Spelling Bee Game rules and scoring
A complete reference for how the Spelling Bee Game works on spellingbeegame.com - word requirements, scoring, and the full rank ladder.
Word requirements
- Minimum length: 4 letters.
- Must include the highlighted center letter.
- Only the 7 letters on the board may be used; letters may be reused.
- Must be present in our curated English dictionary.
Pangrams
A pangram uses all 7 letters at least once. Every Spelling Bee puzzle contains at least one pangram, and finding it grants a 7-point bonus on top of the normal length score. Some puzzles have multiple pangrams.
Scoring formula
| Word length | Base points | Pangram bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 4 letters | 1 | +7 if pangram |
| 5 letters | 5 | +7 if pangram |
| 6 letters | 6 | +7 if pangram |
| N letters (N >= 5) | N | +7 if pangram |
The rank ladder
Ranks are computed as a percentage of the maximum score for the puzzle - so the difficulty of the puzzle does not affect which rank label you can reach, only the raw point totals required.
- Beginner0%
- Good Start2%
- Moving Up5%
- Good8%
- Solid15%
- Nice25%
- Great40%
- Amazing50%
- Genius70%
- Queen Bee100%
Excluded words
- Proper nouns (names, places, brands).
- Abbreviations and initialisms.
- Offensive slurs.
- Highly obscure archaisms that frustrate without rewarding.
Read the how-to-play guide or jump straight into the Daily Puzzle.