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 #1186) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in three 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 #1186) – 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 #1186) – 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 #1186) – 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 #1186) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1186.
- Today’s Wordle answer is something amazing or great.
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 #1186)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: LEAST (4 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: MINER (321)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1186) is… BEAUT.
Right then. Before you complain about the inclusion of BEAUT in Wordle, hold fire. While you might think that it is – shock horror – an informal, slang word, or that it’s too modern, you’d be wrong. In fact, according to Merriam-Webster, it was first used back in 1866, so there’s nothing wrong with it as a Wordle answer.
What it is, however, is a fairly difficult Wordle word in some regards and interestingly a rare non-original answer.
To tackle the latter point first, BEAUT is not one of the 2,315 solutions originally devised by Josh Wardle and his partner. Instead, it’s been added by the NYT since it bought Wordle in 2022, and is one of seven such words so far, joining the likes of KAZOO, SNAFU and LASER. That doesn’t fundamentally change anything, but it is notable.
On the difficulty thing, it’s an answer that contains three consecutive vowels. These are incredibly rare: we’ve had QUEUE (which has four in a row, the only such answer), QUEEN, QUIET and WOOER – the latter of which is the only Wordle I’ve ever failed, when I played it via the Wordle Archive years ago.
You might think there’s no reason why three vowels together should make for a hard answer, because games with lots of vowels are generally easier to solve than those with few of them. However, my theory is that the sheer rarity of the format will have hidden the word from people’s brains; we simply didn’t expect to get three in a row like that, so mentally discounted the possibility.
As I say, it’s only a theory, but it might help to explain a relatively high score of 4.1 at the time of writing. As it happened, it didn’t materially impact my game, but that was pure luck.
I started poorly, with MINER leaving me with 321 words; a shame, as there were good results available for other options, such as CRANE (21), SLATE (8) and STARE (13).
By playing SLATE on my second guess I righted that wrong, cutting my shortlist to only three: TEACH, EXACT and BEAUT. But in my head, there were only two, because I had completely missed the third of those words. It just didn’t enter my thinking.
So, I played TEACH, thinking that it was the most likely out of that word and EXACT, and it was only when both were ruled out that I looked again. And it took me ages to find BEAUT – I tried so many combinations of letters before I realized that the spelling could be -EAUT rather than the likes of -EAFT and -EAPT.
Once I did find it, I was certain it had to be the answer – and indeed it was. That gave me a 4/6, which I’m fairly happy with today.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1185)
In a different time zone where it’s still Monday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1185, 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 H.
H is not a particularly common starting letter in Wordle: only 69 games begin with it, and it ranks in 15th place.
- 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 Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1185.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a sugary food.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1185)
- NYT average score: 4.2
- My score: 5
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: SANER (22 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: GASSY (243)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1185) was… HONEY.
There’s something about Y-ending games that I struggle with. I’m not sure what it is, but the data clearly backs it up: my average for Wordle as a whole is 3.64, but on Y-ending words it’s 3.95. That difference also appears to be shared among the wider Wordle population, with these words having an average of 4.14 versus 3.95 for the game as a whole.
The obvious reason why that might be is that not many of the top start words contain a Y. None of WordleBot’s top 20 have one, and nor do any of the 10 most popular among the public. But I don’t think that’s why I struggle with them, not least because my start word, chosen at random, did end in a Y – and I still ended up with a below-par 5/6! I think maybe I just have a mental block.
That said, HONEY does have a high-ish average score of 4.2, making it more difficult than the previous day’s RECUR, despite the fact that this doesn’t contain a repeated letter as that one did.
I suspect the other complicating factor, and probably the one that lifted it above 4.0, is that there are a couple of other words with that -ONEY format – chiefly MONEY, but also BONEY. Both were played by large numbers of people, and the latter cost me a guess here.
My start word was, er, GASSY, and that gave me the green Y but nothing else and left me with 243 options. I then slashed that figure to a mere six by playing CLONE; so far, so good. And then everything went downhill…
With six words to locate, I found three: ENJOY, ENVOY and BONEY. Yes, I missed MONEY and HONEY (plus TONEY, which I very much doubt is an answer in reality). I have no idea how I didn’t spot MONEY and HONEY, given that they’re probably the two most obvious words in that list, but somehow it happened.
So, I played ENJOY thinking it would give me the answer in four at worst, and when the E, N and O all stayed yellow, I thought it had to be BONEY. But it wasn’t, of course. That then sparked a frantic search from me, during which time I found HONEY but STILL MISSED MONEY!!!
Fortunately, that didn’t cost me any further guesses, and I was left to play HONEY next and score a very poor five.
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 #1185, Monday 16 September: HONEY
- Wordle #1184, Sunday 15 September: RECUR
- Wordle #1183, Saturday 14 September: BROAD
- Wordle #1182, Friday 13 September: HARSH
- Wordle #1181, Thursday 12 September: BRASS
- Wordle #1180, Wednesday 11 September: AISLE
- Wordle #1179, Tuesday 10 September: REBEL
- Wordle #1178, Monday 9 September: DEBIT
- Wordle #1177, Sunday 8 September: DRAWN
- Wordle #1176, Saturday 7 September: OWNER
- Wordle #1175, Friday 6 September: RERUN
- Wordle #1174, Thursday 5 September: WIDEN
- Wordle #1173, Wednesday 4 September: STERN
- Wordle #1172, Tuesday 3 September: FAINT
- Wordle #1171, Monday 2 September: CAMEL
- Wordle #1170, Sunday 1 September: MUSHY
- Wordle #1169, Saturday 31 August: SPOUT
- Wordle #1168, Friday 30 August: KNAVE
- Wordle #1167, Thursday 29 August: FLUNK
- Wordle #1166, Wednesday 28 August: LITHE
- Wordle #1165, Tuesday 27 August: CROWN
- Wordle #1164, Monday 26 August: STAKE
- Wordle #1163, Sunday 25 August: SKATE
- Wordle #1162, Saturday 24 August: FILET
- Wordle #1161, Friday 23 August: LEECH
- Wordle #1160, Thursday 22 August: BRUTE
- Wordle #1159, Wednesday 21 August: MULCH
- Wordle #1158, Tuesday 20 August: DELAY
- Wordle #1157, Monday 19 August: METER
- Wordle #1156, Sunday 18 August: LANKY
- Wordle #1155, Saturday 17 August: STORM
- Wordle #1154, Friday 16 August: BRACE
- Wordle #1153, Thursday 15 August: ACORN
- Wordle #1152, Wednesday 14 August: SHORE
- Wordle #1151, Tuesday 13 August: NEIGH
- Wordle #1150, Monday 12 August: SKIFF
- Wordle #1149, Sunday 11 August: SCONE
- Wordle #1148, Saturday 10 August: MEDIC
- Wordle #1147, Friday 9 August: OUNCE
- Wordle #1146, Thursday 8 August: SAUCY
- Wordle #1145, Wednesday 7 August: MACAW
- Wordle #1144, Tuesday 6 August: ANVIL
- Wordle #1143, Monday 5 August: ENSUE
- Wordle #1142, Sunday 4 August: LOWER
- Wordle #1141, Saturday 3 August: SCALE
- Wordle #1140, Friday 2 August: FLAKE
- Wordle #1139, Thursday 1 August: CHALK
- Wordle #1138, Wednesday 31 July: PENNE
- Wordle #1137, Tuesday 30 July: FERAL
- Wordle #1136, Monday 29 July: SUPER
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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