Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here.
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 #1423) – 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 #1423) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is B.
B is a very, very common starting letter in Wordle. In fact, it’s the third most common overall, behind only S and C.
Wordle hints (game #1423) – 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 #1423) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is P.
P is a middling end letter in Wordle. It features in 56 answers, which places it 12th in the alphabet. Don’t expect it to happen that often compared to the likes of E, Y and T.
Wordle hints (game #1423) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1423.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a muscle.
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 #1423)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 55
- My start word performance: DRUID (321 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (21)
- Tomorrow’s start word: SHONE
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1423) is… BICEP.
I don’t want to be one of those people, but… well, actually I do want to be one of those people: BICEP is an incorrect form of the proper word BICEPS and should not really be included in Wordle.
Admittedly, it is included in most dictionaries as a variant form, and you could argue that Wordle reflects common usage of words rather than what is correct – but technically BICEPS is both a singular and plural form of the word. It means ‘two-headed muscle’ in Latin and there’s even a whole discussion of why biceps is the correct form on Merriam-Webster, so I think the NYT simply has this one wrong.
Maybe that contributed to the relatively high score of 4.0 today, or maybe it’s the fact that BICEP ends in EP, a format that only crops up seven times in Wordle’s 2,309 original answers. Or maybe that total will come down as more people play, because I don’t think it’s particularly tricky.
My score of four was reasonable, given that my opening guess left 321 options. WordleBot awarded me a 99/99 for skill overall, implying that I could not have played any better and that luck was ultimately against me when it came to scoring a three.
I followed DRUID with STILE, which cut my list to six, then set about finding those possibles. I came up with only three, GIVEN, BICEP and PINEY, missing VIXEN, EMOJI and WINEY. If WordleBot had known about that it surely would have docked some skill points.
Fortunately it didn’t hurt me too much. I played GIVEN and though it was wrong it left BICEP as the only answer – even if really it shouldn’t have been one either.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1422)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1422, 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 D.
D is the ninth most common starting letter in the game, so maybe slightly less likely than you might expect.
- 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 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.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1422.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a piece of wood used in holes.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1422)
- NYT average score: 4.4 (revised)
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- My skill score: 94
- My luck score: 61
- My start word performance: SIREN (190 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (273)
- Tomorrow’s start word: DRUID
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1422) was… DOWEL.
I’m not surprised to see that DOWEL has a really high average score of 4.6 at the time of writing (note – revised to 4.4), because it’s not exactly a widely used word in most circles.
It’s not obscure as such – anyone who’s put together a piece of Ikea furniture will be all-too-familiar with the little wooden cylinders, one of which will inevitably get lost under the sofa and prevent you being able to finish building the bed your four-year-old daughter has been excited about for weeks until you spend another hour hunting for it. And yes, I do speak from experience.
But that aside, it’s not like DOWEL is used on a daily basis by people outside of carpenters and the like. Plus, there are more common alternatives that differ from it by only one letter: VOWEL, BOWEL and TOWEL.
Despite that, many Wordlers instead got tripped up by MODEL, which also differs by one letter, but which also moves the D into a different place.
Across the second, third and fourth guesses, 15% of players selected MODEL, making it by far the most widely played incorrect answer. On the fourth guess in particular, 7% played MODEL, while 4% went with BOWEL and 3.6% with VOWEL. Either way, there will have been a lot of unhappy folk walking away with a five or six.
I managed a three, completing an excellent weekend after yesterday’s two. And once again, I enjoyed a huge slice of luck, this time on my second guess.
I began with SIREN, a very good start word that didn’t work so well, leaving 190 options.
With R and N ruled out, and with E confirmed in position #4, I figured D, L and Y were the most likely letters to go after that E, so went with BADLY.
This was a “wonderful choice” and also incredibly lucky, cutting my solutions list to 10. Or so WordleBot said; in reality it was less than that, because the ‘Bot included ED-ending words such as LOVED and HOLED that are very unlikely to be answers.
I omitted all of those by default, instead coming up with only DOWEL as a possible solution. And indeed, it was the only one of the ‘Bot’s list that didn’t end ED, so in reality it was always a sure thing.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three 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 #1422, Sunday 11 May: DOWEL
- Wordle #1421, Saturday 10 May: YEAST
- Wordle #1420, Friday 9 May: TRIPE
- Wordle #1419, Thursday 8 May: BALMY
- Wordle #1418, Wednesday 7 May: MACHO
- Wordle #1417, Tuesday 6 May: SUITE
- Wordle #1416, Monday 5 May: SHUSH
- Wordle #1415, Sunday 4 May: TROUT
- Wordle #1414, Saturday 3 May: PATSY
- Wordle #1413, Friday 2 May: WHOSE
- Wordle #1412, Thursday 1 May: ADEPT
- Wordle #1411, Wednesday 30 April: IDLER
- Wordle #1410, Tuesday 29 April: BLISS
- Wordle #1409, Monday 28 April: DUMMY
- Wordle #1408, Sunday 27 April: WEEDY
- Wordle #1407, Saturday 26 April: CLASH
- Wordle #1406, Friday 25 April: KNOWN
- Wordle #1405, Thursday 24 April: GENIE
- Wordle #1404, Wednesday 23 April: OZONE
- Wordle #1403, Tuesday 22 April: ARTSY
- Wordle #1402, Monday 21 April: SPATE
- Wordle #1401, Sunday 20 April: PATCH
- Wordle #1400, Saturday 19 April: INBOX
- Wordle #1399, Friday 18 April: DIRGE
- Wordle #1398, Thursday 17 April: STOOD
- Wordle #1397, Wednesday 16 April: MORAL
- Wordle #1396, Tuesday 15 April: ASHEN
- Wordle #1395, Monday 14 April: CREST
- Wordle #1394, Sunday 13 April: LAUGH
- Wordle #1393, Saturday 12 April: NURSE
- Wordle #1392, Friday 11 April: ARROW
- Wordle #1391, Thursday 10 April: TURBO
- Wordle #1390, Wednesday 9 April: WHEAT
- Wordle #1389, Tuesday 8 April: SPARE
- Wordle #1388, Monday 7 April: HAZEL
- Wordle #1387, Sunday 6 April: VILLA
- Wordle #1386, Saturday 5 April: FOAMY
- Wordle #1385, Friday 4 April: KRILL
- Wordle #1384, Thursday 3 April: SHEAR
- Wordle #1383, Wednesday 2 April: CURSE
- Wordle #1382, Tuesday 1 April: JEWEL
- Wordle #1381, Monday 31 March: BOOTY
- Wordle #1380, Sunday 30 March: QUOTA
- Wordle #1379, Saturday 29 March: SORRY
- Wordle #1378, Friday 28 March: VERSE
- Wordle #1377, Thursday 27 March: SHEET
- Wordle #1376, Wednesday 26 March: ELBOW
- Wordle #1375, Tuesday 25 March: SHELF
- Wordle #1374, Monday 24 March: ANGLE
- Wordle #1373, Sunday 23 March: DOPEY
- Wordle #1372, Saturday 22 March: AMBLE
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 2025.
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’ Games 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.
12. The NYT has added in some of its own words, that weren’t in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
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