Top 10 Hardest and Easiest Spelling Bee Words, Nov. 11-17

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

This is the last weekly edition of this list. We’ve enjoyed scouring the archives, but as words on the list repeat themselves more often, it’s covering the same ground more frequently than we’d like. We deeply appreciate the readers who’ve tuned in each week!

This week, pandit — a Hindu scholar or esteemed teacher — was the least-found word by players of Spelling Bee. Quit was the easiest word to find.

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, Nov. 11, to Friday, Nov. 17. (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 10 hardest words that have also been used in New York Times articles.

1. pandit — a Hindu scholar or esteemed teacher:

2. noogie — using knuckles to rub someone’s head:

3. linnet — a small finch:

4. falloff — decline:

5. natant — swimming or floating:

6. negligee — a sheer dressing gown:

7. pinpoint — precise, or precisely identify:

8. gelee — a gel, in cosmetics or cooking:

9. flatfoot — a foot with a low arch, or a style of dancing where the feet stay close to the ground:

10. leonine — lion-like:

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.