Today's Wordle hints – answer, clues and tips for game #820, Sunday, September 17

It's time for your daily round of Wordle hints, expertly crafted to help you keep your streak going even on the toughest of days. 

You might think that you don't need any clues for Wordle today, but remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.   

Below, you'll find a selection of Wordle hints to guide you in the right direction. You don't have to use them all, but there are five in total should you need them, covering vowels, starting letter, ending letter and more. And if you don't have time to play at all, you can see the answer, too. 

Want more word-based fun? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, which remains the best of all the main Wordle alternatives.

SPOILER WARNING: Wordle hints and today's answer are below, so don't read on if you don't want to see them.

Wordle hints (game #820) – 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 #820) – clue #2 – first letter

What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?

The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is M.

M is a middling letter when it comes to starting a word. It sits 10th in the rankings, with 107 occurrences in the 2,309 answers.

Wordle hints (game #820) – 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 #820) – clue #4 – ending letter

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

The last letter in today’s Wordle is C.

C is a fairly uncommon letter to end a Wordle answer – it's only the 16th most likely to be found there.

Wordle hints (game #820) – clue #5 – last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #820.

  • Today’s Wordle answer is an arrangement of sounds.

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 #820)

Wordle answer 820 on a yellow background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's Wordle answer (game #820) is… MUSIC.

I don't often score 4/6s these days; I tend to either choose the right second word and score a 3, or mess up and score a 5. Today, I did neither.

But before we get to that, what does WordleBot say about Wordle #820? Well, it gives it a rating of just 3.6, an average which is on the low side. Then again, we've had a few games like that lately; yesterday's ANGEL (see below) was at 3.8, we had a 3.4 for CLEAR last week and another 3.6 for QUOTE last Sunday.

MUSIC owes its low score in part to the fact that those of you who start with AUDIO – 4% today, according to WordleBot – were left with just 10 possible solutions. That was a far better result than that for many of the best Wordle starting words, with TRICE (30) and SAINT (20) the only ones in the top 20 words to dip below 50.

That might seem surprising, but MUSIC is a curiously arranged word. It's uncommon to get a Wordle answer that includes neither an A nor E, and the fact that there's no T, R, O or L either means that not one of the six most common letters in the game is included here. Instead, MUSIC is constructed from the next tier down, the also-rans that are common in some places but not necessarily overall. I is seventh, S is eighth, C is 10th and U is 11th, while M is down in 16th. Of those, S is by far the most likely letter to start a Wordle, but in the middle of a word is just 10th. C is the second most likely opener but 16th when used at the end. It's that kind of puzzle.

I had 56 words open to me after my initial STARE, mainly revolving around answers that ended SH or SY. This was the same starter as last week's WHISK, a game I scored a 3/6 on thanks to a very good second guess in PUSHY. If I'd repeated that trick today I'd have solved it in three again, because that would have left just one answer. Instead, I went with BLUSH – variety being the spice of life and all that – and paid the price.

WordleBot said BLUSH was a “wonderful choice” but unlucky, and so it was – I still had 11 answers to pick from. One of those was MINUS and it seemed to offer me the best chance of success in that it placed the I second (where it also was for PIOUS), the U fourth and the S fifth (MODUS, MOCUS, FOCUS, KUDOS). 

Somehow, I'd missed the fact MUSIC was also an option (despite my having been a music journalist for half a decade). Silly. Would I have played it third anyway? Probably not, as that SIC pattern at the end wasn't shared by any other options in my list. Still, when the M turned green for MINUS but the I, U and S stayed yellow, I realized what the answer had to be and played MUSIC next for my 4/6.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #819)

In a different time zone where it's still Saturday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #819, too.

  • Wordle yesterday had vowels in two places.
  • The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was A.
  • There were no repeated letters in yesterday’s Wordle.
  • The last letter in yesterday’s Wordle was L.
  • Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a heavenly being.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #819)

Wordle answer 819 on a yellow background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #819) was… ANGEL.

If yesterday's Wordle was a tricky one, today's is far more approachable. Two vowels, three consonants, no repeats, no uncommon letters. Job done.

In reality it's not quite that simple, of course, because no Wordle is ever easy for everyone. Much will depend on your choice of the best Wordle starting words – or your decision not to use one. And luck, too, will impact your score. But for most people, this shouldn't be too bad. WordleBot says it has an average score of 3.8, which places it below the 4.0 threshold above which puzzles start getting truly difficult.  

My game was pretty unremarkable: STARE gave me a couple of yellow letters, but left me with 110 possible solutions; SLANT (23), CARET (18), LEANT (8), PLANE (5) and LANCE (3) were the really good words on that front.

I followed up with ALIGN, a word which WordleBot decided was “a solid guess, and a lucky one.” And it was definitely correct on the second measure – because it added another three letters into the mix and left me with just one possible answer!

That was ANGEL, and I played it next for a 3/6.


Wordle answers: The past 50

I've been playing Wordle every day for more than a year 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 #819, Saturday 16 September: ANGEL
  • Wordle #818, Friday 15 September: EXERT
  • Wordle #817, Thursday 14 September: RAYON
  • Wordle #816, Wednesday 13 September: CLEAR
  • Wordle #815, Tuesday 12 September: WHISK
  • Wordle #814, Monday 11 September: OLDER
  • Wordle #813, Sunday 10 September: QUOTE
  • Wordle #812, Saturday 9 September: LUCKY
  • Wordle #811, Friday 8 September: ROUSE
  • Wordle #810, Thursday 7 September: DWELL
  • Wordle #809, Wednesday 6 September: GNASH
  • Wordle #808, Tuesday 5 September: BIRCH
  • Wordle #807, Monday 4 September: GIDDY
  • Wordle #806, Sunday 3 September: AWAIT
  • Wordle #805, Saturday 2 September: ONION
  • Wordle #804, Friday 1 September: SPACE
  • Wordle #803, Thursday 31 August: BRIDE
  • Wordle #802, Wednesday 30 August: AUDIO
  • Wordle #801, Tuesday 29 August: CAPER
  • Wordle #800, Monday 28 August: WRITE
  • Wordle #799, Sunday 27 August: PEACE
  • Wordle #798, Saturday 26 August: CHOIR
  • Wordle #797, Friday 25 August: OCEAN
  • Wordle #796, Thursday 24 August: WORDY
  • Wordle #795, Wednesday 23 August: VERVE
  • Wordle #794, Tuesday 22 August: SPICE
  • Wordle #793, Monday 21 August: BEACH
  • Wordle #792, Sunday 20 August: QUEST
  • Wordle #791, Saturday 19 August: MAGMA
  • Wordle #790, Friday 18 August: EXACT
  • Wordle #789, Thursday 17 August: AMISS
  • Wordle #788, Wednesday 16 August: SCRUB
  • Wordle #787, Tuesday 15 August: INDEX
  • Wordle #786, Monday 14 August: SNAKY
  • Wordle #785, Sunday 13 August: WRATH
  • Wordle #784, Saturday 12 August: QUICK
  • Wordle #783, Friday 11 August: HELLO
  • Wordle #782, Thursday 10 August: EMPTY
  • Wordle #781, Wednesday 9 August: LOVER
  • Wordle #780, Tuesday 8 August: BULLY
  • Wordle #779, Monday 7 August: BROOK
  • Wordle #778, Sunday 6 August: POLYP
  • Wordle #777, Saturday 5 August: ANODE
  • Wordle #776, Friday 4 August: CHART
  • Wordle #775, Thursday 3 August: PARTY
  • Wordle #774, Wednesday 2 August: BEGET
  • Wordle #773, Tuesday 1 August: TENTH
  • Wordle #772, Monday 31 July: STYLE
  • Wordle #771, Sunday 30 July: BATHE
  • Wordle #770, Saturday 29 July: CURLY
  • Wordle #769, Friday 28 July: ETHOS

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 2023.

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.

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