The NYT Spelling Bee for July 4, 2026, arrives on Independence Day with three pangrams to find rather than one, making this grid one of the more generous of the year. The center letter is B, the six surrounding letters are A, E, H, I, L, and T, and every valid word must include B at least once. All three pangrams require using the letter T more than once within the same word. If you have been at the honeycomb since midnight and need the full solution, every accepted answer is below.
Today’s Letters
Center: B. Outer ring: A, E, H, I, L, T. Every valid word must contain B, and each of the seven letters may be used more than once within the same word, which is the key to reaching the longer entries on the New York Times Spelling Bee today. The puzzle resets at midnight ET, so today’s window runs until then.
Hints Before the Reveal
Three pangrams, words that use all seven of today’s letters at least once, are hiding in this grid. BIATHLETE describes a winter Olympic competitor who alternates between cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. HABITABLE means fit for people to live in, and has been turning up in climate and housing conversations with growing frequency. The shortest pangram, HITTABLE, means capable of being struck and requires using T twice. If you have already found one of the three, the other two follow the same B-heavy construction through the available letters.
Today’s puzzle also rewards players willing to explore medical and legal vocabulary. TIBIA, LABIA, LIBEL, and the less common LIBELEE (the defendant in an admiralty court libel action) are all on the accepted list. Players focused only on everyday words are leaving points behind.
Full Answer List for July 4, 2026
Nine letters:
BIATHLETE, HABITABLE
Eight letters:
BEATABLE, BELITTLE, BILABIAL, BILLABLE, HATEABLE, HEALABLE, HEATABLE, HITTABLE
Seven letters:
HABITAT, LIBELEE
Six letters:
ABLATE, ALBEIT, BABBLE, BALLET, BATTLE, BEETLE, BILLET, BLITHE, LABIAL, LABILE, LIABLE, TABLET, TIBIAE, TIBIAL
Five letters:
ABATE, ALIBI, BABEL, BATHE, BELIE, BELLE, BETEL, BIBLE, BLEAT, HABIT, LABEL, LABIA, LIBEL, TABLA, TABLE, TIBIA
Four letters:
ABET, ABLE, BABA, BABE, BAHT, BAIL, BAIT, BALE, BALL, BATE, BATH, BEAT, BEET, BELL, BELT, BETA, BILE, BILL, BITE, BLAB, BLAH, BLAT
That accounts for 63 accepted words across all tiers. BIATHLETE is the one most players report missing longest; the sport is well known, but spelling out all nine letters correctly trips up solvers who pause on the A-T-H sequence. HABITABLE tends to surface once players start hunting adjectives ending in -ABLE and recognize that B can appear twice in the same word. HITTABLE, the shortest of the three pangrams, often gets skipped because it sounds too informal to belong in a Spelling Bee grid; it qualifies without any issue.
Yesterday’s NYT Spelling Bee for July 3 centered on the letter A, with DOORNAIL as the standout pangram, a word many players recognized instantly but second-guessed anyway. Today’s grid runs at roughly the same difficulty level, with the three pangrams making Queen Bee achievable without requiring deep archaic vocabulary. If you are also working through today’s other NYT word games, the NYT Strands answer for July 4 and the Wordle for July 4 are covered as well. The next Spelling Bee grid resets at midnight.
