Today’s NYT Spelling Bee (Sunday, July 12, 2026) has center letter W and outer letters A, E, G, I, K, and N. The puzzle accepts 34 words in total and features three pangrams – AWAKENING, WEAKENING, and WAKENING – an unusually generous haul that gives solvers multiple paths to the Queen Bee title.
Three hints for today’s puzzle before the full list: the center letter W must appear in every word; the two nine-letter pangrams share the suffix -ENING; and the most common four-letter words include several familiar everyday terms built from the letters K, W, and double-E combinations.
Today’s Spelling Bee pangrams (July 12, 2026):
AWAKENING (9 letters, 16 points), WEAKENING (9 letters, 16 points), WAKENING (8 letters, 15 points).
Complete word list for NYT Spelling Bee, July 12, 2026 (34 words):
9 letters: AWAKENING, WEAKENING
8 letters: WAKENING
7 letters: AWAKING, GAWKING, GEEKING, KEENING, KINGING, KINKING, KNEEING, NANKEEN, WINKING
6 letters: AWAKEN, INKING, WAKING, WEAKEN
5 letters: AWAKE, EKING, WAKEN
4 letters: AKIN, GAWK, GEEK, KEEN, KING, KINK, KIWI, KNEE, KNEW, WAKE, WEAK, WEEK, WIKI, WINK
A few words worth noting on today’s board. NANKEEN is the trickiest seven-letter entry – a pale yellow cotton fabric originally woven in Nanjing, China, and a word that sits well outside everyday vocabulary. GEEKING (as in geeking out) and KINGING (advancing a checker piece to king rank) are both valid but easy to overlook if solvers are not thinking in verb forms. KIWI earns its place as a four-letter find, and WIKI – as in the collaborative web format – is accepted.
The three-pangram structure is the defining feature of today’s puzzle. AWAKENING and WEAKENING share the same eight-letter base – WAKENING – and all three use every letter in the hive. Solvers who find WAKENING first will spot the other two quickly by adding A or WEA- at the front. The letter set rewards players who think in -ING and -EN- patterns from the outset.
Yesterday’s NYT Spelling Bee (July 11, 2026) featured pangrams NUPTIAL and LILLIPUTIAN. Also published today: the Contexto answer for July 12, 2026 (game #1393, answer: IDIOM).
