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? TechRadar’s Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our 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 #1294) – 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 #1294) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is C.
C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it’s the second most common of all, behind only S.
Wordle hints (game #1294) – 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 #1294) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is P.
P is a middling end letter in Wordle. It features in 56 answers, which places it 12th in the alphabet. Don’t expect it to happen that often compared to the likes of E, Y and T.
Wordle hints (game #1294) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1294.
- Today’s Wordle answer is not expensive.
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 #1294)
- NYT average score: 3.3
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: CARTE (2 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: BURST (750)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1294) is… CHEAP.
The problem with playing a random start word each day is that there’s no leveling out of the vagaries of fate. If you begin with CRANE, or SLATE, or STARE, there will be good days and bad – and you’ll experience them all. But because these are among the best Wordle starting words, they will necessarily serve up more of the good and fewer of the bad.
However, when you take the random route those probabilities don’t apply. A word like BURST – my starter today – is actually a good choice, one that WordleBot rates as 89 out of 99. That’s way above the score for ADIEU or AUDIO, for instance. But the problem is that if the day on which I play it doesn’t happen to be one of the days when it’s helpful, that’s that. Done. There’s no element of ‘Never mind, it’ll probably come good tomorrow’.
BURST should have performed well – it contains three of the most common letters in the game, plus a vowel, and the third most likely starting letter. Unfortunately, it was spectacularly unlucky (10/99 for luck, WordleBot said) today and drew a blank.
That meant I started the second guess with 750 possible answers, whereas the ‘bot had only 13 thanks to CRANE doing well today, and anyone who played CRATE (12), CARET (7) or CARTE (2) will have been happier still.
CHEAP should not really have been a 4/6 answer; it has a global average of only 3.3, making it even easier than yesterday’s CHOSE (3.4). Like that solution, it begins with the very common CH combination, but whereas yesterday you might have been confused by WHOSE or THOSE, CHEAP doesn’t have any really similar alternative words to contend with. It’s a really simple Wordle to solve.
However, my cards were marked after that first guess, and though I scored 99/99 for skill on each of the next three attempts, I couldn’t beat the standard score.
Still, things will be better tomorrow, right? Right?
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1293)
In a different time zone where it’s still Thursday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1293, 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 C.
C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it’s the second most common of all, behind only S.
- 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 #1293.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is to have made a selection.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1293)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: SLICE (7 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: BANJO (1,091)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1293) was… CHOSE.
This one is all about combinations. But then again, aren’t most Wordles? Knowing which letters go together is part of the deal here; if you uncover a green S at the start of a word, you immediately know it’s probably going to be followed by a T, H or P, with a few other combos further down the list. If you get an H at the end, in all likelihood it’s going to be preceded by an S or T.
CHOSE has very common combinations at both the start and end. At the front of the word you have CH – which is the fifth most common opening pairing after ST, SH, CR and SP. There are 40 CH words among the original 2,309 solutions, so it’s always one to look out for.
At the end, meanwhile, you have SE. This might seem a lot less common; after all, S always goes at the start, right? But it’s actually the third most likely letter to appear in that fourth slot, too, and when it does it’s regularly followed by an E. The SE ending combination occurs 52 times, putting it fourth after ER (141), LY (56) and CH (also 56).
Of course whether you stumbled across those patterns or actively looked for them will have depended to an extent on your choice of start word. If you played CRANE, as WordleBot does, you’ll have had the first and last letters in place, giving you good hints about what to add next. CRANE left only 14 answers anyway – so a score of 3/6 was on the cards here. That probably explains the super-low global average of 3.4.
If, however, you began with LUMPY as I did (let’s face it – nobody else played that) then you’ll have had no information at all beyond the fact that none of those letters were included.
I still had more than 1,000 words available to me, so did the simple thing and played my ideal start word as my second: STARE. I knew this wouldn’t be right after its appearance as an answer a few days ago, but it gave me a green E at the end, and a yellow S, and cut my answers to nine.
At this point I was greedy, and nearly suffered for it later. I had found seven of the nine words – CHOSE, WHOSE, NOISE, GOOSE, GEESE, NOOSE and DENSE – and should really have guaranteed myself a four by playing another narrowing-down word; WordleBot suggested CROWN.
Instead, I took a shot at the answer and went with NOISE. This was not guaranteed to give me the solution, in that it could have left a three-way choice between CHOSE, WHOSE and OBESE (the latter of which was one of the two words I hadn’t found, along with DOWSE). And inevitably, that’s the scenario that played out, with the SE combination turning green and O going yellow.
I couldn’t recall either CHOSE or WHOSE being a past Wordle answer, and still hadn’t spotted OBESE, so went with CHOSE and got lucky for my 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 #1293, Thursday 2 January: CHOSE
- Wordle #1292, Wednesday 1 January: NERVE
- Wordle #1291, Tuesday 31 December: LEMUR
- Wordle #1290, Monday 30 December: STARE
- Wordle #1289, Sunday 29 December: MAMBO
- Wordle #1288, Saturday 28 December: DECRY
- Wordle #1287, Friday 27 December: GRAIN
- Wordle #1286, Thursday 26 December: AFFIX
- Wordle #1285, Wednesday 25 December: SHARE
- Wordle #1284, Tuesday 24 December: EAGLE
- Wordle #1283, Monday 23 December: SAUNA
- Wordle #1282, Sunday 22 December: BRAWN
- Wordle #1281, Saturday 21 December: BLADE
- Wordle #1280, Friday 20 December: FLASH
- Wordle #1279, Thursday 19 December: STRAY
- Wordle #1278, Wednesday 18 December: HEFTY
- Wordle #1277, Tuesday 17 December: SCOWL
- Wordle #1276, Monday 16 December: BOAST
- Wordle #1275, Sunday 15 December: FUNKY
- Wordle #1274, Saturday 14 December: DROOL
- Wordle #1273, Friday 13 December: BOXER
- Wordle #1272, Thursday 12 December: VYING
- Wordle #1271, Wednesday 11 December: PLUMB
- Wordle #1270, Tuesday 10 December: PATIO
- Wordle #1269, Monday 9 December: FLUNG
- Wordle #1268, Sunday 8 December: HYENA
- Wordle #1267, Saturday 7 December: HILLY
- Wordle #1266, Friday 6 December: SHOVE
- Wordle #1265, Thursday 5 December: ENDOW
- Wordle #1264, Wednesday 4 December: CRYPT
- Wordle #1263, Tuesday 3 December: SHAKY
- Wordle #1262, Monday 2 December: GUILE
- Wordle #1261, Sunday 1 December: MAUVE
- Wordle #1260, Saturday 30 November: DOGMA
- Wordle #1259, Friday 29 November: HIPPO
- Wordle #1258, Thursday 28 November: CHOCK
- Wordle #1257, Wednesday 27 November: SLANG
- Wordle #1256, Tuesday 26 November: WITCH
- Wordle #1255, Monday 25 November: BROWN
- Wordle #1254, Sunday 24 November: TWIST
- Wordle #1253, Saturday 23 November: JELLY
- Wordle #1252, Friday 22 November: PEARL
- Wordle #1251, Thursday 21 November: SPINE
- Wordle #1250, Wednesday 20 November: NICHE
- Wordle #1249, Tuesday 19 November: GOING
- Wordle #1248, Monday 18 November: FRAIL
- Wordle #1247, Sunday 17 November: TALLY
- Wordle #1246, Saturday 16 November: VISOR
- Wordle #1245, Friday 15 November: TACKY
- Wordle #1244, Thursday 14 November: UVULA
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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