What is Wordle? Where have you been the past five months! It’s nothing less than a viral gaming phenomenon that exploded out of nowhere at the start of 2022 to become the planet’s favourite new word game. You’ll definitely have seen it if you spend any time on Twitter, where people share the distinctive grid of yellow and green squares representing today’s Wordle answer, and their success (or otherwise) in guessing it. But how do you play Wordle? What are the Wordle rules? How do you win at Wordle? What is a ‘start word’? And where all these Wordle alternatives and clones coming from? Many more answers you will get from this article.
What is Wordle?
Yeah, I just said this is an easy question to answer. But for the sake of completeness, let’s start with the basics. wordle nyt is a daily word game created by Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn-based software engineer who has developed something of a reputation as a crafter of interesting social experiments. Every day, the people of the internet are greeted with a fresh word puzzle that can only be solved — or not! — using a series of process-of-elimination clues.
How to play Wordle?
It works like this: When you visit the Wordle website, you’re greeted by 5-wide by 6-long grid of empty, white boxes. Each box can hold one letter, and so you guess at the answer by typing in a five-letter word and pressing ‘Enter’. There aren’t any clues up front, so any five-letter word will do as an initial guess. That’s where the game of wordle of the day really starts. When you send a guess along, the colour of each letter’s box changes.
- If it turns green, that letter is in the daily word and you’ve placed it in the right spot.
- If it turns yellow, the letter is in the word but you have it in the wrong position.
- If the box turns grey, it means the letter isn’t in the word at all.
The website serves up a simple explainer graphic for first-time visitors that lays it all out clearly.
How do you start Wordle? Best starting words?
We have some ideas to help you select the perfect opening. Some of those tips include choosing a word with at least two different vowels in it, plus a few common consonants such as S, T, R, or N.
Why is Wordle such a big deal?
Wordle has been available since October 2021 as a daily word game that anyone online can play for free. It only exploded more recently, after nytimes wordle announced the addition of a “Share” feature in mid-December that makes it easy to post your daily performance online.
What are the Wordle rules?
wordle new york times is a very simple game to play, but it has several features that have lifted it above the competition. These are:
- You can only play one puzzle a day
- Everyone plays the same puzzle
- It’s easy to share your game on social media without spoiling the answer for others
Here’s a little bit more details about the basics behind the game:
The aim
Your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you’re told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place. And that’s it.
Where to play
You can play ny times wordle on the New York Times Games site (opens in new tab). There are no apps — so if you see something claiming to be one, it’s a fake. It was originally hosted on the Wordle website (opens in new tab). Designed by creator Josh Wardle, but moved when the NYT bought Wordle in early February. Some people think that Wordle has gotten harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn’t. It is (currently) still free to play and free of ads, just as it initially was.
When to play
today’s wordle can only be completed once each day. That’s right — no three-hour time-wasting wordle hint sessions while you’re supposed to be working. The game resets at midnight each day, so if you’re really eager you can stay up and complete it while everyone else is asleep.
How do you win at Wordle? (wordle solver)
Today’s wordle answer guessing the vowels first will help narrow down your future guesses. Every 5-letter word has at least one vowel, so vowels are a great starting point. Including at least three vowels in your first word can help you get the most yellow and green letters up front and make your next guesses easier. Even if your vowel-heavy word doesn’t yield you any yellow or green letters, you’ll be left with fewer vowels to try on your second guess. Some great 3, 4, and 5-vowel words to try:
- Adieu
- Audio
- Louie
- Saute
- Alien
- Irate
- Radio
- Abode
- Cause
- Cameo
- Argue
- Imbue
Your second guess is just as important as the first, so make it count.
Use your second guess to enter a word that has as many different non-gray letters as possible to eliminate or confirm as many letters as possible after two tries. The goal is to have a great set of letters to work with (even if they are yellow/in the wrong spots) so you can easily nail your third guess. Which words have your yellow and green letters, as well as several other letters that you haven’t tried yet?
- For example, if your first word was Adieu and you didn’t guess any of the vowels right, there must be an O in the word, and/or possibly a Y. A word like Brown, Spork, or Glyph would be a great second guess.
- You can also plan your second word in advance just in case your first word doesn’t give you any yellow or green letters. For example, if you used Cause as your first word and none of the letters were correct, be ready with a word like Bough or Phony that has none of the same letters. Some other helpful pairs:
- First word: Irate
- Second word: Clown
- First word: Alien
- Second word: Rough
- First word: Radio
- Second word: Black
choose the perfect starting word.
Of the 2,315 possible 5-letter words that might show up in Wordle, some letters are far more common than others. When you analyze the total list of 5-letter words and the most common positions of each letter in those words, you wind up with a pared-down list of great Wordle words to use as your first or second guess.
- Later
- Alter
- Alert
- Arose
- Irate
- Stare
- Stale
- Arise
- Snare
- Trace
- Crate
- React
- Cater
- Steal
Where all these Wordle alternatives and clones coming from?
One of the great things about the world’s favourite new word game Wordle is that you can only play once each day, thus keeping the experience fresh. (You can, however, now play the Wordle archives.) But that’s also one of the worst things about Wordle: you therefore have to wait a whole day for your next fix. One solution is to play another word game while that Wordle timer counts down, but where to start? After all, there are approximately 70 bazillion Wordle clones and alternatives out there now. As a committed Wordle addict, I’ve played almost all of them and can tell you which ones are worthy of your time. So read on for my list of the best Wordle alternatives and clones, including a selection of non-Wordle-style games that also involve solving word puzzles.
