It’s time for your guide to today’s Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don’t think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? TechRadar’s Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our verdict on two of the New York Times’ other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer and hints are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #1339) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in two places*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1339) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
Wordle hints (game #1339) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are no repeated letters in today’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
Wordle hints (game #1339) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is L.
L is a really common letter to find at the end of a Wordle. There are 155 games that finish with an L, and it ranks as the fifth most likely letter there.
Wordle hints (game #1339) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1339.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a track through the wilderness.
If you just want to know today’s Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I’d always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We’ve got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don’t want to know today’s answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don’t say you weren’t warned!
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1339)
- NYT average score: 3.3
- My score: 2
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- My start word performance: AVIAN (52 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (23)
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1339) is… TRAIL.
I wrote yesterday about how difficult the past week’s worth of Wordles had been, but TRAIL is at the other end of the spectrum entirely. WordleBot says it has an average score of 3.3, which puts it within the top 25 easiest Wordles ever, and I scored a remarkable two on it.
Then again, it’s not that surprising that it’s proving easy to solve. A couple of the most popular start words, SLATE and TRAIN, each left only two possible solutions (as did LEAST), and almost all of the popular choices were below 20.
The reason for that is of course the fact that all five letters are ultra-common, and for the most part in very common positions. After all, TRAIL itself is a great start word – it’s only just outside of WordleBot’s top 20 – and that wouldn’t be the case if probability did not dictate that these letters will often appear in the game in these places.
TRAIL is a word I’ve played multiple times in order to narrow down my options on the second guess, so when AVIAN – my rather unusual opener – gave me yellow A and I, and left me with 53 possible answers, it was one of the first words I looked to.
Not the only one, though. I jotted down a couple of options – STAIN and STAIR were the other two – and could easily have picked one of those. But I always like to play R as early as possible, so that ruled out STAIN, and it’s more likely to appear in the second position than it is at the end, so that led me to TRAIL over STAIR.
I didn’t expect it to be the answer, of course – I merely hoped it would leave me only a couple of words and a good shot at scoring a three. But my luck was in today, and I walked away with my second two inside a week.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1338)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1338, too.
- Wordle yesterday had vowels in three places.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
- The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. In fact, it’s almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
- There were no repeated letters in yesterday’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
- The last letter in yesterday’s Wordle was E.
E is the most common letter to end a Wordle answer by far. That’s one of the reasons why many of the best start words, including SLATE, CRANE, CRATE and STARE, all end with one.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1338.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is smooth and sophisticated.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1338)
- NYT average score: 4.3
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- My start word performance: WHOLE (225 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (49)
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1338) was… SUAVE.
What a difficult few days this has been in Wordle. You’d have to go all the way back to January 2024 for the last time we had four consecutive games with an average score of 4.3 or above, although that quartet of EMBER, LEGGY, EXPEL and BULKY was arguably slightly tougher than RUMBA, DITTY, CROOK and today’s SUAVE.
SUAVE is on the slightly easier end of that tricky scale, with an average of 4.3, helped no doubt by the fact that it begins with the most common starting letter, features the most common middle letter in the center, and finishes with the most common ending letter.
The fact that it still seems to be causing so many problems is most likely due to the fact that among all of those S-A-E words, SUAVE is arguably the least common and features the least likely other two letters.
S-A-E is actually the most likely combination for those positions, with 23 of Wordle’s 2,309 original solutions having that format. We’ve already had 19 of them: SHAKE, SCARE, SHAME, SPADE, STALE, SLATE, STAGE, SPACE, SNARE, SNAKE, STATE, SHADE, SHAVE, SHAPE, SCALE, SKATE, STAKE, SHARE and STARE. So, theoretically, there are now only three more to come.
Look at that list and you’ll see a lot of common consonants filling in the gaps: Ts and Ls and Ds and Rs and Cs and Ns and Ps. The less common likes of K, H and G have generally been paired with another common one. And almost all are pretty common words, too.
SUAVE, in contrast, puts a U where you wouldn’t really expect it and adds in a V. Plus, it’s not a familiar word in the way that SPACE or STALE or STARE is. Obviously I know what it means, and I’m sure I’ve used it plenty of times, even if I can be almost certain nobody has ever used it about me. But it’s not SCARE common.
Using a list of past Wordle answers will undoubtedly have helped today, but looking at other people’s guesses, I suspect that many players didn’t do that – because there were lots of used-up solutions being played thoughout.
I didn’t consult a list myself, but escaped with a four thanks to a smart third guess. Things had not started too positively, though, with WHOLE leaving 225 possible answers. TRAIN discovered the middle A, but still left 15 words.
What I needed, then, was the perfect narrowing-down word. I got it in the shape of SPUDS – which is great, because I absolutely love potatoes in all of their forms. SPUDS was not guaranteed to find me the answer, because it might have left a 50/50 between PEACE or AGAPE, another between AMAZE and AGAVE, and a third between CEASE and ABASE – all of which were on my shortlist. But it would guarantee the answer if it were any others, such as SPACE, USAGE, EVADE, ADAGE, QUAKE or SCAPE.
WordleBot agreed that it was the best choice, and it was also lucky. Rather than leaving me one of those 50/50s it gave me the green S and yellow U that left SUAVE as the only answer. I’ll take that.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday’s answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
- Wordle #1338, Sunday 16 February: SUAVE
- Wordle #1337, Saturday 15 February: CROOK
- Wordle #1336, Friday 14 February: DITTY
- Wordle #1335, Thursday 13 February: RUMBA
- Wordle #1334, Wednesday 12 February: RAPID
- Wordle #1333, Tuesday 11 February: SCORE
- Wordle #1332, Monday 10 February: GOODY
- Wordle #1331, Sunday 9 February: BONUS
- Wordle #1330, Saturday 8 February: STEEP
- Wordle #1329, Friday 7 February: SWATH
- Wordle #1328, Thursday 6 February: PUPIL
- Wordle #1327, Wednesday 5 February: PEDAL
- Wordle #1326, Tuesday 4 February: TOOTH
- Wordle #1325, Monday 3 February: REVUE
- Wordle #1324, Sunday 2 February: CHORE
- Wordle #1323, Saturday 1 February: RIVET
- Wordle #1322, Friday 31 January: TOAST
- Wordle #1321, Thursday 30 January: FALSE
- Wordle #1320, Wednesday 29 January: UDDER
- Wordle #1319, Tuesday 28 January: FEVER
- Wordle #1318, Monday 27 January: SHUNT
- Wordle #1317, Sunday 26 January: SUNNY
- Wordle #1316, Saturday 25 January: CRISP
- Wordle #1315, Friday 24 January: CREPE
- Wordle #1314, Thursday 23 January: UPPER
- Wordle #1313, Wedneday 22 January: REACH
- Wordle #1312, Tuesday 21 January: ICING
- Wordle #1311, Monday 20 January: SQUID
- Wordle #1310, Sunday 19 January: ROWER
- Wordle #1309, Saturday 18 January: SILLY
- Wordle #1308, Friday 17 January: PROSE
- Wordle #1307, Thursday 16 January: FLINT
- Wordle #1306, Wednesday 15 January: KNACK
- Wordle #1305, Tuesday 14 January: FANCY
- Wordle #1304, Monday 13 January: CLOAK
- Wordle #1303, Sunday 12 January: TOTAL
- Wordle #1302, Saturday 11 January: DINGY
- Wordle #1301, Friday 10 January: CRAWL
- Wordle #1300, Thursday 9 January: WAFER
- Wordle #1299, Wednesday 8 January: DRAFT
- Wordle #1298, Tuesday 7 January: ATLAS
- Wordle #1297, Monday 6 January: SPRIG
- Wordle #1296, Sunday 5 January: CYBER
- Wordle #1295, Saturday 4 January: RELAX
- Wordle #1294, Friday 3 January: CHEAP
- Wordle #1293, Thursday 2 January: CHOSE
- Wordle #1292, Wednesday 1 January: NERVE
- Wordle #1291, Tuesday 31 December: LEMUR
- Wordle #1290, Monday 30 December: STARE
- Wordle #1289, Sunday 29 December: MAMBO
- Wordle #1288, Saturday 28 December: DECRY
What is Wordle?
If you’re on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you’ve not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it’s the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2024.
We’ve got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.
What is Wordle?
Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it’s in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it’s not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh?
It’s played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times’ Crossword app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free.
Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak.
What are the Wordle rules?
The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray.
4. Answers are never plural.
5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode.
8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle.
9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle’s list of 2,309 solutions. However…
11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won’t be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.