If you opened the NYT Spelling Bee this morning and found yourself stuck somewhere between Good and Genius, you are in the right place. Today’s hive is one of those boards where the familiar letters feel deceptively manageable right up until the point where you start hitting a wall around the 30-word mark.
Below is the complete list of NYT Spelling Bee answers for June 12, 2026, the full pangram revealed, a breakdown of today’s letter set, scoring tips, and everything else you need to push your rank as high as it will go — or just fill in the last few words you cannot shake loose.
Today’s NYT Spelling Bee Overview – June 12, 2026
- Center Letter: A
- Letter Set: A, P, L, I, C, N, T
- Total Words: 48
- Total Points Available: 318 points
- Today’s Pangram: APPLICANT
APPLICANT is an excellent choice for today’s puzzle because it uses all seven letters while feeling completely natural — a word most players know well but might not immediately see hiding inside the hive until they start working through the longer combinations.
If you found APPLICANT early, your scoring foundation for today was already strong. If it came late, that is entirely normal for a word that requires you to double up on the P before the rest of the letters fall into place.
Full Word List for June 12, 2026
Here is every accepted answer organized by word length, starting from the longest down to the shortest.
10-Letter Word
- ANTICIPANT
9-Letter Words
- CLINICIAN, TACTICIAN, APPLICANT (Pangram)
8-Letter Words
- CLINICAL, PLANTAIN
7-Letter Words
- CANTATA, CANTINA, CAPTAIN, INITIAL, LANTANA, PINTAIL, TITANIC
6-Letter Words
- ATTAIN, CANCAN, CATNAP, CATNIP, CLINIC, INCANT, INTACT, NATANT, NIACIN, PANINI, PATINA, PICNIC, PINATA, PIPPIN, PLAINT, PLIANT, TANNIC, TANNIN
5-Letter Words
- ANNAL, ANTIC, APIAN, CANAL, CANNA, INAPT, LANAI, NATAL, PAINT, PANIC, PLAIN, PLANT, TAINT, TINCT, TITAN
4-Letter Words
- ANAL, ANTI, CANT, CLAN, LAIN, LINT, NAAN, NAIL, NANA, PAIN, PANT, PINT, PLAN, TINT
Breaking Down Today’s Pangram: APPLICANT
APPLICANT traces back to Medieval Latin applicantem, the present participle of applicare, which meant to attach or devote something toward a purpose. When it passed into English through Old French during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it settled into its modern meaning: a person who formally puts forward their name and qualifications for something they want — a job, a school place, a grant, or a permit.
The word is completely embedded in everyday professional and academic life, which is part of why it feels instantly recognizable once the tiles click into place. The double P is what trips players up most often — English words with PP are common enough, but seeing the combination sitting across a seven-letter hive does not always trigger the right word immediately.
Words That Often Trip Players Up Today
A few of today’s answers deserve individual attention because they fall into categories that the Spelling Bee’s wordlist handles in ways that occasionally surprise even regular players.
- NATANT: Worth knowing even if it is not a word you use daily. It means floating on water or swimming at the surface, derived from the Latin natare, to swim. It shows up in biology and heraldry more often than in casual conversation, which is exactly why it slips past players. The A-N-A-T-A-N letter pattern is not one most people reach for instinctively.
- INCANT: This is the verb form of incantation — to speak or recite words in a ritual or magical context. Plenty of players know incantation but do not immediately extend backward to the shorter verb form. If you see a long noun in the hive letters, always ask yourself whether a shorter verb form also fits.
- TINCT: A genuinely obscure one. It means tinged or colored with something, and also functions as a verb meaning to tinge or stain. It is a legitimate English word with a clear Latin root — tingere, to dye — but it sits in a corner of the vocabulary that most players have never consciously encountered. Missing it today is just one of those words the puzzle reaches for to separate Genius players from Queen Bees.
- LANTANA: Worth pausing on if you love plants or gardening. It is a genus of flowering tropical plants known for small clustered blooms in yellow, orange, and red gradients that shift color as they age. Lantana is extremely common as a garden plant in warm climates but is actually considered an invasive species in several regions due to how aggressively it spreads.
- ANTICIPANT: Today’s lone 10-letter word is an adjective form meaning expectant or anticipating something. It is a less common form of the anticipation family. Most players who find it today will do so by first landing on APPLICANT and then noticing the extra letters that make ANTICIPANT possible by rearranging the same set with repetition.
Today’s Scoring Breakdown
The way the Spelling Bee calculates points is worth understanding clearly if you are pushing toward Genius or Queen Bee today.
- 4-letter words are worth exactly 1 point each. There are 14 of them today, contributing 14 points.
- 5-letter words earn 1 point per letter (5 points each). All 15 five-letter words contribute 75 points.
- 6-letter words earn 6 points each. All 18 of them contribute 108 points.
- 7-letter words earn 7 points each. The 7 words in this category contribute 49 points.
- 8-letter words earn 8 points each, so CLINICAL and PLANTAIN are worth 16 points combined.
- 9-letter words earn 9 points each, plus a 7-point bonus for the pangram. APPLICANT is worth 16 points total, while CLINICIAN and TACTICIAN bring in 18 points together.
- 10-letter words earn 10 points (ANTICIPANT).
The overall point total today is high enough that reaching Genius requires finding a good cross-section of words across multiple length categories, rather than just sweeping the short four-letter words.
Tips for Working Through Today’s Hive Efficiently
- Filter by the Center Letter: The A center letter means every valid word today contains at least one A. If a string of letters you are testing does not include A, it cannot work, no matter how much like a real word it feels.
- Target the Double-P Words: Words like PIPPIN, APPLICANT, and ANTICIPANT all depend on that PP combination. Once your brain is primed to look for it, the words surface faster.
- Work the Suffix Clusters:
- -AIN family: PAIN, LAIN, PLAIN, PLAINT, CAPTAIN, PLANTAIN — pulling on this thread systematically will push your word count up quickly.
- -ANT family: CANT, INCANT, APPLICANT, ANTICIPANT — the same family keeps extending upward.
- -ANIC cluster: Gives you PANIC and TITANIC.
- -ATINA cluster: Gives you CANTINA and PATINA.
More Daily Word Puzzle Answers Worth Bookmarking
If the Spelling Bee is part of a broader daily puzzle routine, these pages are updated every morning to keep your streaks alive:
- Wordle Answer Today: For today’s Wordle answer — puzzle #1819, June 12, 2026 — with full hints, difficulty rating, and a complete word breakdown, check out the guide.
- Letter Boxed Solution: For today’s Letter Boxed solution — NYT puzzle #2747 for June 12, 2026 — featuring the confirmed two-word answer and strategy breakdown.
Helpful Resources
- The New York Times Games : The official platform where the Spelling Bee drops daily around 3:00 AM Eastern. An active subscription tracks your streaks and unlocks full archives.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary : The authoritative reference for looking up today’s trickier answers like TINCT, NATANT, or INCANT.
Come Back Tomorrow for June 13
Today’s NYT Spelling Bee for June 12, 2026 features center letter A, a full seven-letter set of A, P, L, I, C, N, T, and a 48-word answer list with APPLICANT as the pangram. Come back tomorrow morning for the full June 13 solution as soon as the new hive drops. Bookmark this page and share it with your fellow Spelling Bee players!
