Playing Wordle: The Basics

Wordle can be found here on the New York Times. A fresh puzzle is available every day at midnight in your time zone.

To play, begin by guessing a five-letter term. The letters may turn green if they are correctly placed, yellow if they’re included but misplaced, or gray if they are not part of today’s word. For more information, check out this comprehensive guide and advanced strategies here. Additional details follow the hints and solution.

Eager to uncover some hints? Let’s dive in!

Wordle’s Letters: Unusual or Common?

Common letters can be identified using the famous typesetting phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this handy tip! Say it as “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a friend.)

Today’s puzzle incorporates three frequent letters, with the fourth being fairly common and the fifth somewhat regular.

Need a Hint for Today’s Puzzle?

Think about pathways or traversing through a public garden, for instance.

Are Any Letters Repeated in Today’s Wordle?

Today’s solution contains no letters that appear more than once.

The Number of Vowels in Today’s Word

There are a total of two vowels.

Starting Letter of Today’s Wordle

The first letter of today’s word is A.

Ending Letter of Today’s Wordle

Today’s word concludes with E.

Today’s Wordle Solution

The word you are looking for is AMBLE.

How the Puzzle Was Solved

The initial guesses were RAISE and CHANT, followed by ABLED, leading to AMBLE as the last available option.

Wordle 1,372 4/6

⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟨🟨🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Solution for Yesterday’s Wordle

The puzzle from yesterday was of medium difficulty, with the hint “similar to a poke or nudge” indicating it contained four common letters and one less frequent letter.

Yesterday’s answer was NUDGE.

Understanding the Basics of Wordle

The goal of Wordle is to identify the secret word of the day. Upon accessing the game, you will see a blank letter grid. It’s your responsibility to begin by typing any five-letter word.

The colors revealed after your guesses provide guidance: Green signifies letters that are correct and in the right position (for example, if you guess PARTY and the word is PURSE, only P and R would show in green).

• Yellow means a letter exists in the word but is not in the right spot (e.g., guessing PARTY but the actual word is ROAST would mark R, A, and T in yellow).

• Gray indicates that a letter is not in the word at all (if PARTY turns gray, then it can’t be either PURSE or ROAST).

Using these clues, continue to guess different words aiming to find the correct answer before expiring your available tries. You have six attempts in total.

Optimal Starter Words for Wordle

What should the first guess be? The most effective starter words feature frequent letters to enhance chances of achieving yellow or green highlights. (Even if common letters yield gray indicators, that offers significant information for future guesses.) There isn’t a single “ultimate” starter, but the New York Times’ Wordle analysis bot recommends beginning with one of these options:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Alternatively, an MIT study concluded that starting with one of the following options maximizes elimination of possibilities from the first guess:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other valid selections include ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO offer more vowels, though it might be more efficient to focus on consonants with starters like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose a strategy and observe its results.

Strategies for Winning at Wordle

For those genuinely invested in Wordle, several guides exist to refine strategies. One article discusses leveraging consonants, while another focuses on employing the most frequently used letters. For a deeper dive, this advanced guide explores a method of collecting hints while maximizing winning chances swiftly.

The key aspect distinguishing successful players from those who struggle is that winners actively use their guesses to deduce which letters are part of the word. For example, if you determine that the word ends with -OUND, don’t waste guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND—mix those consonants and guess MARSH. If H lights up in yellow, you are close to the solution.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that while the original version of Wordle had a selection of approximately 2,300 solution words, the game’s purchase by the NYT has seen an editor now curating the solutions, occasionally featuring more elusive words or timely themes (for instance, FEAST appeared during Thanksgiving). Be mindful of any potential thematic clues.

Exploring Alternatives to Wordle

If the five-letter guessing games are your passion, explore the best Wordle alternatives, categorized by level of difficulty, including:

• Wheeldle, offering various puzzles successively

• Dordle and Quordle, where you tackle two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles simultaneously with the same hints. There are also Octordle with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle with sixteen.

• Waffle, where multiple five-letter words are displayed in a jumbled grid, and the objective is to rearrange the letters to solve them.

• Absurdle, which changes its solution after each guess, but retains consistency based on previous inputs. Players must steer the game into a corner until a final word remains to guess.

• Squabble, where players compete against others in a timed Wordle, with penalties for excessive time between guesses; the ultimate victor is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you aim to avoid guessing the target word. You must use any correct letters again, meaning the longer it takes, the better your performance in the game.