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.
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 #1707) - 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 #1707) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1707) - 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 #1707) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1707) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1707.
- Today's Wordle answer is what something did when it smelled bad.
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 #1707)
- NYT average score: 4.1
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 96
- My luck score: 55
- My start word performance: SANER (17 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (15)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1707) is… STANK.
This was one of those frustrating games where almost all of the hard work was done very early, but I just couldn't seal the deal as quickly as I should have done.
On the plus side, I beat the average of 4.1. On the neutral side, I tied with the 'Bot. On the minus side, I could easily have scored a three or even a two.
I suspect many others will have had a similar experience today, because if you show someone the letters STAN- with a gap at the end, what are they going to think the word is? STAND, of course, which was played by 5.5% of people on guess #2 (versus 2.1% who went with STANK), 15% on guess #3 and 7% on #4.
It was that final letter that caught me out too, and indeed anyone who began with an STA-- starter word – such as STARE, which left only 11 options – may well have been drawn towards STAND before STANK. There's also STANG, but although it was accepted I don't think it's a real word, or at least not a viable answer.
STANK is a real word of course, but when looking at Wordle answers you don't tend to think of past tense options as readily as the present tense, in this case STING. Maybe, psychologically, that's because ED words are generally not included, so you don't get too many past tense words in general.
Whatever the reason, it bumped up the average today to make it the toughest game we've had since MOOCH a full week ago. The fact that in that seemingly easy week I've scored five fours, one three and one two is not a great confidence booster for me. But hey, there's always next week…
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1706)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1706, 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 H.
H is not a particularly common starting letter in Wordle: only 69 games begin with it, and it ranks in 15th place.
- 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 #1706.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to raise into position.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1706)
- NYT average score: 3.6
- My score: 2
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 75
- My start word performance: SANER (72 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (32)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1706) was… HOIST.
Here's another one of those games where past Wordle answer knowledge might have previously helped, but that may have become more complicated in this new world of repeated solutions.
That's because HOIST has four siblings that differ by only one letter — MOIST, FOIST, JOIST and HEIST — but three of those four have already appeared as solutions, leaving only HOIST and JOIST as possibilities under the old rules of the game. Of course, as we now know, any of them might well have turned up again, giving players one extra problem to contend with. Do you look at the list and gamble that repeated answers are (seemingly) uncommon? Or play it as if every word had an equal possibility?
That said, its average score of 3.6 indicates it isn't really that difficult, and the solving process will no doubt have been helped by the inclusion of four very common letters. And not everyone looked at past answers anyway (I never did).
I scored a two — which was, remarkably, my first of 2026. That's a damning reflection of either my poor play or poor luck so far this year, but maybe this is the start of a better time for me.
It owed a lot to luck, obviously, but there was some method to my madness. I knew that the single yellow was likely to pair with either an H or T, so it made sense to include both, and with A and E ruled out it didn't take a genius to look to O and I next among the vowels.
That gave me HOIST, a word that was designed to narrow down the options, and which very much did that – taking me from 72 words to the answer in one guess.
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 #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
- Wordle #1691, Wednesday 4 February: CHIDE
- Wordle #1690, Tuesday 3 February: WEIGH
- Wordle #1689, Monday 2 February: CIGAR
- Wordle #1688, Sunday 1 February: SPINY
- Wordle #1687, Saturday 31 January: ALLOT
- Wordle #1686, Friday 30 January: JUMBO
- Wordle #1685, Thursday 29 January: FLAKY
- Wordle #1684, Wednesday 28 January: CRUEL
- Wordle #1683, Tuesday 27 January: DUSKY
- Wordle #1682, Monday 26 January: FREAK
- Wordle #1681, Sunday 25 January: STRUT
- Wordle #1680, Saturday 24 January: CLIFF
- Wordle #1679, Friday 23 January: BARON
- Wordle #1678, Thursday 22 January: CLINK
- Wordle #1677, Wednesday 21 January: CUBIC
- Wordle #1676, Tuesday 20 January: SULLY
- Wordle #1675, Monday 19 January: WAXEN
- Wordle #1674, Sunday 18 January: SUMAC
- Wordle #1673, Saturday 17 January: FIERY
- Wordle #1672, Friday 16 January: RACER
- Wordle #1671, Thursday 15 January: CHASM
- Wordle #1670, Wednesday 14 January: AVOID
- Wordle #1669, Tuesday 13 January: GUMBO
- Wordle #1668, Monday 12 January: TRIAL
- Wordle #1667, Sunday 11 January: QUARK
- Wordle #1666, Saturday 10 January: MANIC
- Wordle #1665, Friday 9 January: EIGHT
- Wordle #1664, Thursday 8 January: BLAST
- Wordle #1663, Wednesday 7 January: PECAN
- Wordle #1662, Tuesday 6 January: OOMPH
- Wordle #1661, Monday 5 January: FILLY
- Wordle #1660, Sunday 4 January: POSSE
- Wordle #1659, Saturday 3 January: SITAR
- Wordle #1658, Friday 2 January: PROOF
- Wordle #1657, Thursday 1 January: FABLE
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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