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? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my new NYT Strands today page for my verdict on the New York Times' latest brainteaser.
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 two 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. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
Wordle hints (game #1054) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in three 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 #1054) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
Wordle hints (game #1054) - 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 #1054) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is S.
S is really not a common ending letter at all - mainly because Wordle generally doesn't allow plurals. It's the 15th most likely letter to appear at the end of an answer.
Wordle hints (game #1054) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1054.
- Today's Wordle answer is godly.
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 #1054)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- Best start word performance*: PARSE (5 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: STERN (80)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Today's Wordle answer (game #1054) is… PIOUS.
Phew! Thank heavens that's over. A run of 5, 5, 5, 6 was not on my to-do list for May 2024, so I'm pleased it's finally come to an end. I can't guarantee it won't happen again, but hopefully it won't be for a while at least.
Before I get too big-headed, though, PIOUS isn't in the same difficulty class as MUSTY, SHAVE, DECAL or VALUE, and WordleBot says people are solving it in an average of 3.7 guesses. I suspect some people will find it harder than that suggests, but plenty will find it even easier – and the difference will be (you guessed it) your start word.
As you can no doubt see, PIOUS contains three vowels, which typically makes Wordle easier. We can debate for hours about the rights and wrongs of playing lots of vowels early on (I personally find consonants much more useful in Wordle), but there's no escaping the fact that the two most popular openers, ADIEU and AUDIO, are packed with vowels. And therefore, Wordles that have lots of vowels tend to be solved more easily by those many thousands of people who start with either of those words.
I'll pause for a second for the obligatory reminder that neither ADIEU or AUDIO are even close to being among the best Wordle start words; WordleBot awards each opener a skill score, and by that measure ADIEU (80 out of 99) and AUDIO (79) are way down the list. The very best options are all at 99.
Still, they worked today, with ADIEU reducing the possible answers to 27 and AUDIO to a mere three. The latter was better than any of WordleBot's top 20, with PARSE being the best there (five remaining).
My start word, however, was STERN – which the keen-eyed among you will see has but one vowel. Thanks again, random word generator. That left me with 80 options, as well as a sinking feeling that I'd be in line for another poor score.
Fortunately, my second guess was a lot more successful. With E ruled out I wanted to include two more vowels, plus a couple more common consonants. LOCUS enabled me to do just that, and though WordleBot only called it a "solid" guess, it was (for once) a lucky one. The O turned yellow, the U and S both went green and suddenly I only had one solution left. That was PIOUS, and I played it next for a much-needed 3/6.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1053)
In a different time zone where it's still Tuesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1053, too.
- Wordle yesterday had 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).
- The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was M.
M is a middling letter when it comes to starting a word. It sits 10th in the rankings, with 107 occurrences in the 2,309 answers.
- 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 Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1053.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is not fresh smelling.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1053)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 6
- WordleBot's score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SLATE (8 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: CIVIL (1,278)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1053) was… MUSTY.
I feel like I need to justify the fact that today's six follows three fives in a row, meaning that this is my worst run ever *by a huge margin*. So to those of you reading this and thinking 'Is this guy an idiot? Why does he think he's some kind of Wordle expert?' I answer that yes, I am an idiot. But also that you can be an expert in something without being very good at it. After all, there are plenty of sportswriters who have never competed at a high level.
What I do have is a long-lived Wordle streak, which is now at 855 games. However, the key factor there is that I play cautiously. I did that again today and – poor score or not – I do still have my streak. And it is that streak that shall console me as a cry myself to sleep tonight about my 5, 5, 5, 6 run. Ahem.
I suspect my luck will change again soon anyway, but equally I did make a mistake today that I shall endeavor to learn from. And isn't that the sign of a well-adjusted mind, to be able to learn from mistakes even as an adult? Well, either that or I'm just trying to justify the fact that I made a stupid mistake. Probably more of the latter, to be honest.
In my defence (yes, I'm still trying), this is without doubt another tough Wordle. WordleBot, the game's AI helper tool, says people are solving it in an average of 4.7 guesses, which is the highest since… well, yesterday. But that's unusual; the fact that it's the fifth hardest so far in 2024 is more pertinent. (NB by the end of the day this average was down to 4.0, making it a rather standard Wordle. I don't know why the score was so high earlier on.)
As with yesterday's game, the reason why it's causing people problems is almost certainly due to the too-many-answers thing. In fact, as with SHA-E, -USTY has seven possible solutions: RUSTY, LUSTY, GUSTY, FUSTY, DUSTY, MUSTY or BUSTY.
Without the too-many-answers thing, MUSTY wouldn't be too bad. As my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, S and T are both in the top 10 most common letters, while U and Y are only just outside it at 11 and 12 respectively. Plus, U jumps to seventh when used in position #2, and Y is second among ending letters. M is more middling; it's 16th overall, and 10th at the start of an answer.
So, what could I have done differently?
Well, my random start word was definitely a factor in my low score. Today I had to play CIVIL, and that drew a complete blank and left me with 1,278 possible solutions, which is about 1,270 more than I would have liked.
Then again, not too many of the best Wordle start words helped that well today. SLATE left only eight possibles, TASER 10, STARE 26 and SAINT 24, but lots of other choices were in the hundreds.
There was nothing wrong with my second guess, either, with WordleBot stating that STARE was exactly what it would have picked too. This cut my answers list to 11, and while a 3/6 was unlikely, a 4/6 was still achievable. My third guess, GHOST, was another "great choice", and this time cut the answers list to four. The problem was that those four were DUSTY, MUSTY, BUSTY and FUSTY – which meant that unless I played sensibly, a defeat was still on the cards.
What I should have done for my fourth guess was play something like FAMED, which would have guaranteed a solve in five guesses. But I'll admit that my choice was swayed by my desire to avoid a fourth score of 5/6 in a row. I wanted to turn things around, so stupidly guessed DUSTY as the most likely of those four words. If it'd been correct, glory (within reason) would have been mine. Instead… well, I already told you that I'll be crying myself to sleep tonight.
That left a fifth guess of BUMPY, which this time would guarantee a next-guess solve, followed by MUSTY for a horrible 6/6 at the end.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than two 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 #1053, Tuesday 7 May: MUSTY
- Wordle #1052, Monday 6 May: SHAVE
- Wordle #1051, Sunday 5 May: DECAL
- Wordle #1050, Saturday 4 May: VALUE
- Wordle #1049, Friday 3 May: EBONY
- Wordle #1048, Thursday 2 May: SLICE
- Wordle #1047, Wednesday 1 May: DIARY
- Wordle #1046, Tuesday 30 April: PROWL
- Wordle #1045, Monday 29 April: CRAFT
- Wordle #1044, Sunday 28 April: PRUNE
- Wordle #1043, Saturday 27 April: GLEAM
- Wordle #1042, Friday 26 April: VAPID
- Wordle #1041, Thursday 25 April: INTRO
- Wordle #1040, Wednesday 24 April: OVERT
- Wordle #1039, Tuesday 23 April: ROVER
- Wordle #1038, Monday 22 April: LASER
- Wordle #1037, Sunday 21 April: JOLLY
- Wordle #1036, Saturday 20 April: LUCID
- Wordle #1035, Friday 19 April: RAISE
- Wordle #1034, Thursday 18 April: FACET
- Wordle #1033, Wednesday 17 April: TITHE
- Wordle #1032, Tuesday 16 April: SHANK
- Wordle #1031, Monday 15 April: EQUIP
- Wordle #1030, Sunday 14 April: BLIMP
- Wordle #1029, Saturday 13 April: STEEL
- Wordle #1028, Friday 12 April: WHINY
- Wordle #1027, Thursday 11 April: LOUSE
- Wordle #1026, Wednesday 10 April: BROTH
- Wordle #1025, Tuesday 9 April: MERGE
- Wordle #1024, Monday 8 April: BREED
- Wordle #1023, Sunday 7 April: VOILA
- Wordle #1022, Saturday 6 April: FINCH
- Wordle #1021, Friday 5 April: WRIST
- Wordle #1020, Thursday 4 April: CLIMB
- Wordle #1019, Wednesday 3 April: PLAIT
- Wordle #1018, Tuesday 2 April: SERUM
- Wordle #1017, Monday 1 April: FROND
- Wordle #1016, Sunday 31 March: TABOO
- Wordle #1015, Saturday 30 March: FORCE
- Wordle #1014, Friday 29 March: REALM
- Wordle #1013, Thursday 28 March: SPEAK
- Wordle #1012, Wednesday 27 March: STUNG
- Wordle #1011, Tuesday 26 March: MAYOR
- Wordle #1010, Monday 25 March: SALLY
- Wordle #1009, Sunday 24 March: TOWEL
- Wordle #1008, Saturday 23 March: RISEN
- Wordle #1007, Friday 22 March: DECAY
- Wordle #1006, Thursday 21 March: SHADE
- Wordle #1005, Wednesday 20 March: LINGO
- Wordle #1004, Tuesday 19 March: ABIDE
- Wordle #1003, Monday 18 March: SPELT
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 last year and is still going strong in 2024.
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' Crossword 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.
4. Answers are never plural.
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.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions. However…
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 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
