Spelling Bee Summary January 2026
In the month of January 2026, 14 words were added to the Bee lexicon, and 4 words were discontinued, for a net gain of 10 words.
Here's a summary of what came and went, along with a few notes about the month’s pangrams; the rates at which the E+D and I+N+G combinations and the BINGO characteristic appeared; center letter distribution, the complete lists of pangrams and words added and removed, and much more.
Here's a summary of what came and went, along with a few notes about the month’s pangrams; the rates at which the E+D and I+N+G combinations and the BINGO characteristic appeared; center letter distribution, the complete lists of pangrams and words added and removed, and much more.
If you cite information from any LexiConnexxions report, please give credit and a link to the relevant page. These reports and analyses are compiled and prepared by a person, not a machine. Thank you.
Commentary and Analysis
As reported in LexiConnexxions’ Spelling Bee 2025 Annual Summary, there has been a steep decline in the rate at which new words are added to the Spelling Bee lexicon. This trend continued in January, and in fact, January saw the fewest words added since LexiConnexxions began tracking this information in 2023.
Only 14 words were added during January, following similarly low numbers in November 2025 (19) and December 2025 (20); these are all markedly lower than the monthly averages of new words added in 2025 (42.33), 2024 (42.33), and 2023 (59.25).
Also in the 2025 report, we noted that “The Bee of 2025-10-22 was built on a new pangram TOXICOLOGIC but unlike as in most (all?) such cases when a new pangram is introduced, no new words (other than the pangram) were generated for the Bee lexicon. This is the first time that LexiConnexxions has observed this phenomenon.”
This happened for a second time with the Bee of 2026-01-18, which introduced three new pangrams (ADDICTING DICTATING INDICATING) that generated no other new words for the lexicon.
Half (7 of 14) of the new words added in January were simply new forms of words already in the lexicon (e.g., OKAYING, the participle form of Bee word OKAY).
Most Bees are based on recycled pangrams. Of the 31 Bees in January, only 3 (09.68%) were based on new pangrams; this is a significant drop from the rates in 2025 (23.56%) and 2024 (19.95%).
Together, these observations suggest that we are feeling the limits of the Bee rules by which pangrams are selected and by which new words are generated. The exclusion of words that include letter S, or the letters E and R together may be a factor. Perhaps the introduction in 2025 of two Bees that included S might have been a means of testing the waters for more S puzzles.
Only 14 words were added during January, following similarly low numbers in November 2025 (19) and December 2025 (20); these are all markedly lower than the monthly averages of new words added in 2025 (42.33), 2024 (42.33), and 2023 (59.25).
Also in the 2025 report, we noted that “The Bee of 2025-10-22 was built on a new pangram TOXICOLOGIC but unlike as in most (all?) such cases when a new pangram is introduced, no new words (other than the pangram) were generated for the Bee lexicon. This is the first time that LexiConnexxions has observed this phenomenon.”
This happened for a second time with the Bee of 2026-01-18, which introduced three new pangrams (ADDICTING DICTATING INDICATING) that generated no other new words for the lexicon.
Half (7 of 14) of the new words added in January were simply new forms of words already in the lexicon (e.g., OKAYING, the participle form of Bee word OKAY).
Most Bees are based on recycled pangrams. Of the 31 Bees in January, only 3 (09.68%) were based on new pangrams; this is a significant drop from the rates in 2025 (23.56%) and 2024 (19.95%).
Together, these observations suggest that we are feeling the limits of the Bee rules by which pangrams are selected and by which new words are generated. The exclusion of words that include letter S, or the letters E and R together may be a factor. Perhaps the introduction in 2025 of two Bees that included S might have been a means of testing the waters for more S puzzles.
Summary of Ins and Outs
In the month of January 2026, 14 words were added to the Bee lexicon, and 04 words were discontinued, for a net gain of 10 words.
12 new words were added that had never been used before, nor previously disallowed (IN)02 words were added that had been previously disallowed (OUT-IN)00 words that had been earlier allowed, then disallowed, were allowed again (IN-OUT-IN)00 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed, then allowed again (OUT-IN-OUT-IN)-----14 total words added
- 3 words that had been previously allowed, now disallowed (IN-OUT)- 1 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed again (OUT-IN-OUT)- 0 words that had been allowed, then disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed again (IN-OUT-IN-OUT)- 0 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed (OUT-IN-OUT-IN-OUT)------ 4 total words removed
Net gain: 10 words
Words were added (or restored) on 05 days this month.Words were removed on 02 days this month.No words were added or removed on 24 days this month.
12 new words were added that had never been used before, nor previously disallowed (IN)02 words were added that had been previously disallowed (OUT-IN)00 words that had been earlier allowed, then disallowed, were allowed again (IN-OUT-IN)00 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed, then allowed again (OUT-IN-OUT-IN)-----14 total words added
- 3 words that had been previously allowed, now disallowed (IN-OUT)- 1 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed again (OUT-IN-OUT)- 0 words that had been allowed, then disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed again (IN-OUT-IN-OUT)- 0 words that had been disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed (OUT-IN-OUT-IN-OUT)------ 4 total words removed
Net gain: 10 words
Words were added (or restored) on 05 days this month.Words were removed on 02 days this month.No words were added or removed on 24 days this month.
WORD COUNTS, BINGO, -ING, -ED
CENTER LETTERS
PER-PUZZLE WORD COUNTS Highest: 69 Lowest: 20 Average (Mean): 45.52 Median: 43 Mode(s): 43
The E+D combination was present in 6 of 31 puzzles (19.35%)The I+N+G combination was present in 4 of 31 puzzles (12.90%).The BINGO characteristic was present in 13 of 31 puzzles (41.94%)
I+N+G and E+D did not appear together in any Bee this month. That occurs only rarely, as reported HERE.
The E+D combination was present in 6 of 31 puzzles (19.35%)The I+N+G combination was present in 4 of 31 puzzles (12.90%).The BINGO characteristic was present in 13 of 31 puzzles (41.94%)
I+N+G and E+D did not appear together in any Bee this month. That occurs only rarely, as reported HERE.
17 different center letters were used during the month.
A report of all center letters in Spelling Bee history may be seen HERE.
Ranked by frequency of use:
3 A [A was center letter in 3 Bees]3 C3 I3 P2 D2 L2 N2 O2 R2 T1 E1 F1 G1 H1 K1 M1 Y
Alphabetical order:
3 A3 C2 D1 E1 F1 G1 H3 I1 K2 L1 M2 N2 O3 P2 R2 T1 Y
PANGRAMS AND LETTER SETS
PANGRAMSMonthly total: 47Daily average: 1,52 per puzzleDaily pangram numbers:6 in 0 puzzles (00.00%)5 in 0 puzzles (00.00%)4 in 1 puzzle (03.22%)3 in 4 puzzles (12.90%)2 in 5 puzzles (16.13%)1 in 21 puzzles (67.74%)
Of the 31 Bee puzzles this month:
03 (09.68%) were based on pangrams and letter sets that had never been used before. These 3 puzzles introduced 6 new pangrams and added a total of 11 new words to the Bee lexicon, an average of 3.67 new words per puzzle.
28 (90.32%) were based on pangrams and letter sets that had been used before. These 28 puzzles used 41 recycled pangrams, and added a total of 02 new words to the Bee lexicon, an average of 0.11 new words per puzzle.
Of the 28 puzzles with repeat letter sets and repeat pangrams:07 letter sets were used for the second time13 letter sets were used for the third time06 letter sets were used for the fourth time02 letter sets were used for the fifth time
Average “age” of all pangrams and letter sets this month: 2.90Average “age” of recycled pangrams and letter sets this month: 3.11
Of the 31 Bee puzzles this month:
03 (09.68%) were based on pangrams and letter sets that had never been used before. These 3 puzzles introduced 6 new pangrams and added a total of 11 new words to the Bee lexicon, an average of 3.67 new words per puzzle.
28 (90.32%) were based on pangrams and letter sets that had been used before. These 28 puzzles used 41 recycled pangrams, and added a total of 02 new words to the Bee lexicon, an average of 0.11 new words per puzzle.
Of the 28 puzzles with repeat letter sets and repeat pangrams:07 letter sets were used for the second time13 letter sets were used for the third time06 letter sets were used for the fourth time02 letter sets were used for the fifth time
Average “age” of all pangrams and letter sets this month: 2.90Average “age” of recycled pangrams and letter sets this month: 3.11
ALL THE PANGRAMS USED THIS MONTH
Brand-new pangrams are designated by the + sign; all the others are recycled pangrams.
ADDICTING+AIRFLOWALLOWANCEANALYTICANALYTICALANALYTICALLYAPRICOTAUGMENT+BLOCKEDBOYCOTTEDCAPACITORCOMPANIONCOUNCILORDAYTIMEDICTATING+EMINENTLYFAINTLYFAMILIARLYFETTUCCINEFINALITYFLAVORFULHAULINGHEADPIECEHONEYBUNHOURLONG
IMMINENTLYINDICATING+INFANTILITYITALICIZELAUGHINGMALEFICMOURNINGMUTAGEN+OKAYING+PATRIOTICPENDULUMPLACEBOPORTRAYALRUMORINGTHEOLOGYTITANICALLYUNICOLORUNMOORINGVIBRATOVIBRATORWEIGHTEDWORKLOAD
WORDS ADDED TO AND REMOVED FROM THE SPELLING BEE LEXICON THIS MONTH [pangrams in ALL CAPS]
WORDS ADDED TO THE LEXICON
WORDS REMOVED FROM THE LEXICON
Words added, not previously disallowed (BRAND-NEW WORDS) (IN)
uncurlkayakingOKAYINGyakkingyankingADDICTINGDICTATINGINDICATINGAUGMENTgamutMUTAGENnutmeg
Words added, previously disallowed
(OUT-IN)
See the list of all OUT-IN words HERE.
capricorpora
Words allowed, then disallowed, then allowed again (IN-OUT-IN)
See the list of all IN-OUT-IN words HERE.
[none this month
Words disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed, then allowed (OUT-IN-OUT-IN)
See the list of all OUT-IN-OUT-IN words HERE.
[none this month]
Words previously allowed now disallowed (IN-OUT)
See the list of all IN-OUT words HERE.
analyticityanticallyintactly
Words allowed, then disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed (IN-OUT-IN-OUT)
See the list of all IN-OUT-IN-OUT words HERE.
[none this month]
Words disallowed, then allowed, then disallowed (OUT-IN-OUT)
See the list of all OUT-IN-OUT words HERE.
Words disallowed, allowed, disallowed, allowed, disallowed (OUT-IN-OUT-IN-OUT)
See the list of all O-I-O-I-O words HERE.
tailfin
[none this month]