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A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here.
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 #1521) – 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 #1521) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is I.
I is only the 19th most common starting letter in Wordle, and just 34 of the original 2,309 answers begin with it.
Wordle hints (game #1521) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are 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 #1521) – 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 #1521) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1521.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a problem or to give out something.
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 #1521)
- NYT average score: 3.6
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- My skill score: 77
- My luck score: 75
- My start word performance: SHEEP (59 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: SLATE (33)
- Tomorrow’s start word: PETAL
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1521) is… ISSUE.
They say momentum is everything in sports and maybe that applies to Wordle too. I’m certainly on a roll right now, scoring my third three in four days – and fifth in eight – despite really not deserving to do so. I guess that makes up for all of those unlucky start words I had in July, Wordle’s toughest month ever…
ISSUE is not a particularly difficult Wordle in general, with an average score of 3.6 and four very common letters. The fifth is common too – because it’s a repeat of S. And yes, that repeated letter theoretically makes the game harder, but against that comes the fact that there are three vowels in today’s puzzle, and vowels are usually easier to find than consonants.
I was once again helped by my randomly chosen start word. I didn’t have high hopes for SHEEP when I first learned that I’d be playing it here, but it gave me two yellows and cut my shortlist to 59.
It made sense to put those two letters in their most common remaining positions – which meant moving the E to the end and the S just before it. Adding three common letters in the form of C, L and O gave me CLOSE – and indeed it brought me much nearer to the answer.
Specifically, it left six options – and here I had a massive dose of good luck. That’s because I only found three, ASIDE, USAGE and ISSUE, but missed a potential three-way letter trap of BASTE, WASTE and TASTE.
I have no idea how I did that, but if ISSUE had not been correct I might have ended up with a five or six. Except… actually I couldn’t, because all three have been past Wordle answers already.
WordleBot doesn’t know that, so awarded me only 79 for skill here. And in fairness, I didn’t know it either, because I didn’t look at the list. Anyway, none of this mattered in the end, because I played ISSUE, all five letters turned green and I scored another three.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1520)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1520, 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 L.
L is a surprisingly uncommon starting letter in Wordle. Despite being the sixth most common letter overall, it’s only ranked 12th at the beginning of a word.
- 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 #1520.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is really poor or inferior.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1520)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 2
- My skill score: 92
- My luck score: 74
- My start word performance: DROSS (21 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: SLATE (6)
- Tomorrow’s start word: SHEEP
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1520) was… LOUSY.
The most notable thing about this game, for me at least, was that my start word, DROSS, meant pretty much the same thing as the answer. That’s an entirely irrelevant detail but one that amused me all the same.
It also proved to be a very helpful start word, leaving only 21 options. However, that figure was beaten comfortably by the total for WordleBot’s SLATE, which left only six. The ‘Bot duly scored a two, but I’m happy with my three after scoring a five with Saturday’s MATTE.
LOUSY is a fairly easy Wordle, as its average score of 3.5 indicates. All five letters are common; U and Y are outside of the top 10, but only just (they’re 11th and 12th respectively) and the Y is very, very common at the end of a word.
I didn’t find all 21 of the possible answers available to me for my second guess, but I came up with 17 – so I didn’t do too badly. It wasn’t too hard a task, really, because that green S in the fourth position was only ever going to be followed by a handful of letters.
These were T (TOAST, BOAST, COAST, JOUST, JOIST, HOIST, FOIST, MOIST), Y (NOISY, LOUSY, MOUSY) and E (NOISE, POISE, MOUSE, HOUSE, LOUSE and COPSE).
The ones I missed were OBESE, POESY, NUTSO and QUESO, and only the first of those seems like a realistic answer. Nor did my failure to find them spoil my game, because I played UNITY next and got the green Y and yellow U that left only two answers: MOUSY and LOUSY.
I reckon my average on 50/50s is, well, about 50/50 – and I guessed correctly here to score a straightforward three.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three 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 #1520, Sunday 17 August: LOUSY
- Wordle #1519, Saturday 16 August: MATTE
- Wordle #1518, Friday 15 August: LEVEL
- Wordle #1517, Thursday 14 August: KNELL
- Wordle #1516, Wednesday 13 August: KEFIR
- Wordle #1515, Tuesday 12 August: NOMAD
- Wordle #1514, Monday 11 August: SOUTH
- Wordle #1513, Sunday 10 August: MINTY
- Wordle #1512, Saturday 9 August: NASAL
- Wordle #1511, Friday 8 August: IMBUE
- Wordle #1510, Thursday 7 August: CORAL
- Wordle #1509, Wednesday 6 August: GROAN
- Wordle #1508, Tuesday 5 August: STORK
- Wordle #1507, Monday 4 August: RIGID
- Wordle #1506, Sunday 3 August: LUMPY
- Wordle #1505, Saturday 2 August: DAUNT
- Wordle #1504, Friday 1 August: BANJO
- Wordle #1503, Thursday 31 July: FRILL
- Wordle #1502, Wednesday 30 July: ASSAY
- Wordle #1501, Tuesday 29 July: OMEGA
- Wordle #1500, Monday 28 July: SAVVY
- Wordle #1499, Sunday 27 July: WHOLE
- Wordle #1498, Saturday 26 July: HAUNT
- Wordle #1497, Friday 25 July: GOFER
- Wordle #1496, Thursday 24 July: QUAKE
- Wordle #1495, Wednesday 23 July: WATER
- Wordle #1494, Tuesday 22 July: BURNT
- Wordle #1493, Monday 21 July: TIZZY
- Wordle #1492, Sunday 20 July: BLANK
- Wordle #1491, Saturday 19 July: SWORD
- Wordle #1490, Friday 18 July: LORIS
- Wordle #1489, Thursday 17 July: MODAL
- Wordle #1488, Wednesday 16 July: NERVY
- Wordle #1487, Tuesday 15 July: FOIST
- Wordle #1486, Monday 14 July: UNDID
- Wordle #1485, Sunday 13 July: GNOME
- Wordle #1484, Saturday 12 July: EXILE
- Wordle #1483, Friday 11 July: BRAND
- Wordle #1482, Thursday 10 July: JUMPY
- Wordle #1481, Wednesday 9 July: NOVEL
- Wordle #1480, Tuesday 8 July: DREAD
- Wordle #1479, Monday 7 July: STILT
- Wordle #1478, Sunday 6 July: ATRIA
- Wordle #1477, Saturday 5 July: BALER
- Wordle #1476, Friday 4 July: CURVE
- Wordle #1475, Thursday 3 July: POPPY
- Wordle #1474, Wednesday 2 July: INCUR
- Wordle #1473, Tuesday 1 July: MOLDY
- Wordle #1472, Monday 30 June: BLINK
- Wordle #1471, Sunday 29 June: WITTY
- Wordle #1470, Saturday 28 June: STUMP
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 in 2022 and is still going strong in 2025.
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’ Games 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.
12. The NYT has added in some of its own words, that weren’t in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
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