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, which remains the best of all the main Wordle alternatives.
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 #1003) – 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 #1003) – 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 #1003) – 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 #1003) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Wordle hints (game #1003) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1003.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a type of grain.
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 #1003)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STALE, PLATE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: SUAVE (63)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1003) is… SPELT.
Major deja vu today, with Wordle serving up a word that begins with S, ends with T, contains one vowel in the middle and two common consonants either side of it. Unsurprisingly, it also has a very similar average score of 3.7 (compared to 3.8 for SNORT yesterday, see below).
Once again, a few popular start words performed wonders in cutting down the options; today, SLATE left only three to choose from, while STALE and PLATE reduced the possible solutions to two.
The only slightly awkward thing about it might be that as a word it isn’t that common. It can be used as the past participle of ‘spell’, chiefly in the UK, but spelled is increasingly likely to be used these days even there. The other meaning, likely to be more familiar to US readers, is as a type of wheat that’s often used in artisanal bread. And very nice it is too.
Any awkwardness in my game came from my random start word, which was SUAVE. This was by no means a bad one, but it left 63 options, so I needed a good second guess. I got that via INEPT, which I chose because of the green S.
To explain, S at the start of a word can only be followed by either a vowel or one of eight consonants: W, T, P, L, H, M, N or C. For instance, the answer here could have been SLEPT or SHEEP or SWEET or SLEEP or SPENT.
The fact that I already had a yellow E was helpful, because I didn’t need to worry much about finding space for another vowel – though some words, such as SOWER and SERIF did contain a second. But the majority just had the E in the middle, so finding the consonants was more important. As it happens, I ended up playing INEPT, which did contain a second vowel, mainly because it was the only way I could get N, P and T all in, while keeping the E.
WordleBot loved INEPT, calling it a “terrific” guess, and informing me afterwards that it had cut my options from 63 to one. I’d already established this of course, realizing once the E and T turned green, and the P yellow, that the answer had to be SPELT. That gave me a second 3/6 in a row, which is rare enough for me these days to be welcome indeed.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1002)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1002, 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 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 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 #1002.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a nasal exclamation.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1002)
- NYT average score: 3.8
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SNARE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: STOOD (9)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1002) was… SNORT.
If yesterday’s game was a frustrating one for me from a start word point of view, today’s is the polar opposite. My random word generator served up STOOD, which was not perfect, mainly due to one of the letters being repeated. But I needn’t have worried, because it was “extraordinarily lucky” according to WordleBot, and left me with only nine possible solutions.
SNORT has a relatively low average score of 3.8, which reflects both the fact that it consists of five common letters, but also that other start words beyond mine were very lucky today. Chief among them was SNARE, which left only one answer, but more relevant to the low average was the fact that STARE left only six; STARE is usually the third most popular start word, behind only ADIEU and AUDIO, and today was used by 4% of all players.
Nowhere near as many people used STOOD (fewer than 0.1%, WordleBot said), but it was almost as helpful as STARE. So, what were the nine options I had? Well, I found half of them: SHORT, SPORT, SNORT, SLOTH and SMOTE. Somehow I missed all of the OU variants: SCOUT, SHOUT, SPOUT and SNOUT.
This could have come back to haunt me, because my second guess, PLANT, was based purely on narrowing down the five that I did have, so I didn’t even include a U at all. WordleBot hated it, saying there were better options and awarding me only 55 out of 99 for skill. Ouch!
Fortunately, it didn’t matter too much. PLANT gave me a yellow N and green T, and reduced my nine options to two: SNORT and SNOUT. I still hadn’t considered the latter, though, so guessed SNORT thinking it was the definite answer and only discovered my mistake when I checked in with the ‘Bot later. So, a successful 3/6 score for me, but more through luck than skill today.
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 #1002, Sunday 17 March: SNORT
- Wordle #1001, Saturday 16 March: TOXIN
- Wordle #1000, Friday 15 March: ERUPT
- Wordle #999, Thursday 14 March: SINCE
- Wordle #998, Wednesday 13 March: LOCAL
- Wordle #997, Tuesday 12 March: HEAVE
- Wordle #996, Monday 11 March: PESKY
- Wordle #995, Sunday 10 March: GRASP
- Wordle #994, Saturday 9 March: CHEER
- Wordle #993, Friday 8 March: EARLY
- Wordle #992, Thursday 7 March: CLONE
- Wordle #991, Wednesday 6 March: TEARY
- Wordle #990, Tuesday 5 March: HUNCH
- Wordle #989, Monday 4 March: FLAME
- Wordle #988, Sunday 3 March: STATE
- Wordle #987, Saturday 2 March: URBAN
- Wordle #986, Friday 1 March: FORTY
- Wordle #985, Thursday 29 February: IMAGE
- Wordle #984, Wednesday 28 February: DEVIL
- Wordle #983, Tuesday 27 February: SENSE
- Wordle #982, Monday 26 February: OFTEN
- Wordle #981, Sunday 25 February: SMITH
- Wordle #980, Saturday 24 February: PIPER
- Wordle #979, Friday 23 February: APART
- Wordle #978, Thursday 22 February: HEAVY
- Wordle #977, Wednesday 21 February: BUILD
- Wordle #976, Tuesday 20 February: MATCH
- Wordle #975, Monday 19 February: PRICE
- Wordle #974, Sunday 18 February: RIDGE
- Wordle #973, Saturday 17 February: PSALM
- Wordle #972, Friday 16 February: STASH
- Wordle #971, Thursday 15 February: ASCOT
- Wordle #970, Wednesday 14 February: TALON
- Wordle #969, Tuesday 13 February: SCRAM
- Wordle #968, Monday 12 February: PASTA
- Wordle #967, Sunday 11 February: NEVER
- Wordle #966, Saturday 10 February: FRIED
- Wordle #965, Friday 9 February: STIFF
- Wordle #964, Thursday 8 February: PLACE
- Wordle #963, Wednesday 7 February: AFTER
- Wordle #962, Tuesday 6 February: WHICH
- Wordle #961, Monday 5 February: REPEL
- Wordle #960, Sunday 4 February: VERGE
- Wordle #959, Saturday 3 February: MICRO
- Wordle #958, Friday 2 February: CLEFT
- Wordle #957, Thursday 1 February: ALIVE
- Wordle #956, Wednesday 31 January: BULKY
- Wordle #955, Tuesday 30 January: EXPEL
- Wordle #954, Monday 29 January: LEGGY
- Wordle #953, Sunday 28 January: EMBER
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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