Wordle is a daily five-letter word puzzle from The New York Times. You have six attempts to guess the hidden word, and the colored tiles after each guess tell you which letters are correct, misplaced, or absent. The key is to use each turn to narrow the possibilities—not to find a magical opening word that guarantees a win.
What is Wordle?
Wordle is a daily five-letter word puzzle from The New York Times. You have six attempts to guess the hidden word. After each guess, the game colors the tiles to show which letters are correct, which letters belong elsewhere, and which letters are not available. The goal is to solve the puzzle in six guesses or fewer.
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You can play the official version through the New York Times Games website or the NYT Games app. When choosing a mobile app, check the publisher: the official app is published by The New York Times Company and identifies Wordle as the official game. Other apps with “Wordle” in their names may be advertising-supported clones or versions with unlimited and alternative modes.
How the six guesses work
- Enter any accepted five-letter word.
- Submit it to receive colored feedback.
- Use that feedback to build a more informed next guess.
- Continue until you find the answer or use all six attempts.
Your first guess does not need to be the answer. It is also a way to gather information. A strong early guess tests useful letters and gives you constraints for the turns that follow.
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What the Wordle colors mean
- Green: the letter is in the answer and in the correct position.
- Yellow: the letter is in the answer but in a different position.
- Gray: the letter is not in the answer—or, when a letter is repeated, there are no additional copies available beyond those already accounted for.
Green tiles are fixed clues. Yellow tiles confirm that a letter belongs somewhere in the answer, but not where it belongs. Gray tiles generally eliminate a letter from consideration.
A simple example
Suppose a fictional guess produces this information:
- The second tile is green, so the answer has a known letter in position two.
- A letter in position four is yellow, so that letter must move to another position.
- Several other tiles are gray, so those letters should normally be excluded from later guesses.
Your next guess should preserve the green letter in position two, place the yellow letter somewhere other than position four, and test useful letters that have not been ruled out. Do not treat a yellow tile as if it were green.
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1. Use the first guess to gather information
Choose an accepted five-letter word with a useful mix of common vowels and consonants. Avoid relying on one supposedly perfect opener: Wordle has no officially required starting word, and no opening guess guarantees a win.
An information-rich word can be valuable even when it is unlikely to be the answer. Its purpose is to reveal letters and positions, helping you separate the remaining possibilities.
2. Turn the first feedback into constraints
After the tiles change color:
- Keep every green letter in its confirmed position.
- Keep every yellow letter in the word, but move it to a position that has not been ruled out.
- Stop using gray letters unless the repeated-letter rules explain why another copy could still be present.
If your opener reveals very little, your second guess can test several fresh common letters. If it reveals a promising pattern, use the second guess to develop that pattern rather than starting over.
3. Narrow the possibilities instead of guessing randomly
By the middle turns, think in terms of a pattern. You might have a structure such as _ A _ E _, plus one confirmed yellow letter and several eliminated letters. Write the pattern down if that helps.
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When two or more plausible answers remain, make a probe guess: choose a valid word that tests the letter or letters on which those candidates differ. This may not be the answer, but it can tell you which candidate family is still possible. A deliberate information-gathering guess is often safer than committing immediately to one unconfirmed word.
4. Protect the solve on the last guesses
Once the pattern is narrow, check every known constraint before submitting:
- Are all green letters in the correct positions?
- Has every yellow letter been included in a permitted position?
- Have you removed letters ruled out by gray tiles?
- Could the answer contain a repeated letter?
- Is the spelling correct, and is the word accepted by the game?
In normal play, the game may allow a guess that leaves out a known yellow letter, but that usually wastes useful information. Hard mode is stricter and requires revealed clues to be used.
Repeated letters: why the colors can look confusing
Wordle counts how many copies of a letter the answer can support. As a result, a guess containing the same letter twice can receive mixed feedback: one copy might be green or yellow while the other copy is gray.
For example, imagine that the answer contains only one E, but your guess contains two. If one E matches the answer’s available E, the other E cannot automatically be counted as another match. The game may therefore color one E and gray the other, depending on their positions.
The practical rule is: do not assume that every repeated letter in your guess exists repeatedly in the answer. A colored tile confirms only the number of copies the feedback supports.
What is Wordle hard mode?
Hard mode requires you to use revealed information in subsequent guesses. Green letters must stay in their known positions, and yellow letters must be included somewhere in the next guess. This makes the game more disciplined, but it can also make some puzzles harder because you have fewer opportunities to test unrelated letters.
Hard mode is an optional challenge, not the basic rule beginners need to follow. The exact location of the setting and the way modes are presented can change with the NYT Games interface, so check the current game settings if you are looking for it.
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Common Wordle mistakes
Putting a yellow letter back in the same position
A yellow tile means the letter is present but misplaced. Reusing it in that same position repeats a known error.
Treating every gray tile as simple without considering duplicates
Gray normally eliminates a letter, but repeated letters are counted individually. Mixed feedback can mean that one copy is present while another is not.
Ignoring confirmed information
A guess that abandons green letters or fails to use yellow letters throws away deductions you have already earned. In hard mode, such a guess may not be accepted at all.
Assuming the most common word must be the answer
Wordle uses an editor-curated answer set. The most common word in everyday English is not necessarily the day’s target, so use the tile information rather than popularity alone.
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Searching for the answer too soon
Hints and answer pages can finish a round, but they remove the deduction that makes Wordle a puzzle. If you use outside help, look for a clearly labeled spoiler-free hint before revealing the answer.
Where to play the official Wordle
The official daily puzzle is available through the New York Times Games website and the NYT Games app. The app includes Wordle alongside other NYT Games and is listed as free to download, although the wider app includes in-app purchases and some features may require a subscription.
The NYT Games experience can include Wordle statistics such as wins, streaks, average performance, and other progress information. It also supports friend leaderboards for Wordle. These features are optional: they do not change the six-guess limit or the puzzle itself.
The current app information also describes subscriber access to a large archive of past NYT Games puzzles, including Wordle. Subscription packaging and archive access can change, so check the current app or NYT Games Help Center information before treating the archive as universally available.
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The daily online puzzle is a solo deduction game, but there is also a licensed physical adaptation for group play. Wordle: The Party Game is a Hasbro game for two to four players, with dry-erase boards and markers, four play modes, and an age recommendation of 14 and up. It is inspired by the digital game and is not required to play the official daily Wordle.
It makes sense for a game night or for people who want a face-to-face version of the word-guessing format. For the daily online puzzle, however, the official NYT Games website or app is all you need.
A compact Wordle checklist
- Start with a five-letter word that tests several useful letters.
- Keep green letters fixed.
- Move yellow letters to new positions.
- Usually avoid gray letters.
- Remember that repeated letters can produce mixed colors.
- Use probe guesses when they distinguish between likely candidates.
- Check spelling and all known constraints before spending a final guess.
- Do not assume any opener guarantees a solve.
Bottom line
Wordle is best understood as a six-turn information puzzle, not a trivia test. Start by testing useful letters, read each color precisely, preserve confirmed clues, and use later guesses to distinguish among the words that still fit. Once you understand the green, yellow, and gray feedback—and handle repeated letters carefully—the daily five-letter puzzle becomes a manageable process of elimination.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Frequently Asked Questions
How many letters are in Wordle?
The official daily Wordle target is a five-letter word.
How many guesses do you get in Wordle?
You get six attempts to solve the hidden word.
What does a green tile mean in Wordle?
Green means the letter is in the answer and in the correct position.
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- Find hundreds of words in an easy to read format - Some words you'll spot easily, but you'll have to search hard for others.
- A wide range of puzzle topics, including movies, actors, sports, cars, and more!
- Variations on the standard word search puzzles are included for extra challenge.
- Answer key in the back of the book.
- Spiral bound, 192 pages.
What does a yellow tile mean in Wordle?
Yellow means the letter is in the answer but in a different position.
What does a gray tile mean in Wordle?
Gray generally means the letter is not in the answer. With repeated letters, gray can also mean that no additional copy is available beyond the copies already matched.
Is the official Wordle app free?
The NYT Games app is listed as free to download and includes the official Wordle, although some broader app features may be subscription-gated.
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Can you play old Wordle puzzles?
The current app information says subscribers can access a large archive of past NYT Games puzzles, including Wordle. Access rules can change, so check the current NYT Games information.
How can you tell whether a Wordle app is official?
Check that the mobile app is published by The New York Times Company and identifies Wordle as the official game. Other apps using “Wordle” may be unofficial alternatives.
The Bottom Line
Wordle gives you six guesses to solve a hidden five-letter word. Green means correct letter and position, yellow means correct letter in the wrong position, and gray usually means the letter is absent. Use each guess to reduce the remaining possibilities rather than relying on a supposedly guaranteed opening word.
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