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.
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 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 #1612) - 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 #1612) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is C.
C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it's the second most common of all, behind only S.
Wordle hints (game #1612) - 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 #1612) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is P.
P is a middling end letter in Wordle. It features in 56 answers, which places it 12th in the alphabet. Don't expect it to happen that often compared to the likes of E, Y and T.
Wordle hints (game #1612) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1612.
- Today's Wordle answer is a device that holds things together.
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 #1612)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 96
- My luck score: 65
- My start word performance: SALVO (127 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (22)
- Tomorrow's start word: PUDGY
Today's Wordle answer (game #1612) is… CLAMP.
Only a couple of days after CLUNG, here's CLAMP to remind us that CL really is a very common combination at the start.
It's playing a lot easier than CLUNG did, though, with an average score of 3.5 at the time of writing, against 4.1 for Saturday's answer (and 4.5 for yesterday's WIELD). The difference is that A in the middle, which is a lot more common in most popular start words than the U in the middle of CLUNG. For instance, SLATE, STARE and CRANE all will have had a green A after the first guess, while the like of ARISE, RAISE, AUDIO and ADIEU will have had a yellow one.
If CRANE and SLATE were particularly helpful, leaving 14 and 22 possible solutions respectively, then my SALVO was not so much use; I had 127 options. Still, it did give me two yellow letters, and I did the sensible thing for the second guess and moved them both to their most likely positions.
I could have played lots of other –LA-- words – for instance PLATE or CLANG – but in the end decided to go with PLANT and got lucky. The A and L turned green, the P turned yellow, and that left only CLAMP and GLAMP as possible solutions.
Now, I'll be honest here – I didn't even think of GLAMP at the time, and even now I'm not sure it's that likely an answer anyway. So the fact that I played CLAMP next was never in doubt, and I duly walked away with a nice three.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1611)
In a different time zone where it's still Sunday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1611, 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 W.
W is a fairly average letter when it comes to starting an answer. There are 82 solutions that begin with a W, with means that it ranks 13th – so right in the middle of the alphabet.
- 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 D.
D is a fairly common letter to end a Wordle answer: it's the eighth most likely to be in that position in a solution.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1611.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to use a weapon or tool effectively.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1611)
- NYT average score: 4.5
- My score: 5
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 98
- My luck score: 34
- My start word performance: AROSE (221 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (98)
- Tomorrow's start word: SALVO
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1611) was… WIELD.
I didn't follow my own advice here and paid the price with a five that could have been a four. That was a little silly of me, but hey – you have to take risks sometimes, right? And this was one that was worth taking.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though. WIELD is a difficult Wordle, as its average score of 4.5 proves. That puts it on a par with GIZMO last week, although for different reasons.
There, the problem was the uncommon Z (and to an extent the uncommon letter placements in general). Here, the complication comes from our old friend the letter-trap, because -IELD can give you FIELD and YIELD as well as the answer itself, and those other two are arguably more common words.
Many of you may have found yourself in that trap, just as I did, and my advice would always be to narrow down the options by playing a word that would eliminate two of the choices. For instance, you could have gone for FAWNY and been certain to solve it on the next attempt.
I did not do that. Instead, when faced with those three possible answers, I first played YIELD. And then I played FIELD. And only on the fifth guess did I go for WIELD and solve this Wordle.
Why? Well, I wanted a three. There was no risk to my streak here, because I knew YIELD, FIELD and WIELD were the only options, and I still had four guesses left. I had a 33% chance of getting it in three, and then a 50% chance of a solve in four; those seemed like pretty good odds.
So, yes, I gambled and lost – but it didn't cost me my streak and it's not like it really matters. On another day, I'd be crowing about how I'd taken a risk and lucked out – today, I'll just have to settle for a five.
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 #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
- Wordle #1604, Sunday 9 November: FUGUE
- Wordle #1603, Saturday 8 November: ARISE
- Wordle #1602, Friday 7 November: PERIL
- Wordle #1601, Thursday 6 November: GUISE
- Wordle #1600, Wednesday 5 November: SHORT
- Wordle #1599, Tuesday 4 November: VENUE
- Wordle #1598, Monday 3 November: AWOKE
- Wordle #1597, Sunday 2 November: RABID
- Wordle #1596, Saturday 1 November: MOTEL
- Wordle #1595, Friday 31 October: ABHOR
- Wordle #1594, Thursday 30 October: LATHE
- Wordle #1593, Wednesday 29 October: GLARE
- Wordle #1592, Tuesday 28 October: HOLLY
- Wordle #1591, Monday 27 October: FETID
- Wordle #1590, Sunday 26 October: PLUMP
- Wordle #1589, Saturday 25 October: GAUGE
- Wordle #1588, Friday 24 October: TUBER
- Wordle #1587, Thursday 23 October: DRILL
- Wordle #1586, Wednesday 22 October: STUNT
- Wordle #1585, Tuesday 21 October: DETOX
- Wordle #1584, Monday 20 October: LIMBO
- Wordle #1583, Sunday 19 October: IDEAL
- Wordle #1582, Saturday 18 October: HAVEN
- Wordle #1581, Friday 17 October: GROSS
- Wordle #1580, Thursday 16 October: CATTY
- Wordle #1579, Wednesday 15 October: SPOOF
- Wordle #1578, Tuesday 14 October: FORUM
- Wordle #1577, Monday 13 October: BEARD
- Wordle #1576, Sunday 12 October: WOUND
- Wordle #1575, Saturday 11 October: STACK
- Wordle #1574, Friday 10 October: LEVER
- Wordle #1573, Thursday 9 October: HARDY
- Wordle #1572, Wednesday 8 October: ANNOY
- Wordle #1571, Tuesday 7 October: NYLON
- Wordle #1570, Monday 6 October: AMUSE
- Wordle #1569, Sunday 5 October: PLANE
- Wordle #1568, Saturday 4 October: RELAY
- Wordle #1567, Friday 3 October: SPASM
- Wordle #1566, Thursday 2 October: WIDTH
- Wordle #1565, Wednesday 1 October: SPOIL
- Wordle #1564, Tuesday 30 September: GEESE
- Wordle #1563, Monday 29 September: CIVIL
- Wordle #1562, Sunday 28 September: GOOEY
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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