All 20 valid words for the NYT Spelling Bee. Center letter: R.
💬 Join the discussionHeads up — this shows the hardest word of the day.
September 9, 2026 brought one of the harder NYT Spelling Bee: 20 valid words, every single one containing the center letter R.
With only 20 valid words, this puzzle had a smaller word pool than average, which often makes it trickier to reach Genius. The outer letters were I, L, N, O, P, U, and the longest answer aside from the pangram ran 7 letters for 7 points. Reaching Genius required 42 points out of a possible 60; see how this compares in the full answers archive.
The pangram used all 7 letters for 14 points — the highest-scoring word of the day (tap the spoiler above if you want it). If pangrams are where you get stuck, the pangram-spotting guide walks through the letter patterns that give them away.
Prefer to solve it yourself? Get spoiler-free hints for today's Spelling Bee instead — the words grouped by starting letter and length, with a nudge toward the pangram, so nothing is spoiled until you ask.
Not ready to spoil the whole puzzle? The grid below shows how many of the September 9, 2026 answers start with each letter and how long they run, and the two-letter list gives the count for each opening pair. It is the fastest way to close out the last few words without seeing every answer.
| Start \ Len | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1 | 1 | · | · | 2 |
| N | 2 | · | · | · | 2 |
| P | 6 | 3 | · | 2 | 11 |
| R | 4 | · | · | · | 4 |
| U | · | · | 1 | · | 1 |
| Total | 13 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
IN1IR1NO2PO4PR4PU3RI1RO2RU1UN1
Spoiler warning — the complete answer list is below.
Definitions for the September 9, 2026 answers — so you know exactly what you found, or what you missed. Pangrams are marked ★.
Spoiler warning — every answer word is spelled out and defined below.
Word definitions from WordNet® 3.1, Princeton University.
The players who find PRONOUN and UNROLL consistently know their Latin and Greek roots. These books teach the exact system that unlocks words like PURLOIN before you ever see the puzzle.
How did today go? Share your progress, favorite finds, or where you got stuck. Be kind — no spoilers-shaming.
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