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 #1106) – 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 #1106) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is Z.
Z is the second least likely letter to begin a Wordle, ahead of only X, which doesn’t start any answers at all!
Wordle hints (game #1106) – 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 #1106) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is A.
A is a relatively common ending letter. It ranks 10th in this regard and today’s game is one of 63 in which you’ll find an A there.
Wordle hints (game #1106) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1106.
- Today’s Wordle answer has stripes.
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 #1106)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STARE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: HEDGE (129)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1106) is… ZEBRA.
Well hello, Mr Z, we’ve really not been expecting you. Nor are we sure that we want you here – because you’ve made things a lot harder today. But since you are here, let’s hear your story.
Z is the second least likely letter to start a Wordle answer. A mere three out of the original 2,309 solutions begin with one, and only X is found in that position less frequently. Then again, X doesn’t start any Wordles, so in that sense Z is infinitely more likely to appear. It has that in its favor at least.
This is second we’ve had so far, the first being ZESTY – game #313, back in April 2022. That game had an average score of 4.5, reflecting the fact that the Z immediately complicates things. And today’s is not much easier, with WordleBot reporting that it’s being solved in an average of 4.3 guesses. Still, with two down there’s only one more Z-game to worry about, so that’s something. And no, I don’t know what it is.
The Z isn’t the only tricky aspect to today’s Wordle answer, though. B is one of those letters that is far more common at the start of a word than it is elsewhere: it’s ranked third among starting letters, but 18th overall.
It certainly caused me a few headaches, although I did eventually solve it in four guesses. I wasn’t helped by my start word, picked at random, which today was HEDGE. That gave me a green E, but left 129 possible solutions. That was a world away from the best result here – which was STARE. The ever-popular choice left a mere two options, a fact which will have reduced the overall average. Without that, it would be more like a 4.5, I reckon, which indicates just how tough this is.
My second guess was SLANT, a “wonderful choice” according to WordleBot, and one which reduced my answer pool to seven. I found three of them: REPAY, RECAP and MECCA, but missed REMAP, REBAR, KEBAB and, yes, ZEBRA.
Of those three, RECAP seemed the most likely, so I played that hoping for a 3/6, but being prepared instead to be pointed in the direction of the actual answer. And I was – but not in the way I expected. RECAP wasn’t right, but neither were either of the others – so I had to look again. It took me a few minutes to realize that ZEBRA fit, so with some relief I played that next for a four.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1105)
In a different time zone where it’s still Friday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1105, 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 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.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1105.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a group of animals moving together.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1105)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 2
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: TRADE (3 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: SOBER (28)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1105) was… DROVE.
I’ve had lucky guesses in Wordle before, but few quite as fortunate as my second attempt today. My opener, SOBER, had left 28 possible solutions – and my follow-up solved it for a very unlikely 2/6!
This was my first two for nearly 60 days going back to early May, and a welcome – and unexpected – treat, following a mixed week that has seen me score one five and one six (plus a couple of threes). And better still, it came on a day when the overall average score was 4.0, so slightly above the norm, and when WordleBot had to settle for a three.
The fact that DROVE is as high as 4.0 is a little surprising, because it’s a common word and one that contains four very common letters. The V in the middle is a lot less likely than the others, though, and it may also have suffered from too-many-answers syndrome. A dive into WordleBot’s analysis suggests that was the case, with more people playing DRONE than DROVE on the second guess, and plenty going for the likes of GROVE, PROVE and BROKE at various points.
That’s understandable, as the -RO-E format within it is one of the most common in the game; only -RA-E and -RI-E appear more often, in terms of those three positions.
Anyway, I don’t have much to add in terms of analysis of my game, because I really did just get lucky. I’d drawn up a shortlist after my first guess, and had come up with 11: CHORE, ADORE, BROKE, DROVE, GROVE, PROVE, TROVE, FROZE, CRONE, DRONE and GROPE. I didn’t expect DROVE to be correct, obviously, but played it because those five letters appeared regularly across my list, and was delighted when all five turned 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 #1105, Friday 28 June: DROVE
- Wordle #1104, Thursday 27 June: ORDER
- Wordle #1103, Wednesday 26 June: KNEAD
- Wordle #1102, Tuesday 25 June: SAVOR
- Wordle #1101, Monday 24 June: DOLLY
- Wordle #1100, Sunday 23 June: BUGLE
- Wordle #1099, Saturday 22 June: EDICT
- Wordle #1098, Friday 21 June: PAINT
- Wordle #1097, Thursday 20 June: SCENT
- Wordle #1096, Wednesday 19 June: TERSE
- Wordle #1095, Tuesday 18 June: COVER
- Wordle #1094, Monday 17 June: PRIOR
- Wordle #1093, Sunday 16 June: GRIND
- Wordle #1092, Saturday 15 June: PROUD
- Wordle #1091, Friday 14 June: VAULT
- Wordle #1090, Thursday 13 June: ANGST
- Wordle #1089, Wednesday 12 June: DETER
- Wordle #1088, Tuesday 11 June: SWUNG
- Wordle #1087, Monday 10 June: MANGA
- Wordle #1086, Sunday 9 June: CROWD
- Wordle #1085, Saturday 8 June: HENCE
- Wordle #1084, Friday 7 June: MELON
- Wordle #1083, Thursday 6 June: ETHER
- Wordle #1082, Wednesday 5 June: ORGAN
- Wordle #1081, Tuesday 4 June: GROOM
- Wordle #1080, Monday 3 June: STARK
- Wordle #1079, Sunday 2 June: BRAVO
- Wordle #1078, Saturday 1 June: BASIN
- Wordle #1077, Friday 31 May: CHAOS
- Wordle #1076, Thursday 30 May: GUMMY
- Wordle #1075, Wednesday 29 May: PAPAL
- Wordle #1074, Tuesday 28 May: MINUS
- Wordle #1073, Monday 27 May: SKIER
- Wordle #1072, Sunday 26 May: BEVEL
- Wordle #1071, Saturday 25 May: TITAN
- Wordle #1070, Friday 24 May: GLIDE
- Wordle #1069, Thursday 23 May: SWISH
- Wordle #1068, Wednesday 22 May: EXALT
- Wordle #1067, Tuesday 21 May: DINGO
- Wordle #1066, Monday 20 May: NICER
- Wordle #1065, Sunday 19 May: HITCH
- Wordle #1064, Saturday 18 May: BRINY
- Wordle #1063, Friday 17 May: TUTOR
- Wordle #1062, Thursday 16 May: STALL
- Wordle #1061, Wednesday 15 May: PINCH
- Wordle #1060, Tuesday 14 May: AMASS
- Wordle #1059, Monday 13 May: CUMIN
- Wordle #1058, Sunday 12 May: OUTER
- Wordle #1057, Saturday 11 May: TIDAL
- Wordle #1056, Friday 10 May: MEDIA
- Wordle #1055, Thursday 9 May: JERKY
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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