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 #1248) – 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 #1248) – 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 #1248) – 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 #1248) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is L.
L is a really common letter to find at the end of a Wordle. There are 155 games that finish with an L, and it ranks as the fifth most likely letter there.
Wordle hints (game #1248) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1248.
- Today’s Wordle answer is delicate.
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 #1248)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: TRICE (12 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: LOGIN (26)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1248) is… FRAIL.
No surprise that today’s game is another one with a low-ish average of 3.7: it contains four very common letters in common positions, and one that’s not all that common in general but that often appears at the start. That letter is F, and as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, it’s seventh in frequency for the beginning of an answer.
Unfortunately for me, I guessed the letter that’s fourth as a starter on the third guess instead, going for T and TRAIL rather than F and FRAIL. Its similarity to other words is the biggest problem with today’s answer, with GRAIL the other obvious one. And if you didn’t have the L at the end there are many more options, including BRAIN, DRAIN, GRAIN and TRAIN.
I had a slightly frustrating game; my opening guess, LOGIN, left only 26 words, but my second – CLADE – was “a bit unlucky” according to WordleBot, and left me with four. These were TRAIL, FRAIL, AVAIL and QUAIL, though I will admit I didn’t think of the last of those. I didn’t consult a list of past Wordle answers, or I’d have seen that AVAIL has been a solution in the past (game #609), but that ultimately didn’t matter, because I decided to shoot for the answer rather than narrow it down further. TRAIL was the obvious choice, but it wasn’t right and I had to settle for a four.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1247)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1247, 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 T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
- There were 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 Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1247.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a count.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1247)
- NYT average score: 3.8 (revised)
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STALE (5 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: DAILY (7)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1247) was… TALLY.
Only two days ago we had a Wordle answer that started TA and ended in a Y and here we are again, with TALLY following Friday’s TACKY (and sandwiching Saturday’s VISOR).
This one is arguably slightly harder than TACKY was, on account of it containing a repeated L. This is not a horribly uncommon occurrence; as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, there are 71 games in which L appears more than once, making it third in this regard behind E and O. However, while it might be common among repeats, it’s still a lot more likely to appear in singular form.
That said, if you knew that it ended LY then you will have had a hint that it might have been an LLY word. Or at least you will if you know your Wordle probabilities. There are 22 games (out of the original word list) that end with those three letters, whereas there are 56 in total that end LY. So about 40% of all LY words have another L in front of them.
This was good knowledge for me, because my random start word was DAILY, which gave me that LY combo. I say it was good knowledge for me, but I didn’t actually know it; I don’t consult my Wordle probabilities while playing, because that would seem too much like cheating. I can’t help the fact that they’re in my head to an extent now though, so while I didn’t know the specifics I did play for the possibility of that double-L.
I did that by going for PELTS next. The L was placed in the middle to see if it was an LLY word, while the P was there for PALLY (which wasn’t on WordleBot’s list but was on mine), the E for EARLY, the T for TALLY and the S for SALLY. I also had MANLY and RALLY, each of which would be ruled in/out by PELTS. I didn’t have GAYLY or WANLY, but I’m not perfect.
PELTS did the trick, giving me the yellow T and green L that pointed the way to TALLY, so I played that next for a simple three.
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 #1247, Sunday 17 November: TALLY
- Wordle #1246, Saturday 16 November: VISOR
- Wordle #1245, Friday 15 November: TACKY
- Wordle #1244, Thursday 14 November: UVULA
- Wordle #1243, Wednesday 13 November: PRIMP
- Wordle #1242, Tuesday 12 November: FLOWN
- Wordle #1241, Monday 11 November: STOIC
- Wordle #1240, Sunday 10 November: INNER
- Wordle #1239, Saturday 9 November: SWELL
- Wordle #1238, Friday 8 November: READY
- Wordle #1237, Thursday 7 November: EVENT
- Wordle #1236, Wednesday 6 November: TRULY
- Wordle #1235, Tuesday 5 November: OCTET
- Wordle #1234, Monday 4 November: VINYL
- Wordle #1233, Sunday 3 November: BLAZE
- Wordle #1232, Saturday 2 November: SNOOP
- Wordle #1231, Friday 1 November: SIXTH
- Wordle #1230, Thursday 31 October: WEIRD
- Wordle #1229, Wednesday 30 October: EASEL
- Wordle #1228, Tuesday 29 October: TUNIC
- Wordle #1227, Monday 28 October: BAWDY
- Wordle #1226, Sunday 27 October: SANDY
- Wordle #1225, Saturday 26 October: WREAK
- Wordle #1224, Friday 25 October: FROWN
- Wordle #1223, Thursday 24 October: BOSSY
- Wordle #1222, Wednesday 23 October: GOOFY
- Wordle #1221, Tuesday 22 October: SHOUT
- Wordle #1220, Monday 21 October: SPOON
- Wordle #1219, Sunday 20 October: DICEY
- Wordle #1218, Saturday 19 October: FIBER
- Wordle #1217, Friday 18 October: STINT
- Wordle #1216, Thursday 17 October: HALVE
- Wordle #1215, Wednesday 16 October: GRANT
- Wordle #1214, Tuesday 15 October: CORER
- Wordle #1213, Monday 14 October: GAMUT
- Wordle #1212, Sunday 13 October: PRONE
- Wordle #1211, Saturday 12 October: STAIN
- Wordle #1210, Friday 11 October: GUSTY
- Wordle #1209, Thursday 10 October: CARVE
- Wordle #1208, Wednesday 9 October: MOMMY
- Wordle #1207, Tuesday 8 October: JOINT
- Wordle #1206, Monday 7 October: FLOUR
- Wordle #1205, Sunday 6 October: LAGER
- Wordle #1204, Saturday 5 October: MINER
- Wordle #1203, Friday 4 October: TITLE
- Wordle #1202, Thursday 3 October: WAGON
- Wordle #1201, Wednesday 2 October: SHELL
- Wordle #1200, Tuesday 1 October: MODEM
- Wordle #1199, Monday 30 September: CLOUD
- Wordle #1198, Sunday 29 September: RIDER
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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