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? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my new NYT Strands today page for my verdict on the New York Times' latest brainteaser.
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 #1062) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.
* 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 #1062) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1062) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are 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 #1062) – 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 #1062) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1062.
- Today’s Wordle answer is to come to a standstill.
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 #1062)
- NYT average score: 3.9
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STALE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: LEVEL (25)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Today's Wordle answer (game #1062) is… STALL.
The thing about STA– words is that a) they can have a very low average score because lots of people begin with STARE and b) they can have a high average score because there are lots of them, so narrowing them all down can be tricky. The net result today is a game which has an average of 3.9, probably reflecting the fact that some people will have scored twos, and plenty of others fours.
On the first point, STARE left only 11 possible answers today, but SLATE was even better, at three. No, it doesn't start STA, but it has a T in there, and also an L – which was obviously very helpful today. For that reason STALE fared even better, leaving only a pair of possibles.
On the second point, everyone else may have had a tougher time of it. Even if you had the STA part you'll potentially have had to choose between 19 answers, because that's how many of Wordle's 2,309 original solutions begin with that combination. It's actually the most common combo for the first three letters, ahead of SHA (18) and STO (16).
Just how many words there are with that pattern is evident from the most common guesses for Wordle's second and third attempts: STAMP, STALK, STAND, STAIN, STACK, STALE, STARE, STARK and STAIR accounted for around 20% of all second guesses, while those same words plus STAFF and STANK made up about 36% of all third guesses.
Of course, the other complicating factor here is the repeated L at the end. Yes, as I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, L is the third most likely letter to be repeated (behind E and O), but it still makes things harder.
Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that double-L, because my random start word was LEVEL – which already confirmed them both in the answer! It didn't give me any other letters, but it left only 25 solutions. That sounds high compared to the total for STARE or SLATE, but it was arguably more useful when it came to narrowing down the options.
In fact, you can see that from my second guess – which cut those 25 down to one. I tend to play the most common remaining letters for my second guess, and today that meant playing A, R, O, T and S. ROAST would therefore have been a good guess – but instead I decided to include the I rather than O, for STAIR, because I wanted that very common ST combination at the start.
It proved a good hunch, because the first three letters turned green, meaning STALL was now the only possible answer and therefore that I scored a second 3/6 in a row (a fairly rare experience these days).
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1061)
In a different time zone where it's still Wednesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1061, too.
- Wordle yesterday had a vowel in one place.
* 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 P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
- 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 H.
H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1061.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a squeezing motion.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1061)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: TRICE (7 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: HOIST (13)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1061) was… PINCH.
In other circumstances I might have boasted today about how given a good start word I will invariably turn that into a 3/6. However, only a few days I was in a very similar situation, with 17 possible solutions after my first guess (13 today), and contrived to score a 5/6. So I won't say anything about my score, beyond that I've got some work to do to get back on track after some awful recent games, and this is at least a start.
PINCH is unlikely to cause anyone too many problems. WordleBot says it has an average score of 3.7, and it has only one real complication. That's the fact that several other words differ from it by only one letter: PITCH, PUNCH, WINCH, FINCH and CINCH.
That aside, there's nothing much to worry about. As I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, P is the fifth most common starting letter, while CH is the second most common ending combo. I and N are pretty common across the positions, and both are in the top 10 letters overall, as is C.
Starting words also made some impact here, particularly those that begin with a P (as you'd expect). PLACE left nine possible solutions, PLANE left eight, but top marks went to TRICE (7).
My starter, chosen at random, was HOIST – and that H proved very helpful. WordleBot told me afterwards that I now had only 13 answers to pick from, and the H was able to point me in the right direction for them. Plus, with S and T ruled out already, I knew CH was likely to feature, with possible supporting roles for WH or PH; they are about the only letters H regularly goes with.
What did I come up with? Well, PINCH, WINCH, CINCH and FINCH were all on it, but I dismissed the latter immediately as a past Wordle answer (game #1,022 in early April). I also had FILCH (but not ZILCH), NICHE and BIRCH. With CH at the start, I had CHAIR and CHAIN, and to mix things up a little I also found APHID. WordleBot also came up with KHAKI and UNHIP, as well as the aforementioned ZILCH.
I wanted a word that cut those options efficiently, and decided to play CLANG. I knew it couldn't be right, but the C at the start would point the way to CHAIN, CHAIR or CINCH, the L to FILCH, the A to APHID, the N to NICHE and the three NCH words.
WordleBot liked it, though it preferred RIPEN. And rightly so – RIPEN would have left one answer, whereas CLANG left me with four: PINCH, WINCH, FINCH and NICHE. With FINCH ruled out, I really had a one-in-three chance, and for once managed to guess correctly. I played PINCH knowing that a 4/6 would be my worst-case scenario, but got lucky and scored a three.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than two 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 #1061, Wednesday 15 May: PINCH
- Wordle #1060, Tuesday 14 May: AMASS
- Wordle #1059, Monday 13 May: CUMIN
- Wordle #1058, Sunday 12 May: OUTER
- Wordle #1057, Saturday 11 May: TIDAL
- Wordle #1056, Friday 10 May: MEDIA
- Wordle #1055, Thursday 9 May: JERKY
- Wordle #1054, Wednesday 8 May: PIOUS
- Wordle #1053, Tuesday 7 May: MUSTY
- Wordle #1052, Monday 6 May: SHAVE
- Wordle #1051, Sunday 5 May: DECAL
- Wordle #1050, Saturday 4 May: VALUE
- Wordle #1049, Friday 3 May: EBONY
- Wordle #1048, Thursday 2 May: SLICE
- Wordle #1047, Wednesday 1 May: DIARY
- Wordle #1046, Tuesday 30 April: PROWL
- Wordle #1045, Monday 29 April: CRAFT
- Wordle #1044, Sunday 28 April: PRUNE
- Wordle #1043, Saturday 27 April: GLEAM
- Wordle #1042, Friday 26 April: VAPID
- Wordle #1041, Thursday 25 April: INTRO
- Wordle #1040, Wednesday 24 April: OVERT
- Wordle #1039, Tuesday 23 April: ROVER
- Wordle #1038, Monday 22 April: LASER
- Wordle #1037, Sunday 21 April: JOLLY
- Wordle #1036, Saturday 20 April: LUCID
- Wordle #1035, Friday 19 April: RAISE
- Wordle #1034, Thursday 18 April: FACET
- Wordle #1033, Wednesday 17 April: TITHE
- Wordle #1032, Tuesday 16 April: SHANK
- Wordle #1031, Monday 15 April: EQUIP
- Wordle #1030, Sunday 14 April: BLIMP
- Wordle #1029, Saturday 13 April: STEEL
- Wordle #1028, Friday 12 April: WHINY
- Wordle #1027, Thursday 11 April: LOUSE
- Wordle #1026, Wednesday 10 April: BROTH
- Wordle #1025, Tuesday 9 April: MERGE
- Wordle #1024, Monday 8 April: BREED
- Wordle #1023, Sunday 7 April: VOILA
- Wordle #1022, Saturday 6 April: FINCH
- Wordle #1021, Friday 5 April: WRIST
- Wordle #1020, Thursday 4 April: CLIMB
- Wordle #1019, Wednesday 3 April: PLAIT
- Wordle #1018, Tuesday 2 April: SERUM
- Wordle #1017, Monday 1 April: FROND
- Wordle #1016, Sunday 31 March: TABOO
- Wordle #1015, Saturday 30 March: FORCE
- Wordle #1014, Friday 29 March: REALM
- Wordle #1013, Thursday 28 March: SPEAK
- Wordle #1012, Wednesday 27 March: STUNG
- Wordle #1011, Tuesday 26 March: MAYOR
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.