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 Monday's puzzle instead then click here.
Skip the hints and jump straight to today's column.
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.
SPOILER WARNING: Today's Wordle answer and hints are below, so don't read on if you don't want to see them.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle for more than four years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom's Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position and a guide to the best Wordle start words. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
Wordle hints (game #1886) - 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 #1886) - 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 #1886) - 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 #1886) - 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 #1886) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1886.
- Today's Wordle answer is a long, narrow piece of 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 #1886)
- NYT average score: 3.2
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 93
- My luck score: 49
- My start word performance: SANER (28 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (43)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1886) is… STRIP.
I'm looking at this as the one that got away (or rather one of them, because it's not like it's the only time this has happened to me).
Really, I should have scored a three here; WordleBot did, and it had 43 options remaining after its first guess, whereas I had only 28. Instead, I messed up my second guess and had to settle for a four.
Even a three would only have been a little better than the average today, which currently stands at 3.2; if that doesn't increase over the course of the day it will make STRIP the easiest Wordle since ACUTE nearly two months ago and the equal second easiest of the whole year (BLAST, back in January, was the easiest at 3.0).
That average will have been greatly skewed by the result for STARE, which left only three possible solutions. STARE is usually the third most popular start word behind ADIEU and AUDIO, even after its appearance as an answer in late 2024, so a lot of people will be celebrating threes and twos today.
Sadly, my game was not anything to write home about. SANER had performed well enough, but I simply couldn't think of a good narrowing-down word for my second guess, so played STORK even though it meant re-using the S that was already green. The 'Bot suggested that THUMP would have been the best choice, and I now see why: it would have left only one answer.
In contrast, STORK left three: STRIP, STRUT and STRUM. I couldn't play STRIP here or risk being left with a 50/50, so went with STRUM instead, as it was guaranteed to give me the answer in four at worst. Inevitably, it wasn't right so I ended up with that rather below-par score for the day.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1885)
In a different time zone where it's still Monday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1885, 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 T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
- 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 #1885.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is a group of people having a common interest.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1885)
- NYT average score: 3.8
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 94
- My luck score: 48
- My start word performance: SANER (125 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (23)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1885) was… TRIBE.
I was both lucky and unlucky with this game, so my eventual score of four seems about right. That's below the overall average of 3.8, though, so I'm not exactly celebrating… but it could have been worse.
This is one of those slightly frustrating games where sheer volume of options for the format made it more difficult than it might initially appear based solely on the letters themselves. The consonant-R-vowel-consonant-E pattern is just incredibly common, and that left me needing two narrowing-down guesses even once I'd reached a relatively small number of options.
Specifically, I had six left after my second guess, DROIT: TRICE, TRIPE, TRIBE, TRIKE, TRITE and the odd one out, WRITE. I came up with all of them, too, but sadly my third guess of TRICK could only remove three words, leaving me with a trio of TRIPE, TRIBE and TRITE.
Here I had the good luck, though — because I remembered that TRIPE had been an answer fairly recently (game #1420 in May 2025) and though I didn't recall TRITE (which has also appeared, as it happens, in mid-2022), I guessed correctly between that and TRIBE, playing the latter for a four that could easily have been a five.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than four 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 #1885, Monday 17 August: TRIBE
- Wordle #1884, Sunday 16 August: ASPIC
- Wordle #1883, Saturday 15 August: LOOSE
- Wordle #1882, Friday 14 August: GEODE
- Wordle #1881, Thursday 13 August: CRASH
- Wordle #1880, Wednesday 12 August: WIMPY
- Wordle #1879, Tuesday 11 August: FENCE
- Wordle #1878, Monday 10 August: SNIPE
- Wordle #1877, Sunday 9 August: CLUNK
- Wordle #1876, Saturday 8 August: PRIVY
- Wordle #1875, Friday 7 August: FEIGN
- Wordle #1874, Thursday 6 August: GRIPE
- Wordle #1873, Wednesday 5 August: POSIT
- Wordle #1872, Tuesday 4 August: MOTIF
- Wordle #1871, Monday 3 August: REPLY
- Wordle #1870, Sunday 2 August: PENAL
- Wordle #1869, Saturday 1 August: SLUSH
- Wordle #1868, Friday 31 July: PURSE
- Wordle #1867, Thursday 30 July: FLUME
- Wordle #1866, Wednesday 29 July: VALVE
- Wordle #1865, Tuesday 28 July: SONAR
- Wordle #1864, Monday 27 July: POSER
- Wordle #1863, Sunday 26 July: GRAPE
- Wordle #1862, Saturday 25 July: ALOHA
- Wordle #1861, Friday 24 July: PUTTY
- Wordle #1860, Thursday 23 July: ORBIT
- Wordle #1859, Wednesday 22 July: LORRY
- Wordle #1858, Tuesday 21 July: SHILL
- Wordle #1857, Monday 20 July: DIVER
- Wordle #1856, Sunday 19 July: CHURN
- Wordle #1855, Saturday 18 July: BOOTH
- Wordle #1854, Friday 17 July: LEGAL
- Wordle #1853, Thursday 16 July: BUTTE
- Wordle #1852, Wednesday 15 July: PSHAW
- Wordle #1851, Tuesday 14 July: STEAK
- Wordle #1850, Monday 13 July: STOUT
- Wordle #1849, Sunday 12 July: CLACK
- Wordle #1848, Saturday 11 July: AVIAN
- Wordle #1847, Friday 10 July: CANAL
- Wordle #1846, Thursday 9 July: AMEND
- Wordle #1845, Wednesday 8 July: DEMON
- Wordle #1844, Tuesday 7 July: SLING
- Wordle #1843, Monday 6 July: TODDY
- Wordle #1842, Sunday 5 July: SWAMI
- Wordle #1841, Saturday 4 July: PIZZA
- Wordle #1840, Friday 3 July: BATON
- Wordle #1839, Thursday 2 July: MAVEN
- Wordle #1838, Wednesday 1 July: DEMUR
- Wordle #1837, Tuesday 30 June: PUPPY
- Wordle #1836, Monday 29 June: CRUDE
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 2026.
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.
4a. Answers are never plural.
4b. …unless they are. There have been a couple of plural words that don't end in an S or ES, including FUNGI (game #439), ATRIA (#1478) and TEETH (#1551). But S and ES plurals are definitely outlawed.
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.
10a. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions…
10b. …unless they are not. That's because the NYT has added in some of its own words which weren't in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
10c. Plus, the NYT has now started repeating answers that have already appeared in Wordle. We have no idea how often it will do this, so you'll need to be on your guard.
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 4a above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
