Your Spelling Bee Companion for Thursday, July 23, 2026
A field guide for the F C D E N O U 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
40
Disputed Words
3
Pangrams
2
Score for Queen Bee
239
Genius estimate: 168 points
Verified Answers
40
Find every accepted word in today's puzzle
Pangrams
2
Use all seven letters
Disputed Words
3
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
Medium-high with a -ded flood and two long pangrams
F is the center letter, and this hive pays off when you stop chasing isolated fours and start building around repeated-F stems. The board is dense with -DED endings and UN- rebuilds, so the fastest path is to grow a few long families instead of sweeping every short F word first. Start by testing CO-, DE-, and FE- openings that can stretch into six letters or more before you come back for cleanup.
Verified answers
40
Max score
239
Genius
168
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.
239 possible points
Point Density
The current candidate pool estimates a Genius target around 168 points. Longer words matter more than raw word count.
40 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.
FE
8
words
UN
8
words
CO
5
words
FO
5
words
DE
4
words
OF
3
words
CU
2
words
DO
2
words
FU
2
words
DU
1
word
Score Planning
Word-Length Grid
Longer words carry more score. Clear them before the four-letter cleanup.
4 letters
9
one-point cleanup
5 letters
4
score-building row
6 letters
13
score-building row
7 letters
2
score-building row
8 letters
7
score-building row
9 letters
2
1 pangram
10 letters
3
1 pangram
Progressive Hint
First-Letter Counts
F
15
answers
U
8
answers
C
7
answers
D
7
answers
O
3
answers
Pattern Prompts
Work The Board Without Reveals
-DED finishers
This is the board's biggest scoring engine: once you spot a workable stem, test whether it can convert into a past-tense or finished form.
UN- rebuilds
UN- produces a full second wave of longer answers, so revisit strong F stems after you solve the core family.
CO/CON + founded shapes
The longest answers are built from a shared founding pattern, and they unlock the cleanest route to big points and pangrams.
Double-F tolerance
Repeated F is everywhere here, so do not reject a candidate just because it looks too doubled-up at first glance.
Short F stems that grow
Several modest four- and five-letter entries are really setup pieces for six- to ten-letter answers.
Common Prefixes
CO-
CO- is the gateway into the longest founded family on the board.
DE-
DE- anchors one of the richest scoring branches, especially once -D and -DED forms appear.
FE-
FE- generates both straightforward starters and longer continuations.
UN-
UN- is the best second-pass prefix once you have the main stems in view.
Common Suffixes
-DED
The repeated -DED ending is the strongest pattern on the board and worth checking against almost every viable stem.
-UND
The -UND cluster connects both short entries and longer extensions.
-FED
-FED shows up in both direct and prefixed forms, so it is a useful cleanup family.
-END
-END answers help bridge from medium words into longer defended forms.
Progressive Help
Pangram Hints
All-letter scan
Both pangrams are long and hinge on the same -FOUNDED backbone, so look for words that can carry C, O, N, D, E, and U around the required F.
Prefix nudge
One pangram begins with CO-, and the other adds an extra N after that opening before landing on the same ending.
Reveal pangrams
If you want the full all-letter answers, reveal them here.
Reveal words: cofounded, confounded
Spoiler Control
Notable Words
- confoundedPangram
- cofoundedPangram
- undefended10 pts
- unoffended10 pts
- defunded8 pts
- uncuffed8 pts
- coffee6 pts
- fecund6 pts
- unfounded9 pts
- confound8 pts
Why these matter
- cofounded
COFOUNDED is one of today's pangrams, and it shows how much this hive rewards repeated letters instead of punishing them.
- confounded
CONFOUNDED is the highest-value all-letter answer, so it is the biggest single target on the board.
- undefended
UNDEFENDED is a strong late-board pickup because it grows naturally from DEFEND once you revisit the UN- branch.
- unoffended
UNOFFENDED is another long conversion word that rewards checking whether a six-letter base can absorb both UN- and -ED.
- defunded
DEFUNDED captures the board's main -DED pattern and helps confirm that DE- is a profitable opening family.
- uncuffed
UNCUFFED is a good reminder that the doubled-F pattern is not a trap on this board; it is productive.
- coffee
COFFEE is only six letters, but it is a reliable early find because it trains you to accept repeated vowels and repeated F together.
- fecund
FECUND is the kind of less-obvious accepted word that separates a solid solve from a complete one.
Hard Finds
Tricky Accepted Words
- fecund
FECUND is easy to miss because it uses a less conversational letter mix than the louder founded family.
- fondue
FONDUE looks plausible only once you remember the board supports both the repeated vowel and the ending.
- cofound
COFOUND is a valuable bridge word because it points directly toward one of the pangram families.
- uncuffed
UNCUFFED is worth chasing once you trust the UN- rebuild pattern and the doubled F.
- undefended
UNDEFENDED is a major score jump that can hide behind the simpler DEFEND cluster.
- unoffended
UNOFFENDED is long but structurally tidy if you notice that OFFEND also extends cleanly.
Disputed Candidates
Plausible Rejections
- enfeoff
ENFEOFF fits the board's repeated-F habit and legal-word vibe, but it was not in the verified source list for this date.
- fennec
FENNEC looks like a clean FE- double-consonant fit, but today's accepted list did not include it.
- feoffee
FEOFFEE is a real-looking repeated-letter candidate, but it was not verified by the source answer set.
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.