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 #1140) – 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 #1140) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is F.
F is a very common starting letter in Wordle. It ranks seventh behind only S, C, B, T, P and A and overall there are 135 solutions that begin with this letter.
Wordle hints (game #1140) – 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 #1140) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1140) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1140.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a thin fragment.
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 #1140)
- NYT average score: 4.4
- My score: 5
- WordleBot’s score: 5
- Best start word performance*: SLATE, PLATE PLACE (14 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: VOWEL (153)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1140) is… FLAKE.
Yet another poor score for me today, but at least here I can point to the fact that a) WordleBot matched my 5/6 and b) the overall average is currently a higher-than-usual 4.4. Does that make me feel better? Not really. What do I plan to do about it? Play tomorrow’s game as if my life depends on it, of course. I will beat the daily average or there will be trouble.
Anyway, as I said FLAKE is a difficult one, mainly because it’s of a format that has many alternative solutions that differ by only a letter or two. That format is -LA-E, of which there are 15; only -RA-E (20), -RI-E (18) and -RO-E (16) are more common in terms of second, third and fifth-letter combos.
That FL at the start is a very common combination, too: equal seventh with 36 instances, behind only ST (65), SH (52), SP (45), CR (45), CH (40) and GR (38), and level with TR and RE. All of this is detailed in my analysis of every Wordle answer, if you’re interested in this kind of Wordle nerdery.
As you might imagine, the best results start word-wise were for those that shared that -LA-E format: SLATE, PLATE and PLACE all left only 14. However, even if you began with one of those you will have faced a challenge, because the remaining options won’t have been easy to further narrow down. The problem is that there are six letters that regularly go before an L at the start of a Wordle: P, S, F, G, B and C. And of course there are lots more that can go between the A and E; here, you were probably looking at R, T, P, K, G, D, S, M, N, V, C or Z, depending on which letters you’d already ruled out.
In my case, my opening VOWEL removed the V from consideration, at least, but still left me with 153 possibles. Playing SLATE duly cut that to 13 and confirmed the format… and here my fun began in earnest.
I found all 13 of those words independently: PLANE and PLACE (for the PL start), BLADE, BLAZE, BLAME and BLARE (BL), GLADE, GLAZE, GLARE (GL), FLAKE, FLARE, FLAME (FL) and CLADE (CL). So, what I needed for my third guess was a word that would rule out four of the common consonants in one fell swoop. I toyed with CRIMP, BRINK and GRIND, but eventually went with CRUMB. That was exactly what WordleBot said it would have played too, so I was on the right lines.
CRUMB didn’t give me any extra letters, however, which was very unlucky (99 for skill, 16 for luck!). My shortlist now numbered four: PLANE, GLAZE, FLAKE and GLADE. Unfortunately, I was going to need another narrowing-down word in order to guarantee myself a five, so went with GLAND and had to play FLAKE on the next go for yet another disappointing result.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1139)
In a different time zone where it’s still Thursday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1139, 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 C.
C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it’s the second most common of all, behind only S.
- 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 K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1139.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a common writing/drawing material in schools.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1139)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 6
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STALE (3 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: BAWDY (470)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1139) was… CHALK.
I’m in the midst of an historically poor run of Wordle scores right now: 5, 6, 5, 3, 4, 5 and now another 6. That’s a week of Wordles with an average score for me of 4.85, against 3.9 for the world at large. Once again, I’m going to blame poor luck; sure, there were things I could have done differently (as always), but WordleBot still awarded me 95 out of 99 for skill, versus 30 out of 99 for luck.
CHALK should not be a difficult Wordle word for most people. The ‘bot says it has an average of only 3.5, making it one of the easiest in weeks; only CADET and ENACT have been below that going all the way back to late June. It does contain one relatively uncommon letter, K, but as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, that’s a lot more likely to appear at the end of a solution than it is elsewhere, so it’s not truly unexpected here. Plus, the CH combo at the start is the fifth most likely of all.
Start words will have played a big part for many of the low scorers: CRANE, WordleBot’s favorite, left only 14, and SLATE, its second choice, was at 12. In contrast, my BAWDY left 470 words and an uphill climb to the answer.
I followed up with TRACE, another popular opener, and things appeared to be on track: it gave me a yellow C and turned the A green. And, unknown to me at the time, it cut my answers list to 15. A three was unlikely now, but a four should definitely have been achievable. Unfortunately, the Wordle gods did not smile on me from here.
Next I played CHASM, and this “wonderful choice” cut my possibles list to a trio: CHALK, CHAFF and CHAIN. But here I did make a mistake, failing to spot CHALK as an option. With, in my head, a 50/50, I figured I’d play CHAIN first and settle for a five if necessary. But when neither of those two was correct I was left looking in shock at the board. At that point I feared an outright failure – my first since I started playing 940 games ago – but fortunately CHALK was the only answer left, so once I eventually found it I was able to escape with a last-gasp 6/6.
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 #1139, Thursday 1 August: CHALK
- Wordle #1138, Wednesday 31 July: PENNE
- Wordle #1137, Tuesday 30 July: FERAL
- Wordle #1136, Monday 29 July: SUPER
- Wordle #1135, Sunday 28 July: SMOCK
- Wordle #1134, Saturday 27 July: JUICE
- Wordle #1133, Friday 26 July: AWASH
- Wordle #1132, Thursday 25 July: PORCH
- Wordle #1131, Wednesday 24 July: FORTE
- Wordle #1130, Tuesday 23 July: PRONG
- Wordle #1129, Monday 22 July: CADET
- Wordle #1128, Sunday 21 July: SPECK
- Wordle #1127, Saturday 20 July: SHAFT
- Wordle #1126, Friday 19 July: REFER
- Wordle #1125, Thursday 18 July: NERDY
- Wordle #1124, Wednesday 17 July: QUITE
- Wordle #1123, Tuesday 16 July: DECOY
- Wordle #1122, Monday 15 July: SWOON
- Wordle #1121, Sunday 14 July: VIDEO
- Wordle #1120, Saturday 13 July: ENACT
- Wordle #1119, Friday 12 July: JIFFY
- Wordle #1118, Thursday 11 July: CAMEO
- Wordle #1117, Wednesday 10 July: GAUNT
- Wordle #1116, Tuesday 9 July: BLARE
- Wordle #1115, Monday 8 July: SHAPE
- Wordle #1114, Sunday 7 July: CANON
- Wordle #1113, Saturday 6 July: SCOFF
- Wordle #1112, Friday 5 July: CRUSH
- Wordle #1111, Thursday 4 July: DEBUT
- Wordle #1110, Wednesday 3 July: THIGH
- Wordle #1109, Tuesday 2 July: INLAY
- Wordle #1108, Monday 1 July: ADAGE
- Wordle #1107, Sunday 30 June: BUDDY
- Wordle #1106, Saturday 29 June: ZEBRA
- Wordle #1105, Friday 28 June: DROVE
- Wordle #1104, Thursday 27 June: ORDER
- Wordle #1103, Wednesday 26 June: KNEAD
- Wordle #1102, Tuesday 25 June: SAVOR
- Wordle #1101, Monday 24 June: DOLLY
- Wordle #1100, Sunday 23 June: BUGLE
- Wordle #1099, Saturday 22 June: EDICT
- Wordle #1098, Friday 21 June: PAINT
- 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
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.
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews