Playing Wordle: A Quick Guide

Wordle can be accessed here on the New York Times site. Each day at midnight local time, a new puzzle is unveiled.

Your adventure begins by guessing a word consisting of five letters. The colors will guide you: green indicates correct letters in their right positions, yellow signifies correct letters in incorrect positions, and gray means the letters are not part of today’s secret word. For more guidance, check out this detailed guide to Wordle and for advanced strategies. additional information can be found at the end of this post.

Eager for hints? Let’s dive in!

Does Today’s Wordle Feature Unique Letters?

Common letters can be identified by the phrase used by old typesetters: ETAOIN SHRDLU. (A useful mnemonic—think of it as a name, “Edwin Shirdloo”!) In today’s puzzle, we have three relatively common letters, one of which is less frequent.

Hint for This Day’s Wordle

You’ve received a message!

Are There Any Repeated Letters in Today’s Wordle?

No repeated letters exist in today’s word.

Vowel Count for This Day’s Wordle

The solution contains two vowels.

First Letter of Today’s Wordle

The word starts with the letter I.

Last Letter of Today’s Wordle

It concludes with the letter X.

Solution to Today’s Wordle

Are you ready? The answer is INBOX.

My Process for Solving Today’s Wordle

Initial guesses included RAISE, TOUCH, and BLOND; from these clues, INBOX became the best candidate.

Wordle 1,400 4/6

Previous Day’s Wordle Answer

Yesterday’s challenge was of medium difficulty. The hint was “heard at a funeral,” featuring four common letters and one that is less common. The answer was DIRGE.

Understanding the Basics of Wordle

The objective of Wordle is to unveil the secret word of the day. Upon launching the game, an empty grid awaits you. Your journey begins with entering a five-letter word of your choice.

As subsequent guesses are made, the color feedback will indicate your progress:
Green shows you’ve guessed a letter correctly and positioned it correctly (e.g., guessing PARTY when the target is PURSE means P and R turn green).

• Yellow indicates that the letter exists in the word but is in the wrong spot (e.g., guessing PARTY when the correct word is ROAST results in R, A, and T turning yellow).
• Gray designates that the letter is not part of the secret word at all (if you guess PARTY and all letters are gray, PURSE or ROAST cannot be correct answers).

Utilizing this feedback, continue guessing until you identify the word within six attempts or face defeat.

Effective Starting Words for Wordle

Which five-letter word should be your first guess? The most effective starting words typically incorporate common letters, enhancing the likelihood of obtaining helpful hints through green and yellow tiles. If you receive all gray squares from common letter guesses, this information is still valuable, as it narrows down possibilities. Although there’s no single best opener, the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot suggests beginning with one of the following:

• CRANE
• TRACE
• SLANT
• CRATE
• CARTE

Additionally, research from MIT revealed that starting with one of these words eliminates the most choices initially:

• SALET
• REAST
• TRACE
• CRATE
• SLATE

Other strong suggestions include ARISE or ROUND. While words like ADIEU and AUDIO might incorporate more vowels, one could argue that initiating with a focus on consonants, using starters like RENTS or CLAMP, is more strategic. Determine your approach and see how it unfolds.

Winning Strategies for Wordle

Several strategic guides on Wordle can enhance your gameplay significantly. Check out this guide which discusses utilizing consonants effectively, and this strategy focusing on frequent letters. For a more advanced approach, this guide explains how to cleverly gather hints while optimizing your chances of victory.

The primary difference between winners and losers in Wordle lies in how effectively guesses are used to extract information about the target letters. If it’s clear the word ends in -OUND, avoid using multiple guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; instead, combine distinct consonants to try MARSH. If H shows yellow, you are closer to identifying the answer.

It’s worth noting that the original Wordle utilized a limited selection of approximately 2,300 solution words. Since its acquisition by NYT, the game now features hand-selected solutions, with some potentially being trickier or themed, like FEAST during Thanksgiving.

Exploring Wordle Alternatives

For enthusiasts keen to continue with five-letter guessing games, consider the top Wordle alternatives, categorized by difficulty:

• Wheeldle, where you can solve puzzle after puzzle.
• Dordle and Quordle, challenging you to tackle two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles simultaneously, using shared guesses. There’s also Octordle, featuring eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
• Waffle challenges players to rearrange scrambled five-letter words displayed in a grid until solved.
• Absurdle shifts its answer after every guess but remains consistent with feedback, compelling players to outsmart it until only one word remains; then, victory is yours.
• Squabble places you in live competition, playing against others with a ticking clock. Take too long, and you’ll incur penalties; the last player standing claims victory.
• Antiwordle requires players to avoid the day’s solution, compelling you to reuse letters you accidentally guess correctly; the longer it takes, the better you become.