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 #1212) – 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 #1212) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It’s the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
Wordle hints (game #1212) – 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 #1212) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1212) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1212.
- Today’s Wordle answer is laying flat.
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 #1212)
- NYT average score: 3.6
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 2
- Best start word performance*: PLANE (4 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: TATTY (1092)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1212) is… PRONE.
This was one of the Wordles that played out like clockwork for me; I had the distinct feeling of any agency having been taken from me, like I was a puppet operated by some higher intelligence (WordleBot, maybe), dictating my every move.
My random start word was just that – chosen randomly, as it always is these days, which meant I had to put up with the horrible TATTY and its three letters. Yes, they’re all common letters, but when everyone else is generally getting five stabs at uncovering a character, I was annoyed that I only got 60% of that opportunity.
I could change my start word generator, of course. I built it myself, using Google Sheets (true story), and set it up so that it gives me a different word each day; once it’s appeared once, it won’t turn up again. But I didn’t include any stipulations about repeated letters, so I do get days like today now and again and that’s entirely my own fault.
With TATTY drawing a blank I did have some degree of choice about what to do next. In fact, I had a lot of choice – WordleBot told me afterwards that I still had 1,092 possible answers remaining, which is probably about as high as it’s ever been for me. Thanks, fate. Those of you who started with CRANE, meanwhile, will have been down to five already, which helps explain the average score today of 3.6, given how popular that word is as an opener.
My approach in these kind of situations is simply to play the most common remaining letters. CRONE fit the bill, and is exactly what WordleBot said it would have played too. So while I could have gone with something different, logic suggested that I shouldn’t do.
CRONE was incredibly lucky, and left me with only two answers: DRONE and PRONE. So I did what most people faced with the same choice did, and played DRONE as the slightly more common word. That was wrong, so I was left to play PRONE next without ever really having used my brain much throughout.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1211)
In a different time zone where it’s still Saturday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1211, 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 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 N.
N is a pretty common ending letter in Wordle: it’s the seventh most likely in that position and features in 130 solutions.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1211.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a soiled or discolored spot.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1211)
- NYT average score: 3.2 (revised)
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: SAINT (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: TRUCE (160)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1211) was… STAIN.
There would’ve been twos aplenty yesterday, because TRAIN – the eighth most popular start word on most days – left only one possible answer. Though it sits just outside WordleBot’s top 20 (at #22), it’s usually played by around 1% of all Wordlers, so that’s many thousands of people who will have scored a 2/6. SAINT, which is in the ‘bot’s top 20, was also one that cut the possible answers list to a single option – though that’s not as commonly played. Outside of those words the fact that STARE (8) and SLATE (15) were also successful will have further helped bring down that average.
It’s not a difficult Wordle even if you weren’t so lucky with your start word. All five letters are very common, and the ST combination at the start is the most common of all pairings in that position. So long as you were sensible with your second guess you’ll have had a good chance of a 3/6.
That was my experience, at least. I began with TRUCE, chosen at random and not all that lucky given that it left me 160 options. But my approach is almost always to follow up by playing common letters next, and in this case I went with SAINT. As I said above, that would have left only one answer as a first guess, so obviously it only left one as a second attempt too. I duly played STAIN next for my 3/6.
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 #1211, Saturday 12 October: STAIN
- Wordle #1210, Friday 11 October: GUSTY
- Wordle #1209, Thursday 10 October: CARVE
- Wordle #1208, Wednesday 9 October: MOMMY
- Wordle #1207, Tuesday 8 October: JOINT
- Wordle #1206, Monday 7 October: FLOUR
- Wordle #1205, Sunday 6 October: LAGER
- Wordle #1204, Saturday 5 October: MINER
- Wordle #1203, Friday 4 October: TITLE
- Wordle #1202, Thursday 3 October: WAGON
- Wordle #1201, Wednesday 2 October: SHELL
- Wordle #1200, Tuesday 1 October: MODEM
- Wordle #1199, Monday 30 September: CLOUD
- Wordle #1198, Sunday 29 September: RIDER
- Wordle #1197, Saturday 28 September: BRAIN
- Wordle #1196, Friday 27 September: FAITH
- Wordle #1195, Thursday 26 September: THANK
- Wordle #1194, Wednesday 25 September: TORCH
- Wordle #1193, Tuesday 24 September: HANDY
- Wordle #1192, Monday 23 September: STEAM
- Wordle #1191, Sunday 22 September: TEACH
- Wordle #1190, Saturday 21 September: SEVEN
- Wordle #1189, Friday 20 September: SMOKE
- Wordle #1188, Thursday 19 September: PRESS
- Wordle #1187, Wednesday 18 September: FULLY
- Wordle #1186, Tuesday 17 September: BEAUT
- 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
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.
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews