Your Spelling Bee Companion for Thursday, July 9, 2026
A field guide for the V B D E I M O hive: how many words to look for, where the big points are hiding, and full answer lists only when you decide you are ready to reveal them.
Today's Board
Verified Answers
24
Disputed Words
1
Pangrams
2
Score for Queen Bee
128
Genius estimate: 90 points
Verified Answers
24
Find every accepted word in today's puzzle
Pangrams
2
Use all seven letters
Disputed Words
1
Real-looking words to treat with caution
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
Tight board with two pangram jackpots and heavy V-driven repeats
The V-centered hive is compact, with only 24 verified answers, but it hides two all-letter payoffs and several repeated-letter builds. Start by stretching DI- and VI- stems instead of fishing for isolated four-letter words, because this board rewards ladders like DIVE into longer verified forms. Keep an eye on doubled letters, especially when a clean base word suddenly wants another V or O.
Verified answers
24
Max score
128
Genius
90
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.
128 possible points
Point Density
The current candidate pool estimates a Genius target around 90 points. Longer words matter more than raw word count.
24 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.
Spoiler-Light Scan
Two-Letter Start Counts
Use these starts as a checklist without revealing full answers.
DI
7
words
VI
6
words
MO
3
words
VO
3
words
BO
1
word
DE
1
word
DO
1
word
IV
1
word
OV
1
word
Score Planning
Word-Length Grid
Longer words carry more score. Clear them before the four-letter cleanup.
4 letters
6
one-point cleanup
5 letters
9
score-building row
6 letters
4
score-building row
7 letters
3
score-building row
8 letters
1
1 pangram
10 letters
1
1 pangram
Progressive Hint
First-Letter Counts
D
9
answers
V
9
answers
M
3
answers
B
1
answer
I
1
answer
O
1
answer
Pattern Prompts
Work The Board Without Reveals
DI- ladder
This is the board's deepest scoring lane, growing from simple entries into both pangrams and the trickiest repeated-letter forms.
Pangram extension
Once you see the eight-letter all-letter build, keep pushing it because the same skeleton extends into the ten-letter jackpot.
VI / VID cluster
The VI opening carries more than cleanup words; it also unlocks the board's cleanest mid-value sequence.
Repeated letters matter
You cannot play this board like a no-repeat hive. Several of the best verified words reuse V or O aggressively.
Save short words for cleanup
There are only a handful of four-letter answers, so the fastest path to Genius is through the longer V-heavy families first.
Common Prefixes
DI-
DI- is the main expansion lane on this board and carries both pangrams plus several useful follow-ups.
VI-
VI- produces a compact but valuable family that mixes cleanup words with a strong mid-tier scoring run.
VO-
VO- is where repeated vowels become productive instead of suspicious.
MO-
MO- is short, but it is still worth a dedicated pass because it chains cleanly into the movie branch.
Common Suffixes
-ED
Past-tense endings do a lot of work here and often mark the easiest way to stretch a confirmed base word into extra points.
-IED
This board accepts IED endings in more places than you might expect, including one of the trickiest repeated-letter words.
-OID
The OID ending is a small but memorable lane that helps separate the source-backed set from plausible-looking leftovers.
Progressive Help
Pangram Hints
All-letter shape
One pangram starts from the plain DIVE stem, then adds the remaining consonant pair to turn it into an eight-letter strike.
Push the first pangram
After you find the shorter pangram, do not stop. The same skeleton accepts a past-tense extension for the board's top score.
Reveal words: divebomb, divebombed
Bonus nudge
Both pangrams keep V active early and ask you to reuse O rather than treat it as a one-time vowel.
Spoiler Control
Notable Words
- divebombedPangram
- divebombPangram
- divided7 pts
- divvied7 pts
- videoed7 pts
- voodoo6 pts
- devoid6 pts
- divide6 pts
- voided6 pts
- bovid5 pts
Why these matter
- divebombed
DIVEBOMBED is the biggest score on the board and turns the shorter pangram into a second, rarer jackpot.
- divebomb
DIVEBOMB is the first all-letter breakthrough and the cleanest route to a fast score jump.
- divvied
DIVVIED is easy to miss because the doubled V looks excessive, but this board repeatedly rewards that kind of echo.
- videoed
VIDEOED is strategically useful because it confirms both the VIDEO stem and the board's willingness to accept stacked vowels around V.
- voodoo
VOODOO is a classic repeated-vowel trap word that pays off once you stop treating O reuse as suspicious.
- divided
DIVIDED is a strong bridge word: if you find DIVIDE early, this extension should be one of your first follow-ups.
Hard Finds
Tricky Accepted Words
- bovid
BOVID is easy to skip because it looks specialist, but it is fully accepted and helps you confirm the board's OVID shape.
- devoid
DEVOID is valuable because it stretches the DE- opening into one of the board's cleaner six-letter scores.
- divvied
DIVVIED is the most obvious repeated-letter trap on the board; if you resist the second V, you miss it.
- ivied
IVIED is short enough to overlook, but it is a legitimate extension once you accept the IED ending family.
- ovoid
OVOID feels technical, but it is a real accepted word and a useful reminder that OID is live here.
- videoed
VIDEOED is strategically important because it proves the board will accept the full VIDEO stem plus a clean tense extension.
Disputed Candidates
Plausible Rejections
- vide
VIDE fits the letters cleanly and stays publicly indexable in BuzzyWords, but it was not in today's verified source answer list.
Answer Vault
All The Words You Need And A Few You Don't.
Trusted words are your safest answer list. Disputed words are real-looking candidates that may not count in the curated puzzle, but they can still be useful for review.