All Center Letters in Spelling Bee History
Incidental data updated 2026-04-27
Aggregate data compiled through 2025-12-31.
For more recent data, check the monthly Summary Reports listed HERE.
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.
Each Spelling Bee puzzle consists of six letters arranged around a seventh letter; that seventh letter, in the middle of the circle of letters, is called the center letter.
Because every valid word in any Spelling Bee puzzle must include the center letter, the center letter plays a critical role not only in the design of each Bee puzzle, but in the gameplay experience of every solver. When a less-common letter is in the center spot, the solution set is bound to be interesting.
J was the center letter on 2024-07-04, for the first and only time.
Q was the center letter on 2023-11-17, for the first and only time.
Z has been the center letter seven times: 2020-10-27 2020-11-15 2022-04-06 2022-10-16 2022-11-05 2024-08-09 2026-04-27
Only two letters have never been selected as the center letter: X and S. On rare occasions, none of the words in a solution set will start with the center letter. A complete list of those unusual Bees is shown HERE.
And on even rarer occasions, all the words in a solution set will begin with the center letter; read about those very unusual Bees HERE. Frequency numbers for all the center letters all Spelling Bee puzzles from May 2018 through December 2025 (excluding the two known “stopgap” puzzles) are displayed here.
Because every valid word in any Spelling Bee puzzle must include the center letter, the center letter plays a critical role not only in the design of each Bee puzzle, but in the gameplay experience of every solver. When a less-common letter is in the center spot, the solution set is bound to be interesting.
J was the center letter on 2024-07-04, for the first and only time.
Q was the center letter on 2023-11-17, for the first and only time.
Z has been the center letter seven times: 2020-10-27 2020-11-15 2022-04-06 2022-10-16 2022-11-05 2024-08-09 2026-04-27
Only two letters have never been selected as the center letter: X and S. On rare occasions, none of the words in a solution set will start with the center letter. A complete list of those unusual Bees is shown HERE.
And on even rarer occasions, all the words in a solution set will begin with the center letter; read about those very unusual Bees HERE. Frequency numbers for all the center letters all Spelling Bee puzzles from May 2018 through December 2025 (excluding the two known “stopgap” puzzles) are displayed here.
Center Letters in Spelling Bee History
IN DESCENDING ORDER
as of 2025-12-31
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
as of 2025-12-31
LETTER and USES
O 264T 222L 210A 209I 200N 190C 185M 149R 137P 130B 120E 120H 117U 92D 91F 82Y 82G 68V 41W 40K 35Z 6J 1Q 1S 0X 0
LETTER and USES
A 209B 120C 185D 91E 120F 82G 68H 117I 200J 1K 35L 210M 149N 190O 264P 130Q 1R 137S 0T 222U 92V 41W 40X 0Y 82Z 6