Wordle is a daily five-letter word guessing game that took the internet by storm in late 2021. Originally created by software engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, the game was acquired by The New York Times in early 2022. Players get exactly six attempts to guess a hidden five-letter word, with color-coded feedback after each guess narrowing down the possibilities.
Background
What makes Wordle special is its simplicity and its limit: one puzzle per day, the same puzzle for everyone. There's no endless mode, no pay-to-play power-ups, and no way to play ahead. This constraint turned it into a global social phenomenon — millions of players share their daily results using the now-iconic colored grid emoji pattern without spoiling the answer. The game resets at midnight in your local timezone, so the exact rollover time depends on where you are. Whether you're a casual player or a streak-chaser trying to maintain a perfect record, the daily format keeps players coming back morning after morning.
Step-by-Step Rules
1
Type any valid five-letter English word as your opening guess and press Enter. Your first guess is the most important — it sets the foundation for everything that follows.
2
Read the color feedback on each letter tile. A green tile means that letter is in the correct position. A yellow tile means the letter exists in the answer but is in the wrong spot. A gray tile means the letter is not in the word at all.
3
Use the feedback to craft your second guess. Carry forward green letters in their exact positions, try yellow letters in new positions, and avoid all gray letters entirely.
4
Continue refining your guesses with each round of feedback. By guess three or four, you should have enough information to narrow the answer down to a handful of possibilities.
5
If you have most of the letters figured out but multiple words could fit (for example, _IGHT could be LIGHT, MIGHT, NIGHT, RIGHT, SIGHT, or TIGHT), choose the guess that eliminates the most options at once.
6
Solve the puzzle in six guesses or fewer to maintain your winning streak. The game tracks your guess distribution and current streak, which many players find motivating.
Tips & Strategy
Choose a strong opening word that covers common letters. Words like CRANE, SLATE, STARE, ADIEU, or ROAST hit the most frequently used letters in English (E, A, R, S, T, O, I, N). A good opener can reveal two or three correct letters on the first try.
Never reuse gray letters. Once a letter turns gray, it is definitively not in the answer. The on-screen keyboard shows which letters have been used and their colors — reference it before each guess.
Place yellow letters in new positions. A yellow tile confirms the letter is in the word but not where you put it. Try it in a different slot on your next guess to find its correct home.
Think about common five-letter word patterns. Many English words follow patterns like _IGHT, _OUND, _ATCH, CR___, or SH___. Recognizing these structures helps you generate valid guesses faster.
Consider letter frequency, not just vocabulary. Letters like E, A, R, S, and T appear in far more five-letter words than Q, Z, X, or J. Prioritize common letters in your early guesses to maximize information.
Use guess three as a "pivot" if needed. If your first two guesses revealed mostly gray tiles, use your third guess to test entirely new letters rather than trying to solve. Information gathering beats guessing when you have limited data.
Watch for double letters. Words like SPEED, LLAMA, or GEESE contain repeated letters. If your guesses aren't converging on an answer, consider whether a letter might appear twice.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Wasting guesses on rare letters early. Starting with a word like JAZZY or XYLOL burns precious guesses testing uncommon letters. Save rare letters for later when you have more context.
Ignoring yellow letter positions. A common error is retrying a yellow letter in the same position it already failed in. The yellow feedback means "right letter, wrong spot" — you must move it.
Panicking on guess five or six. When the pressure is on, players sometimes guess random words hoping to get lucky. Instead, take a breath and logically work through the remaining possibilities.
Forgetting about common word endings. Many five-letter words end in -ER, -ED, -LY, -AL, or -EN. If you have the first three letters confirmed, mentally running through common endings often reveals the answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
A brand new Wordle puzzle is available once per day, resetting at midnight in your local timezone. Everyone around the world plays the same word on the same day, which is part of what makes it a shared cultural experience.
The official game only offers today's puzzle, but UnscrambleOS maintains a complete archive of past Wordle answers with solutions, difficulty ratings, and spoiler-free hints. You can browse any past date to see what the answer was and how it compared to other days.
Hard Mode is an optional setting that requires you to use all confirmed letters (green and yellow) in subsequent guesses. Once you discover a green letter, it must stay in that position. Once you find a yellow letter, it must appear somewhere in your next guess. This prevents "information gathering" guesses and forces more constrained solving.
Yes! Our daily Wordle answer pages include 4 progressive, spoiler-free hints. Each hint reveals a little more information — starting with the number of vowels and working up to the starting letter — so you can get just enough help to solve it yourself.
Difficulty varies based on several factors: how common the word is in everyday language, whether it contains unusual letter combinations, whether double letters are involved, and how many valid five-letter words share the same pattern. Our answer pages include a difficulty rating to help you gauge each puzzle.
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