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 #1163) – 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 #1163) – 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 #1163) – 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 #1163) – 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 #1163) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1163.
- Today’s Wordle answer is to glide along.
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 #1163)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: STALE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: BUSED (162)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1163) is… SKATE.
This is likely to prove much less controversial than yesterday’s Wordle. As I predicted in my column 24 hours ago (see below), opinion as to whether FILET was a fair answer or not was split along territorial lines. So, while people in the UK and Australia generally thought it shouldn’t have been included, those in the US were fine with it. I still think it’s a little unfair, but there’s no point complaining, so I’ll move on to today’s game.
SKATE is an easy one by most regards, with an average score of 3.7 according to WordleBot and with the most common starting/ending combination in the game. S and E are paired in those locations in 74 of Wordle’s 2,309 original solutions, which places them way ahead of the S/Y combo in second place (42). What’s more, the S-A-E format with those two letters sandwiching an A in the middle is the likeliest for those three positions: it occurs 23 times, versus 18 for S-O-E and 17 for S-I-E.
It’s partly for that reason that SLATE and STARE are such good start words and as you’d imagine both proved very successful today, leaving only three answers; STALE was even better, at two. Unfortunately, my random opener BUSED doesn’t begin with an S or end with an E, although both of those letters were at least included.
I had 162 possibles left after that so-so start, but cut them to three via the aforementioned SLATE. The bad news was that it still took me another two guesses from there.
The problem was that the three words – SKATE, STATE and SPATE – were all equally likely to be solutions, and I couldn’t recall for sure whether any had been past Wordle answers. I thought that STATE might have been, and indeed it had – in March this year.
I should have trusted my instincts, although it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway as I’d most likely have gone with SPATE next. As it happens I played STEAK, which was guaranteed to give me a four but also guaranteed not to give me a three, and that pointed the way to SKATE as the answer.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1162)
In a different time zone where it’s still Saturday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1162, 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 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.
- 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 #1162.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a lace with a simple design on it – or an alternative spelling for a cut of meat/fish.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1162)
- NYT average score: 3.9
- My score: 6
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: LEAST (8 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: CLASP (214)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1162) was… FILET.
Right, so I am thoroughly confused. In fact, I don’t think the NYT should have included this word at all – and I’m not just saying that because I scored a 6/6, my first for nearly a month.
FILET is, apparently, “a lace with a square mesh and geometric designs” according to Merriam-Webster, but I very much doubt that’s why it’s included here, because honestly who would know that?
Rather, I think it’s probably included as the alternative spelling of fillet, but that’s the French way, not English – and Wordle isn’t supposed to use ‘foreign’ words. You could argue that it’s in use in English, as in Filet-o-Fish and filet mignon, but the former is a proper noun and the latter part of a compound word; FILET doesn’t make sense on its own, in that context.
The other possibility is that this is a classic US English vs UK English thing, which wouldn’t be the first time that issue has reared its head. But if so, it’s a marginal one; I’ve checked multiple US dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com and The American Heritage Dictionary, and all list FILET only as a less common variant of fillet. By that measure, I really don’t think it should be included as a Wordle answer.
I’ll be interested to see what others think, and will happily admit I’m wrong if the general consensus is that FILET is a perfectly fine answer. In which case, I’ll have to just accept that this was a disastrous game for me.
Without the confusion over the spelling I might have scored a four, definitely a five, but it wouldn’t have been a roaring success anyway. WordleBot says the average score is 3.9 at the time of writing, but I suspect that figure will go up considerably over the course of the day. But either way, I’d probably have missed par here.
My start word, picked at random, didn’t help. That was CLASP, theoretically a good opener but unlucky today and leaving 214 options. Second up, BROIL, was a “wonderful choice” said WordleBot – but incredibly unlucky and still left 36.
At this stage I had just yellow I and L to play with, but had at least ruled out lots of common letters. I figured an LY ending might be likely, so went with DIMLY and was again unlucky. This time I did turn the I green, but the L stayed stubbornly yellow and I still had eight words to pick from.
At this point I set about finding all of those possibles. I didn’t know there were eight, of course, and found only LITHE, LINEN, LIEGE and LIGHT, missing LIKEN, LIVEN, FILET and FILTH. Of the four I had, LITHE was a decent choice and would have guaranteed me a five if I hadn’t missed any – but of course I had. So rather than solve it, it added a T and E into the mix and confused me slightly.
Still, the L could only go in one place now, so effectively I only had to work with TILE- or -ILET. The D and R were ruled out, so it couldn’t be TILED or TILER – so it had to be the other format. But I couldn’t see any words that fit. Eventually I guessed GILET, which WordleBot didn’t think was an option but which I’d say is more valid than FILET. After all, it’s included in all the dictionaries I checked, and not as a variant!
But GILET wasn’t right, so with my final guess and staring at a possible first proper failure, I played FILET more in hope than expectation and was slightly surprised – but very pleased – to see it go green.
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 #1162, Saturday 24 August: FILET
- Wordle #1161, Friday 23 August: LEECH
- Wordle #1160, Thursday 22 August: BRUTE
- Wordle #1159, Wednesday 21 August: MULCH
- Wordle #1158, Tuesday 20 August: DELAY
- Wordle #1157, Monday 19 August: METER
- Wordle #1156, Sunday 18 August: LANKY
- Wordle #1155, Saturday 17 August: STORM
- Wordle #1154, Friday 16 August: BRACE
- Wordle #1153, Thursday 15 August: ACORN
- Wordle #1152, Wednesday 14 August: SHORE
- Wordle #1151, Tuesday 13 August: NEIGH
- Wordle #1150, Monday 12 August: SKIFF
- 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
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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