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? TechRadar’s Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our 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 #1313) – 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 #1313) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is R.
R is a surprisingly uncommon starting letter. Despite ranking third overall in Wordle, it’s merely the 11th most likely to begin an answer.
Wordle hints (game #1313) – 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 #1313) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is H.
H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.
Wordle hints (game #1313) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1313.
- Today’s Wordle answer is to stretch out or extend.
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 #1313)
- NYT average score: 3.0
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: TRACE, CRATE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: BOARD (52)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1313) is… REACH.
I talk a lot about the hardest Wordles ever, but what about the easiest? Well, REACH is the latest inclusion in that list, jumping in at equal third place.
In order, the easiest Wordle for which I have an average score (just over 1,000 games in total) is SLATE (average score an improbable 1.5), followed by PLATE (2.9), then TRAIN, STALE, RAISE, STARE and now REACH, all at 3.0.
Given that the overall average is around 3.9, REACH really is a very easy Wordle. Some of this will be due to the performance of several of the best Wordle start words. For instance, TRACE and CRATE each left only one solution, but more relevant here will be the fact that CRANE left only two and STARE three.
What’s more, the letters and combinations here are so common that many people will have cut the shortlist to one or two on the second guess. Plus, the word itself is so widely used that lots will have guessed it on the third attempt even if just as a narrowing-down option.
My game was entirely trouble-free. I played BOARD first, and that left 52. But helpfully, it gave me a green A in the middle and a yellow R next to it. The R was unlikely to go at the end, given that A placement; it could have been a word such as STAIR or FLAIR or CHAIR, and I considered them all, but more common format-wise was R in second and E at the end. This gave me the likes of CRANE, GRACE, TRACE, CRATE, GRATE and lots more.
The only problem was, I knew that many had been past Wordle answers. I’m not great at remembering what’s gone before in this game, but the likes of CRANE, TRACE and CRATE had all stuck in my mind due to their prominence as start words.
Instead, I played FRESH. This was a risk, but I thought there might be an S in there (CRASS, GRASS, GRASP, CRASH, STAIR), F also cropped up often (FRAME, FLAIR, CRAFT, GRAFT) and H was in the likes of GRAPH, WRATH and indeed REACH.
Honestly, I got lucky; WordleBot only rated my guess as 62 for skill but 93 for luck. But I’ve had my fair share of bad luck too, so who cares? FRESH gave me a green H but yellow R and E, and that left REACH as my only option. I thought I’d done very well, but it turns out I was merely average today!
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1312)
In a different time zone where it’s still Tuesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1312, 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 I.
I is only the 19th most common starting letter in Wordle, and just 34 of the original 2,309 answers begin with it.
- 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 G.
G is not a common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only 41 of Wordle’s 2,309 games finish with one.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1312.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is often found on a cake.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1312)
- NYT average score: 4.1
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 2
- Best start word performance*: CRANE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: SAVOY (627)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1312) was… ICING.
We’re well over halfway through Wordle now, but some letter patterns are still under-represented – and the repeated I is one of them. As I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, I is repeated 24 times across the game’s 2,309 original solutions, so probability-wise we should have 13 by now. Instead, this is only the ninth such word to have appeared. It’s not exactly a massive difference at first glance, but it does mean you can expect more of them in the remaining 1,000-odd days – about one every 70 days, rather than every 145 days as they’ve appeared so far.
It’s a pattern that’s worth looking out for, because it can be hard to solve. You don’t expect to get two Is in a Wordle word, really – or I don’t at least. The letters E and O regularly appear together (GREED and GOOSE, say), as do the likes of L, R and T. But you don’t get two Is together, and neither do they generally appear at the start and end as repeats often do too. Instead, you’ll be looking for a word in which two Is turn up in quick succession but not together, which is just not the kind of thing your brain expects.
None of this mattered to WordleBot, or indeed anyone who began with CRANE, because that left only a single answer. The ‘bot inevitably scored a 2/6 as a result, which made my 4/6 look altogether unimpressive. But that said, the overall average is currently 4.1, so I’m happy enough. In fact, I’m delighted – my opening SAVOY left 627 possibles, so to get home in three more guesses from there was not too shabby.
I played for an ER word second, but was relieved when only the I and N in LINER changed color. They were both yellow, but surprisingly that was enough to cut the shortlist to 11. I found most of these including INPUT, UNFIT, UNZIP, THING, THINK and CUMIN, but – inevitably – not ICING.
I remembered quite a few of these as past Wordle answers, including THING, THINK and UNFIT, so went with CUMIN as it would guarantee me a four at worst, based on the words I’d found. As it happened, CUMIN had also been a previous answer (1059, so I should have recalled it really) – and when the C joined the I and N in yellow status I was a little confused.
However, another look at the board turned up ICING, and as it transpired that was the only possible solution by that stage.
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 #1312, Tuesday 21 January: ICING
- Wordle #1311, Monday 20 January: SQUID
- Wordle #1310, Sunday 19 January: ROWER
- Wordle #1309, Saturday 18 January: SILLY
- Wordle #1308, Friday 17 January: PROSE
- Wordle #1307, Thursday 16 January: FLINT
- Wordle #1306, Wednesday 15 January: KNACK
- Wordle #1305, Tuesday 14 January: FANCY
- Wordle #1304, Monday 13 January: CLOAK
- Wordle #1303, Sunday 12 January: TOTAL
- Wordle #1302, Saturday 11 January: DINGY
- Wordle #1301, Friday 10 January: CRAWL
- Wordle #1300, Thursday 9 January: WAFER
- Wordle #1299, Wednesday 8 January: DRAFT
- Wordle #1298, Tuesday 7 January: ATLAS
- Wordle #1297, Monday 6 January: SPRIG
- Wordle #1296, Sunday 5 January: CYBER
- Wordle #1295, Saturday 4 January: RELAX
- Wordle #1294, Friday 3 January: CHEAP
- Wordle #1293, Thursday 2 January: CHOSE
- Wordle #1292, Wednesday 1 January: NERVE
- Wordle #1291, Tuesday 31 December: LEMUR
- Wordle #1290, Monday 30 December: STARE
- Wordle #1289, Sunday 29 December: MAMBO
- Wordle #1288, Saturday 28 December: DECRY
- Wordle #1287, Friday 27 December: GRAIN
- Wordle #1286, Thursday 26 December: AFFIX
- Wordle #1285, Wednesday 25 December: SHARE
- Wordle #1284, Tuesday 24 December: EAGLE
- Wordle #1283, Monday 23 December: SAUNA
- Wordle #1282, Sunday 22 December: BRAWN
- Wordle #1281, Saturday 21 December: BLADE
- Wordle #1280, Friday 20 December: FLASH
- Wordle #1279, Thursday 19 December: STRAY
- Wordle #1278, Wednesday 18 December: HEFTY
- Wordle #1277, Tuesday 17 December: SCOWL
- Wordle #1276, Monday 16 December: BOAST
- Wordle #1275, Sunday 15 December: FUNKY
- Wordle #1274, Saturday 14 December: DROOL
- Wordle #1273, Friday 13 December: BOXER
- Wordle #1272, Thursday 12 December: VYING
- Wordle #1271, Wednesday 11 December: PLUMB
- Wordle #1270, Tuesday 10 December: PATIO
- Wordle #1269, Monday 9 December: FLUNG
- Wordle #1268, Sunday 8 December: HYENA
- Wordle #1267, Saturday 7 December: HILLY
- Wordle #1266, Friday 6 December: SHOVE
- Wordle #1265, Thursday 5 December: ENDOW
- Wordle #1264, Wednesday 4 December: CRYPT
- Wordle #1263, Tuesday 3 December: SHAKY
- Wordle #1262, Monday 2 December: GUILE
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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