Top 10 Hardest and Easiest Spelling Bee Words, July 29

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To reach Genius, you had to milk this week’s toughest word for all it was worth.

By Eve Washington, Josh Katz and Tom Giratikanon

Note: If you plan to play Spelling Bee’s Past Puzzles from the last week, this list may contain spoilers.

This week, lacteal — which means “relating to, or consisting of, milk” — was once again the word least found by players of Spelling Bee, while code was the word most found. Lacteal was also the least found word during the week of April 29.

This data is based on visitors to Spelling Bee Buddy, a tool that shows hints and statistics for each word as you play Spelling Bee, and covers Saturday, July 29, to Friday, Aug. 4. (Users of the tool are among the puzzle’s most dedicated solvers, so these percentages are probably higher than they would be for all Spelling Bee players.)

Here are the meanings of the least-found words that were used in (mostly) recent Times articles.

1. lacteal — relating to, or consisting of, milk:

A bipartisan group of 32 members of Congress is asking the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on companies that call plant-based beverages “milk.” They say F.D.A. regulations define milk as a “lacteal secretion” obtained by milking “one or more healthy cows.” — Got Almond Milk? Dairy Farms Protest Milk Label on Nondairy Drinks (Feb. 13, 2017)

2. acetal — a type of chemical compound:

One recent study from Yale and Duke identified chemicals called acetals in some Juul e-cigarette liquids. Those chemicals, the researchers said, may be especially irritating to the lungs and can cause damage when inhaled. — Dozens of Young People Hospitalized for Breathing and Lung Problems After Vaping (Aug. 14, 2019)

3. titmice — any of several small birds:

But enterprising birds can be mischievous. Like the titmice and other Parids that steal hair from dogs, raccoons and even humans, probably to fortify their nests. — 2021’s Most Fascinating Animals (Dec. 28, 2021)

4. mimetic — capable of mimicry or imitation:

But the predatory spider avoided S. collingwoodi and only launched attacks toward the non-mimetic spider, which the researchers interpreted as a sign that ant mimicry worked in some cases. — This Spider Is Imperfect, and That May Be the Secret of Its Survival (May 17, 2023)

5. leucine — an essential amino acid that helps muscles recover:

Likewise, heavy consumers of meat and poultry, rich in the amino acid leucine, may be more likely to develop acne through a complex chain reaction that stimulates the skin’s oil glands. — Managing Teenage Acne (Jan. 7, 2019)

6. unceded — not handed over:

Based in New York’s Hudson Valley (on unceded Muh-he-con-ne-ok land, as the organization notes), it acquires work by Indigenous artists that it loans to exhibitions, hosts programming and taps six people working in a wide variety of fields each year for its Forge Fellowship. — A Brief Guide to the Wide, Wild World of Art Schools and Residencies (July 6, 2022)

7. ecocide — mass destruction of the environment:

Her dedication to “reckoning with ecocide” and “addressing collapse” dates back to plays like the surrealist “Miracle Now” that she wrote and staged with the Johnsons in the 1990s. — Anohni Isn’t Afraid of the Darkness (June 27, 2023)

8. tabla — a musical instrument consisting of two small drums:

“He was actually made to be a performer since he was very, very young,” said Ms. Vergollo, who recalled that her brother began playing the tabla, a pair of hand drums, at 5 years old and continued throughout his adult life. — Michael Batayeh, Comedian and ‘Breaking Bad’ Actor, Dies at 52 (June 10, 2023)

9. trimaran — a boat with three hulls:

There is no better example of small than a 24-foot Diam trimaran, which usually races only short courses. There is no “downstairs” on a Diam 24. Racing around St. Barth, Erick Clement, the skipper of the Karibuni, said, “We feel the energy and the power of wind and sea.” — Hold Tight and Plan to Get Soaked (April 17, 2023)

10. éclat — striking or dazzling effect:

Toradze’s playing “had the best sort of éclat and brilliance in that it stemmed directly from the character of the music rather than from a desire to show off.” — Alexander Toradze, 69, Idiosyncratic Pianist, Is Dead (May 19, 2022)

The list of the week’s easiest words:

Each morning, you can see which of the day’s Spelling Bee words are stumping the hivemind (without spoilers!), and track your remaining words, by visiting Spelling Bee Buddy.

Customized hints that update based on your progress in today’s puzzle.

Josh Katz is a graphics editor for The Upshot, where he covers a range of topics involving politics, policy and culture. He is the author of “Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk,” a visual exploration of American regional dialects. More about Josh Katz

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