Resources: Spelling Bee Dictionaries
An Important Update about Dictionaries used by the New York Times Puzzle Editors
("The Dictionaries Formerly Known as Bee")
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In August 2026, the New York Times surprised many of their word puzzlers by saying that their puzzle editors "primarily use the Oxford English Dictionary." This information is at variance with previously published guidance for the Spelling Bee, as documented in the headnote of this page, in which Merriam-Webster, Collins, and NOAD have long been named as the source dictionaries for the Spelling Bee.
In early August, LexiConnexxions reached out to the NYT games team for clarification; we will provide updated information here if and when it comes to us.
"Why You Sometimes See Naughty Words in NYT Games"New York Times, August 5, 2026https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/insider/games-language-wordle-crossplay-spelling-bee.html
About the Dictionaries [earlier] Named by the NYT as Used By the Spelling Bee Editor
In an article from 2023,* The New York Times said that "[T]he Spelling Bee uses its own dictionary, which has been painstakingly crafted over years of trial and error by our puzzle editors from many different parent dictionaries."
The Spelling Bee editor is on record saying that he refers primarily to Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, sometimes Collins and other sources (Scrabble dictionary, news articles, etc.), but there is no reference to a custom dictionary, either in any published source or in discussions in the Spelling Bee forum. In July 2024, LexiConnexxions reached out to The New York Times to seek clarification, and received this helpful response from Customer Care that confirms the existence of a unique "custom dictionary" for the Spelling Bee puzzle:
“The Spelling Bee puzzle is indeed crafted using a custom dictionary that has been meticulously developed by our puzzle editors. While our editor, Mr. Ezersky, occasionally consults resources such as Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Collins, and other sources for reference, the core lexicon for the Spelling Bee has been carefully curated over the years to ensure a diverse and engaging collection of words. We understand the importance of word validity for our Bee players, and we appreciate your desire for more information.” [email from Customer Care to LexiConnexxions, July 6, 2024]
The Times refers to a "dictionary" when they probably mean "lexicon;" it's unlikely that The New York Times has created an actual dictionary in the proper sense of the word. A by-product of the Spelling Bee is the list of more than 11,000 words that have appeared in the solution sets of the 2300+ Spelling Bee puzzles since May 2018; it's possible that this dynamic list is the core of the "custom dictionary," with additional words pre-approved for future puzzles.
* "Every Single Pangram of 2022: A recap of all the Spelling Bee puzzles from the last year." New York Times, January 3, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/crosswords/all-spelling-bee-pangrams.html
Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky explained that "the game’s answers are selected from curated lists compiled from some dictionaries and not others, and those parameters are also part of the challenge.” "By a Landslide." A Way with Words, March 13 2023, Episode 1611 https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-landslide/
The Spelling Bee editor is on record saying that he refers primarily to Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, sometimes Collins and other sources (Scrabble dictionary, news articles, etc.), but there is no reference to a custom dictionary, either in any published source or in discussions in the Spelling Bee forum. In July 2024, LexiConnexxions reached out to The New York Times to seek clarification, and received this helpful response from Customer Care that confirms the existence of a unique "custom dictionary" for the Spelling Bee puzzle:
“The Spelling Bee puzzle is indeed crafted using a custom dictionary that has been meticulously developed by our puzzle editors. While our editor, Mr. Ezersky, occasionally consults resources such as Merriam-Webster, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Collins, and other sources for reference, the core lexicon for the Spelling Bee has been carefully curated over the years to ensure a diverse and engaging collection of words. We understand the importance of word validity for our Bee players, and we appreciate your desire for more information.” [email from Customer Care to LexiConnexxions, July 6, 2024]
The Times refers to a "dictionary" when they probably mean "lexicon;" it's unlikely that The New York Times has created an actual dictionary in the proper sense of the word. A by-product of the Spelling Bee is the list of more than 11,000 words that have appeared in the solution sets of the 2300+ Spelling Bee puzzles since May 2018; it's possible that this dynamic list is the core of the "custom dictionary," with additional words pre-approved for future puzzles.
* "Every Single Pangram of 2022: A recap of all the Spelling Bee puzzles from the last year." New York Times, January 3, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/crosswords/all-spelling-bee-pangrams.html
Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky explained that "the game’s answers are selected from curated lists compiled from some dictionaries and not others, and those parameters are also part of the challenge.” "By a Landslide." A Way with Words, March 13 2023, Episode 1611 https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-landslide/
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
American Heritage Dictionary https://ahdictionary.com/
Merriam-Webster SCRABBLE® Dictionaryhttps://scrabble.merriam.com/
Online Etymology Dictionaryhttps://www.etymonline.com/
Language Hathttps://languagehat.com/
World Wide Wordshttps://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm
Google Trendshttps://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US&hl=en-US
Google Books Ngram Viewerhttps://books.google.com/ngrams/
Corpus of Contemporary American Englishhttps://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
Visual Thesaurushttps://www.visualthesaurus.com/
Merriam-Webster SCRABBLE® Dictionaryhttps://scrabble.merriam.com/
Online Etymology Dictionaryhttps://www.etymonline.com/
Language Hathttps://languagehat.com/
World Wide Wordshttps://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm
Google Trendshttps://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US&hl=en-US
Google Books Ngram Viewerhttps://books.google.com/ngrams/
Corpus of Contemporary American Englishhttps://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
Visual Thesaurushttps://www.visualthesaurus.com/
CAVEAT LECTOR: All the resources in this guide have been reviewed for reasonable quality. Some of the citations in this listing include content notes and/or gentle caveats from LexiConnexxions, usually in [square brackets]. Content at external links may change or disappear, or the links themselves may die or disappear. The existence, content, safety, and security of third-party sites is beyond our control.
THE "SPELLING BEE DICTIONARIES"
(as of July 2026; see head note)
Merriam-Webster abridged https://www.merriam-webster.com/ Free and essential.
Merriam-Webster unabridged https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ Requires subscription.
New Oxford American Dictionary https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883 Requires subscription. CAUTION: The “Search within work” function (on the lower left of the page linked above, under the sign-in form) does not return accurate results.
Collins Online English Dictionary https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/
Merriam-Webster unabridged https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ Requires subscription.
New Oxford American Dictionary https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883 Requires subscription. CAUTION: The “Search within work” function (on the lower left of the page linked above, under the sign-in form) does not return accurate results.
Collins Online English Dictionary https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/