NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1655, Tuesday, December 30

A phone displaying the Wordle logo sitting on a table surrounded by paperclips, pens and notebooks
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Looking for a different day?

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.

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.

Your Wordle expert
Marc McLaren
Your Wordle expert
Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle for more than three 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 #1655) - 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 #1655) - clue #2 - first letter

What letter does today's Wordle begin with?

The first letter in today's Wordle answer is D.

D is the ninth most common starting letter in the game, so maybe slightly less likely than you might expect.

Wordle hints (game #1655) - 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 #1655) - clue #4 - ending letter

What letter does today's Wordle end with?

The last letter in today's Wordle is R.

R is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – it's actually the 4th most common there, behind E, Y and T.

Wordle hints (game #1655) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1655.

  • Today's Wordle answer is the style of interior furnishings.

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 #1655)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1655 on a green background

(Image credit: New York Times)

  • NYT average score: 3.7
  • My score: 2
  • WordleBot's score: 3
  • My skill score: 86
  • My luck score: 93
  • My start word performance: SANER (8 remaining answers)
  • WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (329)
  • Tomorrow's start word: SANER

Today's Wordle answer (game #1655) is… DECOR.

It's fair to say that luck was with me today, but I do take issue with WordleBot's decision to only award me a skill score of 86. I understand why it did it, but it points to a flaw in the way the 'Bot works – namely that it doesn't know about past answers, and it treats all possible solutions as equals.

What happened today was that my opening guess, SANER, was incredibly fortunate, giving me a green R and a yellow E that – together with the letters ruled out – left only only eight possible solutions.

Those words were as follows: ERROR, DECOR, FEMUR, RECUR, DEMUR, THEIR, LEMUR and KEFIR. Now, LEMUR in particular may well stand out to you – because it appeared almost exactly a year ago, game #1291. I don't generally recall past answers from 12 months back, but LEMURs are very cute creatures and I remember writing about how fascinating they are.

I dismissed that, then, and didn't spot KEFIR – but I had the other six possibles jotted down, and worked out that a) playing DECOR next would guarantee me a solve in three at worst and b) it might also be the solution itself.

The 'Bot had slightly differently logic, because in its mind, both LEMUR and KEFIR were valid answers. Now, it might be correct about KEFIR, but while I am fairly certain that the others will all appear (if they haven't already, I haven't checked), I'm nowhere near as positive that KEFIR will, given that it's a relatively uncommon word.

If KEFIR could be a solution, the fact that LEMUR was ruled out meant that I faced a 50/50 at worst – whereas the 'Bot's top choice, FLUID, could not possibly have been correct itself, and its first pick out of the actual answers, FEMUR, might have left a 50/50 between either ERROR/THEIR or DEMUR/LEMUR.

The upshot: I think my logic was sound. But once again, it reinforces how much of an advantage it can be to know about what's gone before. I've actually come up with a solution to this now: the NYT should simply start repeating answers. Bang – problem solved in one fell swoop.


Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1654)

In a different time zone where it's still Monday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1654, 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 F.

F is a very common starting letter in Wordle. It ranks seventh behind only S, C, B, T, P and A and overall there are 135 solutions that begin with this letter.

  • 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 T.

T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1654.

  • Yesterday's Wordle answer is a usually edible part of a plant.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1654)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1654 on a green background

(Image credit: New York Times)

  • NYT average score: 3.5
  • My score: 3
  • WordleBot's score: 3
  • My skill score: 91
  • My luck score: 60
  • My start word performance: SANER (139 remaining answers)
  • WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (102)
  • Tomorrow's start word: SANER

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1654) was… FRUIT.

What do APPLE, LEMON, PEACH, MANGO, MELON and OLIVE all have in common? They are all FRUITs that have appeared as answers in Wordle. And now their linking word has also appeared, which from a rounding-things-off point of view is nicely pleasing.

As an answer, FRUIT may well have provided a fruitful return for many Wordlers, because it's on the easier side of things. Its average of 3.5 is the lowest since TRUCK more than two weeks ago, and if you were lucky enough to start with TRAIN, then you'll have had only three words to choose from. AUDIO, which left 11, was also a success.

My SANER was not so helpful, in that it only gave me a yellow R and left 139 options. But I knew that the R would probably go in the second position now, so I moved it there and played BROIL in order to include four other common letters.

This was very lucky; WordleBot told me afterwards that it would have expected BROIL to leave 10 answers, but in reality it narrowed it down to only two: FRUIT and DRUID.

I found both – not a particularly difficult task at this stage – so it was simply a case of which I played. I couldn't recall either having appeared before (neither has), so went with the more common word in FRUIT and scored a hassle-free 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 #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
  • Wordle #1643, Thursday 18 December: RUGBY
  • Wordle #1642, Wednesday 17 December: GRASS
  • Wordle #1641, Tuesday 16 December: SEGUE
  • Wordle #1640, Monday 15 December: DODGY
  • Wordle #1639, Sunday 14 December: SWING
  • Wordle #1638, Saturday 13 December: MISER
  • Wordle #1637, Friday 12 December: TRUCK
  • Wordle #1636, Thursday 11 December: GUESS
  • Wordle #1635, Wednesday 10 December: ERASE
  • Wordle #1634, Tuesday 9 December: SNIDE
  • Wordle #1633, Monday 8 December: GRAVY
  • Wordle #1632, Sunday 7 December: FLUTE
  • Wordle #1631, Saturday 6 December: WAIST
  • Wordle #1630, Friday 5 December: WAIST
  • Wordle #1629, Thursday 4 December: TULIP
  • Wordle #1628, Wednesday 3 December: HASTE
  • Wordle #1627, Tuesday 2 December: CACTI
  • Wordle #1626, Monday 1 December: LEACH
  • Wordle #1625, Sunday 30 November: MUGGY
  • Wordle #1624, Saturday 29 November: GRUFF
  • Wordle #1623, Friday 28 November: COLIC
  • Wordle #1622, Thursday 27 November: REMIT
  • Wordle #1621, Wednesday 26 November: HOVEL
  • Wordle #1620, Tuesday 25 November: PLEAD
  • Wordle #1619, Monday 24 November: DOUGH
  • Wordle #1618, Sunday 23 November: BUNNY
  • Wordle #1617, Saturday 22 November: THICK
  • Wordle #1616, Friday 21 November: VOWEL
  • Wordle #1615, Thursday 20 November: GRAVE
  • Wordle #1614, Wednesday 19 November: MAKER
  • Wordle #1613, Tuesday 18 November: OPINE
  • Wordle #1612, Monday 17 November: CLAMP
  • Wordle #1611, Sunday 16 November: WIELD
  • Wordle #1610, Saturday 15 November: CLUNG
  • Wordle #1609, Friday 14 November: LURID
  • Wordle #1608, Thursday 13 November: TINGE
  • Wordle #1607, Wednesday 12 November: DEUCE
  • Wordle #1606, Tuesday 11 November: GIZMO
  • Wordle #1605, Monday 10 November: TABBY

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.

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.

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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Marc McLaren
Global Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).

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