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.
You may well need them today, too, because it’s a difficult one – and then some! But if you don’t need my Wordle hints today you can just skip to my daily column instead.
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 #1150) – 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 #1150) – 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 #1150) – 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 #1150) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is F.
F is not a particularly common ending letter in Wordle. It only ranks 17th in this regard, and a mere 26 of the 2,000-plus original Wordle answers end in this letter.
Wordle hints (game #1150) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1150.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a small boat.
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 #1150)
- NYT average score: 4.8
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SLICE (23 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: VERSO (178)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1150) is… SKIFF.
I wasn’t entirely sure what a SKIFF was until I looked it up so I could write this column. I knew it was a small boat, but not what kind exactly; turns out it isn’t a specific type, rather it’s used to mean any of several small boats that are usually rowed or sailed by only a couple of people at most. So there you go.
I suspect that like me, lots of people won’t be particularly familiar with the word SKIFF, and that might contribute to its monumentally high score, at the time of writing, of 4.8. If that figure doesn’t come down as the day goes on it would make Wordle 1,150 the equal ninth hardest in 2024 and the equal 28th hardest ever (or at least among the 860-odd I have results for).
Of course the word itself isn’t the only problem: there’s also the double-F at the end. As my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, F is only repeated 22 times among the game’s 2,309 original solutions, so it’s really not something you’d think to play for. Plus, the K in position #2 is also very rare – there are only 10 of these in total.
Put all that together and you have the ingredients for a classic streak-ending Wordle. At the time of writing, some 2% of the 140,000 or so people who have played today’s game have failed to solve it – so that’s already a couple of thousand lost streaks, and that’s before the UK or US have even woken properly.
Most of the top start words won’t have helped much, either. WordleBot’s preferred CRANE left 356 options, the ever-popular STARE left 80. My random word – the very random VERSO – was somewhere in-between the two, giving me a pool of 178 words to whittle down.
I did that by playing SAINT second time out, simply because it made sense to put the S at the start, where it’s most common, and to add in four of the most common remaining letters. That was a “terrific choice”, WordleBot said, and cut the answer list to 11. Nice.
I had a decent idea what they were, because S is only ever followed by a few letters: W, T, P, L, K, H, M, N, C and the vowels. Several of those were already ruled out, so I was able to draw up a shortlist of nine: SPIKY, SKIMP, SHILL, SWILL, SLICK, SPICY, SPILL, SKILL and SLIMY. No, SKIFF was not on it (and neither was WordleBot’s other word, SPIFF).
I needed a third guess that would narrow down those nine, and went with PLUCK. This would be guaranteed to give me the answer in four, unless it was one of either SHILL or SWILL, or SPIKY or SKIMP. But I knew SWILL had been a past Wordle answer, so really there was only one possible 50/50 ahead of me.
As it happens, I didn’t need to worry about that – although when the K in PLUCK turned green without the P or L I was momentarily confused, because it had ruled out all of my words! After a minute or so of panic I realized that SKIFF was an option – indeed, the only option by now – and played it next for my 4/6.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1149)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1149, too.
- Wordle yesterday had 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).
- 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 #1149.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a quick bread.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1149)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: CRANE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: LIKEN (76)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1149) was… SCONE.
I love SCONES. Absolutely love them. But what I think of a SCONE may not be what you think of as one. And how I pronounce it may also be entirely different to how you do. Does it rhyme with tone or gone? Is it a baked cake-like bread that’s similar to what Americans would think of as biscuits? Or is it more like what the British would call a rock cake?
Regardless of what you think it is (and how you say the word), we can probably all agree that it makes for an easy Wordle answer. WordleBot says it has an average score of 3.4 at the time of writing, and that could yet drop lower still.
That’s mostly down to the letters: with an S at the start, an E at the end and three very common letters in-between, it’s one of Wordle’s likeliest formats.
Want proof? Well, in terms of the starting and ending letters, it’s not even close: there are 74 Wordle answers with that S/E combination, but only 42 with the next-most-common S/Y combo and 41 for S/T.
However, the best word to begin with today was not SLATE or STARE, both of which have that S/E structure, but rather WordleBot’s favorite CRANE – which left only two possible answers. That makes sense, given that CRANE gave players green NE at the end, and had a yellow C in there too.
I was nowhere near as lucky, with my random opener LIKEN leaving 76 words – but it didn’t ultimately matter. That’s because I played CRONE second, and that gave me three greens and one yellow and left SCONE as the sole solution. Tasty!
And for what it’s worth, SCONE is definitely pronounced to rhyme with gone and they’re best enjoyed with butter, cream and jam. And that is definitive.
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 #1149, Sunday 11 August: SCONE
- Wordle #1148, Saturday 10 August: MEDIC
- Wordle #1147, Friday 9 August: OUNCE
- Wordle #1146, Thursday 8 August: SAUCY
- Wordle #1145, Wednesday 7 August: MACAW
- Wordle #1144, Tuesday 6 August: ANVIL
- Wordle #1143, Monday 5 August: ENSUE
- Wordle #1142, Sunday 4 August: LOWER
- Wordle #1141, Saturday 3 August: SCALE
- Wordle #1140, Friday 2 August: FLAKE
- 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
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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