Examples: annatto, antenna, annotate, antennae

  • HE- starts

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

    Examples: heath, henna, heathen, heptane

  • NE- starts

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

    Examples: neath, neaten, neonate

Common Suffixes

  • -ATE endings

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

    Examples: notate, neonate, phonate, annotate, potentate

  • -ANE endings

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

    Examples: thane, ethane, heptane, pentane

  • -ANT endings

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

    Examples: natant, tenant, pennant

  • -TEN endings

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

    Examples: eaten, oaten, neaten

Progressive Help

Pangram Hints

Pangram 1

Look for a 7-letter answer that uses every letter in the hive and keeps A in the word.

Reveal words: phaeton

Pangram 2

Look for a 7-letter answer that uses every letter in the hive and keeps A in the word.

Reveal words: phonate

Pangram 3

Look for a 8-letter answer that uses every letter in the hive and keeps A in the word.

Reveal words: pantheon

Spoiler Control

Notable Words

Why these matter

  • phaeton

    PHAETON is a pangram, so it uses all seven letters and earns the bonus on top of its 7-letter base score.

  • phonate

    PHONATE is a pangram, so it uses all seven letters and earns the bonus on top of its 7-letter base score.

  • pantheon

    PANTHEON is a pangram, so it uses all seven letters and earns the bonus on top of its 8-letter base score.

  • panettone

    PANETTONE is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.

  • potentate

    POTENTATE is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.

  • annotate

    ANNOTATE is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.

  • antennae

    ANTENNAE is one of the board's long scoring answers; find this kind of shape before chasing one-point cleanup words.

Hard Finds

Tricky Accepted Words

  • phaeton

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

  • phonate

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

  • pantheon

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

  • panettone

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

  • potentate

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

  • annotate

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

  • antennae

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

  • teat

    TEAT 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

  • pahoehoe

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

  • naphtha

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

  • pennate

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

  • tannate

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

  • anatto

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

  • hapten

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

  • patten

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

  • tappet

    TAPPET 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.