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.
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 #1861) - 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 #1861) - 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 #1861) - clue #3 - repeated letters
Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are 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 #1861) - 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 #1861) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1861.
- Today's Wordle answer is a malleable substance that hardens when dry.
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 #1861)
- NYT average score: 3.6
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 97
- My luck score: 49
- My start word performance: SANER (304 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (44)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1861) is… PUTTY.
You might not realize quite how common today's format is, but fortunately I'm here to impart that information. There are 364 solutions that end in a Y — it's the second most common ending letter after E (422). And of those games, 104 have the format of a consonant-vowel-repeated-consonant-Y.
Narrow it down to just those that have a U as the second letter and it drops to 26 games — but that's still a significant number of possible answers. And the narrowing-down task is made harder still by the fact that there are 11 letters that could start the word, and 11 that form the repeated pair before the Y. In total, there are 14 combinations — BUGGY and SULLY and MUDDY and PUFFY and so on — so even once you had the -U--Y format, you'll have had plenty of choice.
Of course, the fact that the repeated letter today is a T will have helped no end, because that appears in SLATE and STARE and several other popular start words. The U, meanwhile, will have turned green for anyone who begins with AUDIO (which is a lot of people) and yellow in ADIEU.
This, then, is one of those games where it will have been easy-peasy for some and quite tough for others. The average score of 3.6 is probably not a true reflection of its difficulty for those who didn't have a lucky first guess.
I was among them, but still scored a three thanks to a stroke of good fortune on the third guess instead. SANER had drawn a blank and left more than 300 options, and though CLOUT was a great choice, it still left seven.
I knew that PUTTY was one of them, but also had THUMP and THUMB, TUBBY and TUMMY; I did not have GUTTY (what?) and TUFTY, which the 'Bot did have.
PUTTY was guaranteed to give me the answer in four unless it was one of the TUMMY/TUBBY pairing, so I thought it was worth the risk and went with it. I might have ended up with a five if I was wrong, but instead I got lucky and scored another three.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1860)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1860, 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 O.
Vowels are generally less common than you'd expect at the start of a word, and O is only the 17th most likely letter to begin a Wordle answer.
- 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 #1860.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to revolve around an object.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1860)
- NYT average score: 3.6
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 96
- My luck score: 55
- 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 #1860) was… ORBIT.
In space, almost everything is in ORBIT, a perpetual dance of bodies around bodies around bodies. So, not only does the Moon orbit the Earth, and the Earth orbit the Sun, but the solar system also orbits the galactic center of the Milky Way (at which lies the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, terrifyingly enough). And it does so both very quickly and very slowly, moving at an astonishingly speedy 490,000mph but still taking roughly 240 million years to complete one circuit.
Zoom out further and you'll see that the Milky Way is itself orbited by a couple of smaller galaxies, but more interesting still is the fact that it both orbits and is orbited by its neighbor Andromeda; the two are being pulled together and will eventually collide several billion years from now.
I sometimes feel like Wordle also exudes its own gravitational pull; like I'm constantly in orbit around it, coming near enough each day to complete a puzzle, then moving on with the rest of my life before returning 24 hours later for the next instalment.
I think maybe I need a holiday.
And so to this game, in which I not only scored a three (hurrah!) but also beat the 'Bot for the second day in succession. This really shouldn't matter one jot to me, but I never claimed to be anything other than a small-minded, petty individual, so it does matter (and more than a jot, whatever one of those is). Besides, this is the first time I've beaten it twice in a row since early July, so I'm not missing the chance to celebrate.
It's a simple enough Wordle to solve, with an average score of only 3.6. Four of its five letters are very common, and B is not exactly in the rare category. There are few near-neighbor words (DROIT and FRUIT seemed the most commonly played alternatives) and no funky spellings; it's all rather straightforward.
It was the aforementioned DROIT that did the hard work for me today, cutting my initial 139 options to that singular ORBIT in one fell swoop. If only every Wordle was this easy.
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 #1860, Thursday 23 July: ORBIT
- Wordle #1859, Wednesday 22 July: LORRY
- Wordle #1858, Tuesday 21 July: SHILL
- Wordle #1857, Monday 20 July: DIVER
- Wordle #1856, Sunday 19 July: CHURN
- Wordle #1855, Saturday 18 July: BOOTH
- Wordle #1854, Friday 17 July: LEGAL
- Wordle #1853, Thursday 16 July: BUTTE
- Wordle #1852, Wednesday 15 July: PSHAW
- 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
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.
