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 #1128) – 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 #1128) – 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 #1128) – 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 #1128) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Wordle hints (game #1128) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1128.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a tiny amount.
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 #1128)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: SLICE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: SETUP (25)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1128) is… SPECK.
This is a rather similar answer in some ways to yesterday’s SHAFT: S at the start, vowel in the middle, couple of other common consonants in there, average of 3.7. It even has a similarly common starting combo of SP; this is third by frequency, behind yesterday’s SH and ST at the top of the pile.
Unlike yesterday’s game, it does contain one slightly more uncommon letter, in the form of K. But K is not truly uncommon when it appears at the end of a solution; as I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, it’s ninth in this regard (versus 20th overall).
Start words were decent in most cases, rather than fantastic. The likes of CRANE (21 answers remaining) and STARE (29) cut the options enough to give a chance of a three, but only the less popular likes of PLACE (2) and SLICE (1) made major inroads.
My random opener was SETUP, which was very lucky today on account of having both that S at the start and the E and P that I’d also need. Surprisingly, that still left 25 possible solutions, and when I then got a bit of bad luck on the second guess I had to settle for a four.
In hindsight, maybe my second attempt wasn’t that great a choice. I went with OPINE, which WordleBot said was a “wonderful” choice but which still left six words. Only 12/99 for luck here, the ‘bot said.
Those six were all easy to find, at least: SPEAK, SPEED, SPELL, SPEAR, SPECK and, um, SPERM, which I’m not sure will be an actual answer but which WordleBot also had on its list.
I needed a word to narrow down those six, and got it in the form of CLEAR, which was guaranteed to give me the answer on the next guess. OK, so playing it meant I had no chance of a three, but it avoided the chance of a five or worse. CLEAR gave me a green E but more importantly a yellow C, and that meant SPECK had to be the solution.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1127)
In a different time zone where it’s still Saturday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1127, 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 #1127.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a vertical opening or passage.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1127)
- NYT average score: 3.7 (revised)
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: LEAST, STALE (4 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: ABBOT (68)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1127) was… SHAFT.
If Friday’s puzzle (REFER) was a complex, interesting and difficult one, then this one is far more straightforward in every way. SHAFT has no major complications, is being solved in an average of 3.8 guesses [note: revised to 3.7] and is not particularly noteworthy in any regard.
I shall try to find things to say, though. For instance, did you know that SH is the second most common of all starting combinations? I did – and it’s mentioned in my analysis of every Wordle answer. Or that A is the most common letter to be found in the middle of a solution? Again, it’s true, as is the fact that T is the third most common ending letter.
These factors combined to make it a rather easy one, and it was particularly simple if you began with one of the most popular of all start words, STARE. That left only five possible solutions, just behind LEAST and STALE (both four).
My word didn’t have an S in it, which would have helped, but ABBOT did have an A and better still it had a T at the end. That left 68 options for me, and I might have got home in two more guesses from there with a little more luck, but unfortunately it took me three more.
My second guess was SLAIN, which turned the A green and gave me my S too: I now had S-A-T to solve. WordleBot told me afterwards there were only three words that fit by now, and that’s the same as what I came up with: SHAFT, SMART and START. I went with SMART, because SHAFT could still have left me with a 50/50 chance, and START had a repeat in it; no, it wasn’t technically more unlikely at this stage – there was of course a 1/3 chance whichever one I went with – but I had to find some way to decide.
SMART wasn’t right, but it pointed the way to SHAFT and I scored a four.
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 #1127, Saturday 20 July: SHAFT
- Wordle #1126, Friday 19 July: REFER
- Wordle #1125, Thursday 18 July: NERDY
- Wordle #1124, Wednesday 17 July: QUITE
- Wordle #1123, Tuesday 16 July: DECOY
- Wordle #1122, Monday 15 July: SWOON
- Wordle #1121, Sunday 14 July: VIDEO
- Wordle #1120, Saturday 13 July: ENACT
- Wordle #1119, Friday 12 July: JIFFY
- Wordle #1118, Thursday 11 July: CAMEO
- Wordle #1117, Wednesday 10 July: GAUNT
- Wordle #1116, Tuesday 9 July: BLARE
- Wordle #1115, Monday 8 July: SHAPE
- Wordle #1114, Sunday 7 July: CANON
- Wordle #1113, Saturday 6 July: SCOFF
- Wordle #1112, Friday 5 July: CRUSH
- Wordle #1111, Thursday 4 July: DEBUT
- Wordle #1110, Wednesday 3 July: THIGH
- Wordle #1109, Tuesday 2 July: INLAY
- Wordle #1108, Monday 1 July: ADAGE
- Wordle #1107, Sunday 30 June: BUDDY
- Wordle #1106, Saturday 29 June: ZEBRA
- 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
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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