If you’re tackling today’s New York Times Spelling Bee, you know the challenge: use the seven provided letters to form as many words as possible, always including the center letter. For July 30, 2025, the center letter is C, which means every word must contain C.

Today’s Letters:

• Center Letter (Mandatory): C

• Other Letters: A, T, N, E, G, O

The goal is to create words with at least four letters, and of course, discover the elusive pangram that uses all the letters.

Today’s Pangram:

COGNATE

The word COGNATE means “related by blood or origin” or “having a common ancestor or origin.” It perfectly uses all the letters provided and is today’s pangram!

 How I Solved It:

When I first saw the letters, the obvious step was to check combinations starting with C, as it’s the mandatory letter. I noticed smaller words like cane and cone quickly. Then, I looked at prefixes and roots:

• Common English roots like cog- (think cognitive, cognate) stood out immediately.

• Adding the letters together: C-O-G-N-A-T-E forms a meaningful word, and that clicked as the pangram.

 My Process:

1. Start with 4-letter basics: cane, cone, coat, coat.

2. Expand with roots: cog-, con-, cat-.

3. Look for 7-letter combinations: reorganize mentally until you spot a complete, valid word.

4. Confirm in dictionary: cognate –  perfect pangram.

 All Possible Words (Found So Far):

Here are some valid words from today’s hive:

• ACCENT
•  ACETATE
• ACNE
• CANT

• CATE

• COAT

• COAT

• CONE

• CAGO (variant in some word lists)

• CANTON

• CATEGON (rare)

• CANNON

• COTTON

• COTTAGE

• CONGA

• CANTATA

• CONGE

• COTE

• CAGE

• COTAN

• COGEN

• ECOTAGE

• ENCAGE

• NEOCON

• NONCE

• OCTAGON

• OCTANT

• ONCE

• TACET

• TACO

• TOCCATA

• TACT

• COGENT (excellent word meaning convincing)

• COGNATE (pangram)

Expect around 20–25 valid words today, depending on the official word list.

 Key Words to Note:

• COGENT: means persuasive or logical – a nice higher-level word.

• CANTON: a territorial division or region.

• CONGA: a Latin American dance, which adds some fun variety.

Unlocking the Final Layers

Today’s puzzle was intriguing because it offered a good mix of short and medium-length words, plus some uncommon vocabulary that boosts your spelling game. Spotting COGNATE as the pangram required thinking beyond everyday language.

If you want to get better at Spelling Bee:

• Focus on word roots and prefixes (like cog-, con-, cat-).

• Look for Latin-based terms; they often appear in these puzzles.

• Rearrange letters on paper or a digital board for fresh patterns.