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 NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for my 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 #1098) – 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 #1098) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1098) – 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 #1098) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Wordle hints (game #1098) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1098.
- Today’s Wordle answer is to apply color or pigment.
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 #1098)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: PLANE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: GAFFE (216)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1098) is… PAINT.
Sometimes I am too damn smart for my own good. Or maybe it should just be that I think I am. Case in point: I had a clear chance of a two today – which would have been my first for more than a month. However, I overthought the entire thing and had to settle for a three. Frustrating.
That said, a 3/6 was still well below the average for the game, which currently sits at 3.5. Yes, it’s a third easy game in a row, and the fifth easy one in the past seven days. I’m almost hoping for a more difficult one now.
As to why PAINT is so easy, well there’s no mystery here. As with SCENT yesterday, it’ll be almost entirely down to the letters, four of which are ultra-common, plus the positions in which they appear. For instance, P is the only one of the five not in the top 10 by frequency, but as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows that jumps to fifth when used at the start of a solution.
Once again, many of the best start words made major inroads – and yes, I’m getting serious deja-vu from yesterday’s answer here! Today, the big successes were PLANE (which left a sole answer, but which isn’t played by many people), TRAIN (which left three, and which is popular) and SAINT (also three, not that popular).
I had considerably more words on my longlist – my random opener was GAFFE, which left 216 to pick from. All I had at this stage was a green A, and looking at the possible second guesses I knew that I would want to include several from O, I, N, T, S, R, C and L, these being the most common remaining letters. I considered SAINT, but I figured that if the T changed color it would give me a good hint as to whether the S was needed anyway, as they often go together. So I decided to play PAINT.
And then… well, I got a little voice in my head. “No, Marc, the A is already green. You’ll gain more information if you swap that for a different letter. Why not play POINT?” I don’t always listen to myself, but on this occasion I did, and played POINT. And of course I had to endure the agony (slight overstatement, maybe) of seeing four letters change color, leaving me to play PAINT next for my 3/6. How annoying.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1097)
In a different time zone where it’s still Thursday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1097, 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 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 T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1097.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is an odor.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1097)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 2
- Best start word performance*: CRANE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: SLIME (55)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1097) was… SCENT.
If you found Tuesday’s game, TERSE, to be easy, then you’ll love today’s. SCENT has an average score of only 3.4 at the time of writing, which is lower even than the 3.5 figure that TERSE eventually settled at. Given that we had two very easy games at the weekend, too, it’s all been rather placid round here lately.
You don’t have to be a Wordle genius to see why it’s easy, either. All five letters are in the top 10 most common overall, with S the most likely to appear at the start, T the third most likely to appear at the end, and N the second most likely to be in position #4.
Those letters will have led to a lot of green and yellow for people playing some of the best Wordle start words today. CRANE is of course WordleBot’s preferred opener, and that left only a single answer here, and therefore a guaranteed score of two. STARE, a little more popular than CRANE, left a dozen options only, so there were presumably plenty of threes there.
I managed a three myself, although my start word, SLIME, was a little less successful, as I still had 55 possibles. But my second guess, TAPER, fixed that – it gave me a yellow T and cut the shortlist down to three.
Or rather, that’s what WordleBot said; I only came up with two, SCENT and STENT, whereas the ‘bot also had STENO on its list. However, I suspect that’s not a genuine answer.
Between SCENT and STENT I was always going to play the far more common former over the slightly obscure latter, and my predictability was rewarded with my first 3/6 for five days.
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 #1097, Thursday 20 June: SCENT
- Wordle #1096, Wednesday 19 June: TERSE
- Wordle #1095, Tuesday 18 June: COVER
- Wordle #1094, Monday 17 June: PRIOR
- Wordle #1093, Sunday 16 June: GRIND
- Wordle #1092, Saturday 15 June: PROUD
- Wordle #1091, Friday 14 June: VAULT
- Wordle #1090, Thursday 13 June: ANGST
- Wordle #1089, Wednesday 12 June: DETER
- Wordle #1088, Tuesday 11 June: SWUNG
- Wordle #1087, Monday 10 June: MANGA
- Wordle #1086, Sunday 9 June: CROWD
- Wordle #1085, Saturday 8 June: HENCE
- Wordle #1084, Friday 7 June: MELON
- Wordle #1083, Thursday 6 June: ETHER
- Wordle #1082, Wednesday 5 June: ORGAN
- Wordle #1081, Tuesday 4 June: GROOM
- Wordle #1080, Monday 3 June: STARK
- Wordle #1079, Sunday 2 June: BRAVO
- Wordle #1078, Saturday 1 June: BASIN
- Wordle #1077, Friday 31 May: CHAOS
- Wordle #1076, Thursday 30 May: GUMMY
- Wordle #1075, Wednesday 29 May: PAPAL
- Wordle #1074, Tuesday 28 May: MINUS
- Wordle #1073, Monday 27 May: SKIER
- Wordle #1072, Sunday 26 May: BEVEL
- Wordle #1071, Saturday 25 May: TITAN
- Wordle #1070, Friday 24 May: GLIDE
- Wordle #1069, Thursday 23 May: SWISH
- Wordle #1068, Wednesday 22 May: EXALT
- Wordle #1067, Tuesday 21 May: DINGO
- Wordle #1066, Monday 20 May: NICER
- Wordle #1065, Sunday 19 May: HITCH
- Wordle #1064, Saturday 18 May: BRINY
- Wordle #1063, Friday 17 May: TUTOR
- Wordle #1062, Thursday 16 May: STALL
- 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
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.
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