SPAM names a Hormel food product, while spam can also mean unsolicited, usually commercial messages; the puzzle uses the canned-product sense.
Quick answer
SPAM in this Connections puzzle refers to the Hormel food product and belongs under THINGS THAT COME IN CANS. In another documented sense, spam means unsolicited, usually commercial messages, such as emails, text messages or internet messages. The capitalization and the puzzle category help identify the food-product referent required here.
The food sense is confirmed by SPAM’s placement on the September 23, 2026 Connections puzzle.
Meaning, origin and context
The supplied Merriam-Webster result defines spam as unsolicited, usually commercial messages, including examples such as emails, text messages and internet messages. The qualifier “usually” matters: the snippet does not say that every spam message must be commercial. A Wikipedia result similarly describes spamming as the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages for purposes such as advertising.
That messaging sense is not the intended puzzle referent. A separate result reports that SPAM was developed by Hormel Foods Corporation in 1937 to boost sales of pork shoulder. The verified puzzle then places SPAM with CONDENSED MILK, PAINT and SHAVING CREAM under THINGS THAT COME IN CANS. Together, those sources identify the relevant answer as the food product rather than the unsolicited-message sense.
A supplied Economic Times snippet says repeated messages were called “spam” and that the name spread across the internet. The snippet supports that narrow historical link between repetition, the label and internet usage. It does not provide enough detail here to reconstruct every stage of the term’s development, so the account should remain limited to what the evidence states.
Natural examples
These illustrative sentences keep the two meanings separate:
- “The pantry shelf held a can of SPAM.”
- “SPAM completed the set of things that come in cans.”
- “The inbox received several unsolicited messages marked as spam.”
- “She deleted the commercial text as spam.”
The first two examples use the product referent that fits the Connections category. The last two use the messaging meaning reflected in the Merriam-Webster snippet. A reader can normally distinguish them through sentence context, and the all-capital styling of the official puzzle word also points toward the product name on this board.
A common interpretation mistake
The central mistake is transferring facts between the two referents. A definition of unsolicited messages does not explain why the puzzle answer comes in a can. Conversely, the product’s 1937 development does not define the modern messaging activity. The two senses can be discussed in one meaning guide, but each claim must stay attached to the referent supported by its source.
It is also inaccurate to remove the qualification from Merriam-Webster’s definition. The evidence says spam consists of unsolicited, usually commercial messages. Rephrasing that as “spam is always commercial” would turn a qualified definition into an absolute one.
For the puzzle category, avoid narrowing THINGS THAT COME IN CANS into a claim that every item is the same kind of substance or uses the same container mechanism. The verified relationship is only that the four things come in cans.
SPAM in Connections
SPAM joins CONDENSED MILK, PAINT and SHAVING CREAM under THINGS THAT COME IN CANS. This is a packaging relationship, not a claim that the four entries share ingredients, uses or physical properties. The other solved groups can be checked in the September 23, 2026 solved Connections board.
The ambiguity of SPAM makes referent selection important. If a solver reads it only as unwanted messages, the canned-items relationship may remain hidden. Testing the literal product sense allows the same sentence—“This comes in a can”—to work across all four official answers.
How the group logic works
The official category is broad and literal: THINGS THAT COME IN CANS. CONDENSED MILK, PAINT, SHAVING CREAM and SPAM each meet that relationship. The set does not require one shared purpose or one narrower description of the containers. See the full arrangement in the September 23, 2026 Connections group explanation.
This group also illustrates a reusable solving technique: when a word has documented senses that point in different directions, test which exact referent makes one category sentence true for four entries. Here, the food product fits; the unsolicited-message meaning does not complete the canned set.