NYT Spelling Bee Hints & Analysis

Tap or hover over a word to see its definition.

• acne an inflammatory disease involving the sebaceous glands of the skin; characterized by papules or pustules or comedones
• alcove a small recess opening off a larger room
• cacao tropical American tree producing cacao beans
• call call a meeting; invite or command to meet
• calla South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow spadix
• callaloo
• calve give birth to (a calf)
• canal provide (a city) with a canal
• cancan a high-kicking dance of French origin performed by a female chorus line
• cancel declare null and void; make ineffective
• cane beat with a cane
• canna any plant of the genus Canna having large sheathing leaves and clusters of large showy flowers
• cannon fire a cannon
• canoe travel by canoe
• canola vegetable oil made from rapeseed; it is high in monounsaturated fatty acids
• canon a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall
• cava
• cave hollow out as if making a cave or opening
• cell (biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; they may exist as independent units of life (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals
• cello a large stringed instrument; seated player holds it upright while playing
• clan group of people related by blood or marriage
• clave
• clean free of drugs
• cleave come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
• cloaca (zoology) the cavity (in birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes but not other mammals) at the end of the digestive tract into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open
• clonal of or relating to a clone
• clone make multiple identical copies of
• clove moderate sized very symmetrical red-flowered evergreen widely cultivated in the tropics for its flower buds which are source of cloves
• cloven (used of hooves) split, divided
• coal burn to charcoal
• coca a South American shrub whose leaves are chewed by natives of the Andes; a source of cocaine
• cocoa powder of ground roasted cacao beans with most of the fat removed
• cocoon retreat as if into a cocoon, as from an unfriendly environment
• coevolve
• cola carbonated drink flavored with extract from kola nuts
• colcannon
• colleen an Irish girl
• colon the basic unit of money in Costa Rica; equal to 100 centimos
• colonel a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines who ranks above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general
• concave curving inward
• conceal prevent from being seen or discovered
• conclave a confidential or secret meeting
• cone make cone-shaped
• convene meet formally
• convo
• cool marked by calm self-control (especially in trying circumstances); unemotional
• covalence valence characterized by the sharing of electrons in a chemical compound; the number of pairs of electrons an atom can share
• cove a small inlet
• coven an assembly of witches; usually 13 witches
• enclave an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct from the foreign territory that surrounds it
• enlace spin, wind, or twist together
• lace do lacework
• lance move quickly, as if by cutting one's way
• local relating to or applicable to or concerned with the administration of a city or town or district rather than a larger area
• locale the scene of any event or action (especially the place of a meeting)
• loco informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
• nacelle a streamlined enclosure for an aircraft engine
• neocon a conservative who subscribes to neoconservatism
• nonce the present occasion
• nonlocal
• ocean a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere
• once on one occasion
• valance a decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing
• valence (chemistry) a property of atoms or radicals; their combining power given in terms of the number of hydrogen atoms (or the equivalent)
• vocal given to expressing yourself freely or insistently
• volcano a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt