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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 Thursday'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.
Article continues belowSPOILER 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 #1742) - 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 #1742) - 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 #1742) - 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 #1742) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Wordle hints (game #1742) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1742.
- Today's Wordle answer is a color, or a part of a musical instrument.
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 #1742)
- NYT average score: 3.9
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 95
- My luck score: 38
- My start word performance: SANER (139 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (315)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1742) is… IVORY.
It's pretty rare to get a Wordle answer that starts with an I. There are only 34 among the original 2,309 solutions, meaning you'd only expect to get one roughly every 68 days. However, the last one we had was IDEAL, game #1583 in October 2025, which was 159 days ago — so this was well overdue.
Vowels are in general not that likely at the start of a Wordle. Between A, E, I, O and U there are 340 of them, but 140 of those are for an A; the others are really not that common.
V is just an uncommon letter in any position, so you might expect IVORY to have a high average score, but no — it's at 3.9, which is bang on the overall average for the game. In its favor, there are not too many similarly spelled words, with that ORY ending only occurring in two other Wordles. We've had them both already, too: STORY, game #317, and GLORY, game #461. Oh, and we've also had IVORY of course — because it was the answer to game #59 in August 2021.
This is our sixth repeat in the 53 days since the first one, so we're still averaging around about one every 7-10 days; the flood of repeats we feared is so far more of a trickle.
I had to settle for a slightly below par four, but didn't do an awful lot wrong. SANER left 139 words, and when CROFT cut that to a quartet of GLORY, IVORY, ROOMY and WHORL I found the first three and gambled on GLORY. It was wrong, but it left IVORY as the only answer.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1741)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1741, 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 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.
- 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 #1741.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to be suitable for.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1741)
- NYT average score: 4.3
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 5
- My skill score: 95
- My luck score: 49
- My start word performance: SANER (182 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (119)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1741) was… BEFIT.
BEFIT is a slightly surprising inclusion for Wordle, because it's really not used very often in this singular form. Befits or befitting, sure – they're used relatively regularly, albeit they're a little old-fashioned. But BEFIT? I struggled to think of a sentence where it would fit. Maybe it's just me. Or maybe I just don't like it because it also sounds like an instruction to me to get myself in shape (Marc! Be fit!), something I am failing to do, preferring instead to spend all day sitting in front of a laptop eating chocolate.
Word aside, I liked the way my game played out — as you might expect, given that I scored a second three in a row. And what's more, WordleBot inexplicably had to settle for a five.
I needed a fair bit of luck, admittedly. SANER was not particularly helpful, leaving 182 options, and though CLOUT made good progress it still left seven words.
I only thought of four of them — THEFT, BEFIT, EIGHT and DEBIT, missing PETIT, TEMPT and KEMPT. I played BEFIT with the expectation that it would rule out three of my four words and leave one — but instead it ruled out three of my four words and the three others, and still left me with one. Nice.
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 #1741, Thursday 26 March: BEFIT
- Wordle #1740, Wednesday 25 March: WISER
- Wordle #1739, Tuesday 24 March: BROOD
- Wordle #1738, Monday 23 March: SERIF
- Wordle #1737, Sunday 22 March: BASIL
- Wordle #1736, Saturday 21 March: SLICK
- Wordle #1735, Friday 20 March: OASIS
- Wordle #1734, Thursday 19 March: REHAB
- Wordle #1733, Wednesday 18 March: AMPLY
- Wordle #1732, Tuesday 17 March: CLASP
- Wordle #1731, Monday 16 March: DRAMA
- Wordle #1730, Sunday 15 March: GRADE
- Wordle #1729, Saturday 14 March: ANKLE
- Wordle #1728, Friday 13 March: EATEN
- Wordle #1727, Thursday 12 March: SMELL
- Wordle #1726, Wednesday 11 March: TEDDY
- Wordle #1725, Tuesday 10 March: SHOAL
- Wordle #1724, Monday 9 March: HASTY
- Wordle #1723, Sunday 8 March: LOBBY
- Wordle #1722, Saturday 7 March: VOGUE
- Wordle #1721, Friday 6 March: GUNKY
- Wordle #1720, Thursday 5 March: SHEEP
- Wordle #1719, Wednesday 4 March: THEFT
- Wordle #1718, Tuesday 3 March: LINEN
- Wordle #1717, Monday 2 March: SLIME
- Wordle #1716, Sunday 1 March: FLUKE
- Wordle #1715, Saturday 28 February: HYDRA
- Wordle #1714, Friday 27 February: DIZZY
- Wordle #1713, Thursday 26 February: LANCE
- Wordle #1712, Wednesday 25 February: SHRED
- Wordle #1711, Tuesday 24 February: BUYER
- Wordle #1710, Monday 23 February: ATTIC
- Wordle #1709, Sunday 22 February: GUAVA
- Wordle #1708, Saturday 21 February: AWAKE
- Wordle #1707, Friday 20 February: STANK
- Wordle #1706, Thursday 19 February: HOIST
- Wordle #1705, Wednesday 18 February: MOGUL
- Wordle #1704, Tuesday 17 February: SQUAD
- Wordle #1703, Monday 16 February: ROOST
- Wordle #1702, Sunday 15 February: SKULL
- Wordle #1701, Saturday 14 February: BLOOM
- Wordle #1700, Friday 13 February: MOOCH
- Wordle #1699, Thursday 12 February: SURGE
- Wordle #1698, Wednesday 11 February: VEGAN
- Wordle #1697, Tuesday 10 February: SCENE
- Wordle #1696, Monday 9 February: CELLO
- Wordle #1695, Sunday 8 February: EMBED
- Wordle #1694, Saturday 7 February: BLEAT
- Wordle #1693, Friday 6 February: GAVEL
- Wordle #1692, Thursday 5 February: SWOOP
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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