Playing Wordle: A Quick Guide

Wordle is accessible here on the New York Times website. A fresh puzzle is available daily at midnight, based on your local timezone.

The game begins with your guess of a five-letter word. Each letter will change colors: green signifies a correct letter in the right position, yellow indicates a correct letter in the wrong position, and gray means the letter isn’t part of the secret word at all. For further details, take a look at this comprehensive guide, and this advanced strategy guide. (More details are provided at the end of this post, after the hints and the answer.)

Excited for some clues? Let’s dive in!

Are There Any Unusual Letters in Today’s Wordle?

Common letters can be identified through the historical typesetters’ phrase, ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Make it a point to remember this! Say it as “Edwin Shirdloo,” as if he’s an acquaintance.)

These letters are frequently encountered in today’s mnemonic.

A Helpful Hint for Today’s Wordle

Consider something that can be made of paper or ice.

Does Today’s Wordle Contain Any Repeated Letters?

Yes, there’s one repeated letter in today’s solution.

Count the Vowels in Today’s Wordle

Today’s word includes one vowel, which is used twice.

What Letter Begins Today’s Wordle?

The first letter of today’s word is S.

What Letter Concludes Today’s Wordle?

Today’s word wraps up with the letter T.

The Solution to Today’s Wordle

Here it is: today’s word is SHEET.

My Approach to Today’s Wordle

The initial guesses I used were RAISE and TOUCH, which led me to discover that SHEET was among the few words that matched correctly.

Wordle 1,377 3/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle Solution

The previous day’s Wordle offered a medium challenge. The hint given was “a body part,” and the answer comprised three widely used letters, one moderately common letter, and another less frequent letter.

The solution was ELBOW.

An Introduction to Wordle Basics

The primary goal of Wordle is to uncover the day’s secret word. Upon launching the game, players encounter an empty grid. It’s your turn to fill in the first five-letter guess.

The color feedback from your guesses will provide insight into the correct letters: Green indicates a letter is correctly placed, Yellow signals a letter is in the word but not in the right spot, and Gray means the letter is not part of the solution.

• Green: You’ve identified a letter correctly in the appropriate position. (For instance, if PARTY is your guess but the word is PURSE, the letters P and R will turn green.)

• Yellow: The letter is present in the word but is wrongly positioned. (Using PARTY again as an example against ROAST would make R, A, and T turn yellow.)

• Gray: The letter does not feature in the solution at all. (If PARTY turns entirely gray, it indicates that neither PURSE nor ROAST is the answer.)

Using this guidance, make more guesses until you identify the correct word within six attempts—then your game concludes.

Optimal Starter Words for Wordle

What’s a good first guess? Effective starters typically incorporate common letters, maximizing your chances of hitting upon yellow and green marks to guide your next choices. While there isn’t a universally “best” opening word, an analysis by the New York Times points to several optimal options:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

An examination from MIT proposes that starting with one of these words maximizes eliminated options in the first round:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Alternative solid options may include ARISE or ROUND. Using words like ADIEU and AUDIO offers more vowels, but focusing on consonants with guesses like RENTS or CLAMP can also prove beneficial. Select your method and observe its performance.

Strategies for Success in Wordle

For strategic insights, several guides on mastering Wordle are available for those keen on enhancing their skills. One guide discusses leveraging consonants effectively, while another emphasizes employing the most frequently used letters. An advanced resource outlines a three-part strategy for gathering hints and improving win rates.

What often separates winners from players who struggle is their ability to use each guess to extract valuable information about the letters present in the puzzle. For example, if the solution is required to end in -OUND, avoid exhausting guesses like MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND. Instead, consolidate your letters and try a guess like MARSH; if H appears in yellow, you’re on the right track.

Keep in mind that the original Wordle featured around 2,300 solution words, but following its acquisition by the New York Times, the game now includes an editor who custom-selects solutions. This may lead to appearances of certain tricky or seasonally themed words, so be flexible in your strategy.

Alternatives to Wordle

If five-letter guessing games pique your interest, a range of Wordle alternatives exists to explore, each varying in difficulty:

• Wheeldle, which allows continuous gameplay with one puzzle after another.

• Dordle and Quordle, where players tackle two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles simultaneously using the same guesses, plus Octordle and Sedecordle for eight and sixteen puzzles, respectively.

• Waffle, where players swap letters around a scrambled grid of five-letter words until they arrive at the solution.

• Absurdle, a unique take where the game’s answer changes after each guess, requiring strategic thinking to limit options until only one remains.

• Squabble, a multiplayer style where you compete against others under a timed format, incurring damage for taking too long between guesses; the last one standing wins.

• Antiwordle, where the goal flips: you aim not to guess the day’s answer, needing to reuse letters that were previously guessed correctly; the longer you take, the stronger your performance.