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.
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.
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.
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 #1948) - 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 #1948) - 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 #1948) - 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 #1948) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Wordle hints (game #1948) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1948.
- Today's Wordle answer is a strong, unpleasant smell.
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 #1948)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 76
- My start word performance: SANER (31 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (43)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1948) is… STINK.
I'm beginning to think WordleBot might need help. It scored yet another 4 today — its 11th in a row, which I'm sure must be a record since it began 'playing' in April 2022. I've scored six 3s in that time, and I don't for a second believe I'm smarter than it is.
Maybe this is its equivalent of the whole 'quiet quitting' trend that is supposedly a thing in the labor market — it's not on strike, it's just making the minimum effort to get the task done. Maybe it was overlooked for a promotion or something.
I am happy to reassure you that I have no intention of quiet quitting in my role as daily Wordle columnist, not least because I'm on a good run of late. My 3 today came courtesy of an easy-ish word that has an average score of 3.7 and that begins with the most common starting combination in the game, ST.
The fact that ST is so common is why STARE is such a good start word, and probably why the average is low today, but it also adds the complication of needing to whittle down a lot of options.
It's worth noting that STINK is a repeated answer, having previously appeared as the solution to game #14 back in the very, very early days (July 2021). I very much doubt anyone remembers that, so it seems a fair choice to double up on.
My job was half done for me here by the fact that SANER gave me the S and N — although in fairness, it didn't provide the T that STARE players will have had. They'll have had a shortlist of 22 options, compared to 31 for me, so a slight advantage in theory — but not necessarily for long, because I added the T into my second word instead.
I went with INGOT — which is exactly what the 'Bot said it would have played too. I don't think I've used this one before, but maybe the 'Bot has recommended it in the same scenario previously and I remembered it.
Either way, it worked — giving me the I and T and leaving STINK as the only solution.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1947)
In a different time zone where it's still Sunday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1947, 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 A.
A is a reasonably common starting letter in Wordle: 140 games begin with this letter. It ranks 6th among starting letters, behind S, C, B, T and P.
- 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 #1947.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to decorate, or enhance the appearance of, with something attractive.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1947)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 78
- My start word performance: SANER (28 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (202)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1947) was… ADORN.
In some ways yellow letters are the most annoying in the game. Greens are great, obviously, but grays (or greys in the UK) also tell you a lot simply by ruling out options. Yellows should be somewhere in-between the two, but they don't offer that same certainty and can make Wordles descend into frustrating chases of hide and seek.
That said, you can reach a kind of critical mass when you have lots of yellows, because there are usually only so many ways you can arrange letters to form valid combinations. Take my Wordle game here, for example: I had four yellows after the second guess and had only ruled out three letters. However, I could tell a fair bit from the letters I had and where they had appeared.
For instance, I knew that the R and N could only be assembled into the following patterns:
RN---
R---N
N-R--
-NR--
--R-N
N--R-
-N-R-
---RN
So that's eight possible formats, but throw in the yellow A and D too and you get lots more (I won't list them all, because that would be dull).
Look at them and it quickly becomes apparent that some don't work: there are no words that start RN or DN, or ANR, or ANDR, for instance. And so after a while you realize that despite the fact that you only have four yellows, they can only be correctly assembled into one pattern: ADORN.
This is, presumably, what the brain does when it looks at an anagram (or indeed a Wordle board) and unscrambles it; it considers possibilities, using what it knows about how letters assemble themselves to spot patterns. And it's probably why words such as PSYCH and PSHAW cause problems, because they don't follow the usual rules.
Or maybe it's just me. I have a logical brain and solve Wordle in a logical way. There are people who do it more by 'feel'. But without being an expert on the brain, I suspect that even those people are really doing the same as what I do, just without being so deliberate about it.
Anyway, one of the best feelings in Wordle is when you get a game like this and those multiple yellows assemble themselves into just one word. And the more you look, the more you are convinced that it's the only one, because it just seems right. So that's what happened to me, meaning I scored a nice 3 (and beat the 'Bot again, which finished with its 10th successive 4).
So there you go — yellows: sometimes annoying, sometimes magical.
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 #1947, Sunday 18 October: ADORN
- Wordle #1946, Saturday 17 October: GAFFE
- Wordle #1945, Friday 16 October: SHADY
- Wordle #1944, Thursday 15 October: DUNCE
- Wordle #1943, Wednesday 14 October: PSYCH
- Wordle #1942, Tuesday 13 October: WIDER
- Wordle #1941, Monday 12 October: YODEL
- Wordle #1940, Sunday 11 October: UNCAP
- Wordle #1939, Saturday 10 October: BUMPY
- Wordle #1938, Friday 9 October: MAJOR
- Wordle #1937, Thursday 8 October: STREW
- Wordle #1936, Wednesday 7 October: PROVE
- Wordle #1935, Tuesday 6 October: DIMLY
- Wordle #1934, Monday 5 October: MOCHA
- Wordle #1933, Sunday 4 October: SHACK
- Wordle #1932, Saturday 3 October: PEEVE
- Wordle #1931, Friday 2 October: USURY
- Wordle #1930, Thursday 1 October: RITZY
- Wordle #1929, Wednesday 30 September: RIVER
- Wordle #1928, Tuesday 29 September: SCUBA
- Wordle #1927, Monday 28 September: TRUNK
- Wordle #1926, Sunday 27 September: SLOOP
- Wordle #1925, Saturday 26 September: ELEGY
- Wordle #1924, Friday 25 September: COPSE
- Wordle #1923, Thursday 24 September: MESSY
- Wordle #1922, Wednesday 23 September: FORTH
- Wordle #1921, Tuesday 22 September: STOKE
- Wordle #1920, Monday 21 September: PAGER
- Wordle #1919, Sunday 20 September: SHONE
- Wordle #1918, Saturday 19 September: WAKEN
- Wordle #1917, Friday 18 September: SNOWY
- Wordle #1916, Thursday 17 September: THETA
- Wordle #1915, Wednesday 16 September: WISPY
- Wordle #1914, Tuesday 15 September: DEALT
- Wordle #1913, Monday 14 September: RINSE
- Wordle #1912, Sunday 13 September: FOCUS
- Wordle #1911, Saturday 12 September: NIFTY
- Wordle #1910, Friday 11 September: ASTER
- Wordle #1909, Thursday 10 September: DRYLY
- Wordle #1908, Wednesday 9 September: BURST
- Wordle #1907, Tuesday 8 September: LIVEN
- Wordle #1906, Monday 7 September: BLIND
- Wordle #1905, Sunday 6 September: BEIGE
- Wordle #1904, Saturday 5 September: SOUPY
- Wordle #1903, Friday 4 September: WAGER
- Wordle #1902, Thursday 3 September: JOIST
- Wordle #1901, Wednesday 2 September: RULER
- Wordle #1900, Tuesday 1 September: REMIX
- Wordle #1899, Monday 31 August: MOUND
- Wordle #1898, Sunday 30 August: INTEL
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.
