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 Tuesday'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.
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? 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 #1852) - 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 #1852) - 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 #1852) - 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 #1852) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is W.
W is an uncommon ending letter in Wordle. A mere 17 games finish with one, out of 2,309 original answers.
Wordle hints (game #1852) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1852.
- Today's Wordle answer is an exclamation of impatience or irritation.
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 #1852)
- NYT average score: 4.7
- My score: 5
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 48
- My luck score: 79
- My start word performance: SANER (31 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (20)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1852) is… PSHAW.
Okay, cards on the table: this is worst, stupidest, most annoying, most ridiculous Wordle ever. It is terrible.
What on earth is the NYT thinking? Yes, it is a word, and yes, it is in the dictionary, so it's technically allowed… but it is so archaic! When was the last time you used it? When was the last time you even saw it or heard it anywhere? Or is it just me? I don't think it's just me. I asked my partner, who is an avid reader and an editor herself, and like me she'd heard of it — but she'd never use it.
It's an easy addition to the rogue's gallery of worst Wordle words, joining the likes of BORAX, CAROM and BEAUT; it might well be at the top of that list.
It's certainly near the top of the list of toughest Wordles this year, with its average score of 4.7 being beaten only by DIZZY (4.8), WAXEN, PUPPY, FIZZY and DOWDY (4.9), GUNKY (5.2) and WAVER (5.3). Do I need to explain why? Probably not, but I will anyway.
In short: just look at those first three letters: PSH. There is only one other Wordle answer that begins with a PS — PSALM, which was the answer to game #973. In fact, that was the only PS-word among the original 2,309 solutions, with this (inevitably) being a nasty NYT addition.
The fact that the H follows the S makes it harder still, because the brain doesn't think to look for three consonants together at the start of a word other than with an S or T at the start, where STR, SCR, SPL, THR etc are relatively common. But otherwise you usually get a vowel as the third of the three.
That said, the obscurity of the word is probably a bigger issue; it certainly was for me.
I had a bizarre time of it, with my second guess leaving only one option, and therefore a guaranteed three… that was not guaranteed at all, because I had no idea what it was. So, I played a narrowing-down word — HOSTA, which is not a word I know but which Wordle accepted. I only played it to see if I could place my three yellow letters, but failed entirely and had to try again.
At this stage, I was not just bewildered and befuddled, but also worried about losing my 1,653-game-long streak. Determined to place those yellow letters, I went with ASHES; I knew it was wrong, obviously, but was at my wit's end.
The result: finally, a green SH combo. Plus, the A could now only go in one position, so I knew it was -SHA-.
The only problem was that I couldn't think of anything that fit. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. So, I did something that I really try to avoid doing… and made a spreadsheet of possibilities. Yes, really. Look!
There were 160 of them in total, and though I scanned through the list nothing initially jumped out at me. I tried ordering it by vowels at the start, but still came up blank. Then, knowing that PS is a valid starting combo — rare, sure, but valid in the way that DS and MS are not — I looked at all of those options and eventually spotted PSHAW.
I was less than convinced that it would be the solution, but didn't have any other options at this point, so played it and was mightily relieved when it proved to be correct.
So, I escaped with a five in the end — but with a very low skill score, due to having overlooked the only solution on two successive guesses. PSHAW indeed!
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1851)
In a different time zone where it's still Tuesday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1851, 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 S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. In fact, it's almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, 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 K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1851.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is a cut of meat.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1851)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 97
- My luck score: 51
- My start word performance: SANER (30 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (5)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1851) was… STEAK.
This game really demonstrated the difference between a good-and-also-lucky second guess and a good-and-also-incredibly-lucky one.
It all started well enough, with SANER leaving only 30 options and giving me a green S, yellow A and yellow E. It would have been better still if I'd started with SLATE (five possibles) or STARE (four), but those days are over. The average, predictably is a low-ish 3.7 as a result of those two stellar opening results.
Two formats immediately occurred to me. The obvious one was to go for S-A-E, which would move the vowels into their most common positions and which could give me the likes of STAGE, SPACE, SHAVE, SCALE and SLATE. The slightly less common angle was for S-EA-, as in STEAK, SPEAK, STEAM, STEAL, SWEAT and SHEAF.
I was all set to go for the latter, and STEAK was literally (and I use literally in the correct sense here) the first word on my shortlist, so maybe, just maybe, I would have played that.
And then good sense got the better of me, because obviously it was silly to include the S when it was already green, and the E when it's never hard to place anyway. So instead I went with CHALK.
CHALK was designed to narrow down those many letters that might come after the S at the start — and it worked really well. In fact, WordleBot told me later that it was expected to leave 3.5 solutions, but actually cut the list to a pair of STEAK and SPEAK.
The annoying thing is that the 'Bot said it would have played STALK, which had 3.9 expected solutions — so, worse than mine. However, if I had gone with that, it would have left only one possible answer and I'd have had my three.
Instead, I played SPEAK on the third guess then had to go with STEAK on the fourth. Hardly a disaster, but after two fives and another four, I was hoping to get back on form.
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 #1851, Tuesday 14 July: STEAK
- Wordle #1850, Monday 13 July: STOUT
- Wordle #1849, Sunday 12 July: CLACK
- Wordle #1848, Saturday 11 July: AVIAN
- Wordle #1847, Friday 10 July: CANAL
- Wordle #1846, Thursday 9 July: AMEND
- Wordle #1845, Wednesday 8 July: DEMON
- Wordle #1844, Tuesday 7 July: SLING
- Wordle #1843, Monday 6 July: TODDY
- Wordle #1842, Sunday 5 July: SWAMI
- Wordle #1841, Saturday 4 July: PIZZA
- Wordle #1840, Friday 3 July: BATON
- Wordle #1839, Thursday 2 July: MAVEN
- Wordle #1838, Wednesday 1 July: DEMUR
- Wordle #1837, Tuesday 30 June: PUPPY
- Wordle #1836, Monday 29 June: CRUDE
- Wordle #1835, Sunday 28 June: EMCEE
- Wordle #1834, Saturday 27 June: SCOOP
- Wordle #1833, Friday 26 June: ACUTE
- Wordle #1832, Thursday 25 June: UNITY
- Wordle #1831, Wednesday 24 June: QUEER
- Wordle #1830, Tuesday 23 June: CURRY
- Wordle #1829, Monday 22 June: OVATE
- Wordle #1828, Sunday 21 June: ALIBI
- Wordle #1827, Saturday 20 June: DRAKE
- Wordle #1826, Friday 19 June: EMOJI
- Wordle #1825, Thursday 18 June: ENTRY
- Wordle #1824, Wednesday 17 June: TOKEN
- Wordle #1823, Tuesday 16 June: AMAZE
- Wordle #1822, Monday 15 June: BROIL
- Wordle #1821, Sunday 14 June: SEPIA
- Wordle #1820, Saturday 13 June: QUELL
- Wordle #1819, Friday 12 June: BREAK
- Wordle #1818, Thursday 11 June: TESTY
- Wordle #1817, Wednesday 10 June: ALIGN
- Wordle #1816, Tuesday 9 June: WHARF
- Wordle #1815, Monday 8 June: MAFIA
- Wordle #1814, Sunday 7 June: THUMB
- Wordle #1813, Saturday 6 June: MORPH
- Wordle #1812, Friday 5 June: NOBLY
- Wordle #1811, Thursday 4 June: ALLOY
- Wordle #1810, Wednesday 3 June: NOTCH
- Wordle #1809, Tuesday 2 June: BASIS
- Wordle #1808, Monday 1 June: CHILI
- Wordle #1807, Sunday 31 May: ETUDE
- Wordle #1806, Saturday 30 May: SMILE
- Wordle #1805, Friday 29 May: CLANG
- Wordle #1804, Thursday 28 May: DIVOT
- Wordle #1803, Wednesday 27 May: STUFF
- Wordle #1802, Tuesday 26 May: COUCH
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.
