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 Friday'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.
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 #1694) - 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 #1694) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is B.
B is a very, very common starting letter in Wordle. In fact, it's the third most common overall, behind only S and C.
Wordle hints (game #1694) - 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 #1694) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Wordle hints (game #1694) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1694.
- Today's Wordle answer is an animal sound.
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 #1694)
- NYT average score: 3.8
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 97
- My luck score: 60
- My start word performance: SANER (105 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (5)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1694) is… BLEAT.
A BLEAT is one of the loveliest sounds in nature, isn't it? I love dogs, but a bark is not a pleasant noise. Meows are nice, but you never know whether they'll be followed by a purr or a swipe of the claws. A BLEAT, though, is so evocative of walking through fields, or waking up in a tent in the countryside.
Then again, BLEAT can also be used to mean "to whine; whimper", generally when applied to humans, and obviously that's not something I'd want to hear. But stick to sheep and goats and we're fine.
As a Wordle answer, it's a little dull: average score 3.8, no uncommon letters, no repeats, nothing to make it stand out particularly. It has a couple of similarly spelled words in the form of PLEAT and CLEAT, but nothing more to complicate the solving process.
I scored another three – my third in a row – thanks to another healthy dose of good luck. My opening SANER gave me yellow A and E, and they were still that color after I played PLACE next time round. But that gave me the green L, and cut my shortlist extensively due to the two vowels now having limited placement options.
It quickly became apparent that I had only three possible words to pick from, all of which had an -LEA- format. These were GLEAM, BLEAK and BLEAT, and it doesn't take a genius to see that playing BLEAK or BLEAT made a lot more sense, because GLEAM might still have left a 50/50 and a potential score of five – whereas either of the B-words would guarantee a four at worst.
I went with BLEAT based on nothing more than the T at the end being more likely than a K, and notched another three.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1693)
In a different time zone where it's still Friday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1693, 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 G.
G is the eighth most common starting letter, featuring in 115 Wordle answers. It's often paired with an R to make GR--- or an L to make GL---, but I'm not revealing whether that's the case today.
- 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 L.
L is a really common letter to find at the end of a Wordle. There are 155 games that finish with an L, and it ranks as the fifth most likely letter there.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1693.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is a small mallet.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1693)
- NYT average score: 4.3
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 87
- My luck score: 69
- My start word performance: SANER (63 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (44)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1693) was… GAVEL.
I'm beginning to wonder whether WordleBot has had a downgrade. For the third day in a row, I beat its score – and in fact, it only tied with me on the three before that, so it hasn't beaten me since Saturday's ALLOT.
Luck is obviously a factor here, and I had plenty of that. Then again, who cares? Beating the 'Bot is all that really matters for me. Well, that and beating the average, and I did that comfortably, with a three against a mean score of 4.3.
I was initially a little surprised that GAVEL is as high as that, because it doesn't feature any repeated letters and it's a very common word format, but after a bit of thought I can see why it's proving harder to solve.
Namely: there are plenty of words that have that -A-EL pattern – nine among Wordle's original solutions list – and far, far more than have the -A-E- bit without the L at the end. The V in the middle is among the least likely letters that you might get here, and the G is not that common either, so lots of people will instead have played the likes of LABEL, PANEL, CAMEL, LAPEL and BAGEL before they got round to GAVEL. Oh, and also GAVEL is not a particularly widely used word, unless you happen to work in the legal profession.
One of the good things about starting with SANER is that it has the A and E in the exact positions where they are here, which gave me a good opening that cut my shortlist to 63.
WordleBot was lower than that, at 44, and also had a better second guess than me; its RANGY cut the shortlist to a pair of GAVEL and BAGEL, whereas my second attempt, BLIMP, still left eight.
However, this is a game of luck as well as skill, and whereas the 'Bot picked the wrong one of those two words, I chose the correct one out of my eight. Admittedly, I didn't even think of some of those words – for instance LATEX and VALET – and doubt that others will be answers (LAVED, LACED, LAZED). Instead, I had HAZEL, GAVEL and LACEY on my shortlist, and picked the right one for another 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 #1693, Friday 6 February: GAVEL
- Wordle #1692, Thursday 5 February: SWOOP
- Wordle #1691, Wednesday 4 February: CHIDE
- Wordle #1690, Tuesday 3 February: WEIGH
- Wordle #1689, Monday 2 February: CIGAR
- Wordle #1688, Sunday 1 February: SPINY
- Wordle #1687, Saturday 31 January: ALLOT
- Wordle #1686, Friday 30 January: JUMBO
- Wordle #1685, Thursday 29 January: FLAKY
- Wordle #1684, Wednesday 28 January: CRUEL
- Wordle #1683, Tuesday 27 January: DUSKY
- Wordle #1682, Monday 26 January: FREAK
- Wordle #1681, Sunday 25 January: STRUT
- Wordle #1680, Saturday 24 January: CLIFF
- Wordle #1679, Friday 23 January: BARON
- Wordle #1678, Thursday 22 January: CLINK
- Wordle #1677, Wednesday 21 January: CUBIC
- Wordle #1676, Tuesday 20 January: SULLY
- Wordle #1675, Monday 19 January: WAXEN
- Wordle #1674, Sunday 18 January: SUMAC
- Wordle #1673, Saturday 17 January: FIERY
- Wordle #1672, Friday 16 January: RACER
- Wordle #1671, Thursday 15 January: CHASM
- Wordle #1670, Wednesday 14 January: AVOID
- Wordle #1669, Tuesday 13 January: GUMBO
- Wordle #1668, Monday 12 January: TRIAL
- Wordle #1667, Sunday 11 January: QUARK
- Wordle #1666, Saturday 10 January: MANIC
- Wordle #1665, Friday 9 January: EIGHT
- Wordle #1664, Thursday 8 January: BLAST
- Wordle #1663, Wednesday 7 January: PECAN
- Wordle #1662, Tuesday 6 January: OOMPH
- Wordle #1661, Monday 5 January: FILLY
- Wordle #1660, Sunday 4 January: POSSE
- Wordle #1659, Saturday 3 January: SITAR
- Wordle #1658, Friday 2 January: PROOF
- Wordle #1657, Thursday 1 January: FABLE
- Wordle #1656, Wednesday 31 December: SIREN
- Wordle #1655, Tuesday 30 December: DECOR
- Wordle #1654, Monday 29 December: FRUIT
- Wordle #1653, Sunday 28 December: ABBOT
- Wordle #1652, Saturday 27 December: BATCH
- Wordle #1651, Friday 26 December: SPEED
- Wordle #1650, Thursday 25 December: PRISM
- Wordle #1649, Wednesday 24 December: SPOOL
- Wordle #1648, Tuesday 23 December: GLINT
- Wordle #1647, Monday 22 December: CONCH
- Wordle #1646, Sunday 21 December: QUILT
- Wordle #1645, Saturday 20 December: WHITE
- Wordle #1644, Friday 19 December: MYRRH
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.
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