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.
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 #1889) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has 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).
Wordle hints (game #1889) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
Wordle hints (game #1889) - 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 #1889) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is E.
E is the most common letter to end a Wordle answer by far. That's one of the reasons why many of the best start words, including SLATE, CRANE, CRATE and STARE, all end with one.
Wordle hints (game #1889) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1889.
- Today's Wordle answer is to follow a path — or a tiny amount of something.
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 #1889)
- NYT average score: 3.1
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 2
- My skill score: 98
- My luck score: 73
- My start word performance: SANER (70 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (2)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1889) is… TRACE.
Just a couple of days ago we had one of the easiest Wordles of the year in the form of STRIP — and now we have an even easier one in TRACE.
WordleBot says the average is currently 3.1, which means it's still a tiny bit behind the ultimate easiest of the year, BLAST (3.0), but it's still a historically simple Wordle to solve — equal tenth overall, as it happens.
TRACE has appeared before, but it's quite possible you wouldn't remember it given that it was the solution to puzzle #179, in December 2021. That's before the 'Bot existed, so I can't say what the average was on that day — but I doubt it was much higher.
It doesn't take a genius to work out why it's so straightforward: TRACE is the third best start word, according to the 'Bot, and start words are good because they use common letters. Those same letters will be in many, many other popular start words today, and that will have made the task much simpler than it would be for a word such as MURKY.
Of course around 1% of people will have scored a 1/6 today, because TRACE is itself a fairly popular start word, but far greater numbers will have scored a 2/6 via an opener that has many letters in common with it. SLATE, for instance, left only two possible solutions, while CRANE was at three and STARE at seven.
SANER, my opener of choice, was not quite so fortunate: it left 70 words. But as a measure of the lack of difficulty today, I still managed a three myself.
There were plenty of ways I could have arranged my three yellow letters for the second guess, but eventually I settled on CRAFT, which left out the E in favor of including another letter. I managed to add a C and T into the mix, as well as turning the R and A green, and that duly left TRACE as the only possible solution.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1888)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1888, 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 #1888.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is dark, foggy or unclear.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1888)
- NYT average score: 4.3
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 97
- My luck score: 36
- My start word performance: SANER (139 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (315)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1888) was… MURKY.
The most common formats are often the most difficult to solve, which is hardly surprising given that sheer volume of options is one of the biggest complications in any Wordle. Add in a fairly uncommon letter or two (K and M) and you have the ingredients for a difficult game — which, at an average of 4.3, is what this appears to be.
Make no mistake, MURKY does have a common format. The --R-Y pattern is the equal fifth most likely for those positions, behind only --A-E (CRATE, SLATE), --I-E (TRICE, DRIVE), --O-E (CHORE, TROPE) and --E-T (CREST, CHEAT).
There are 39 words that have this format, and of those eight also feature a U in the second slot — which is what will have caused most problems here.
Based on the 'Bot's analysis it appears lots of people went for the URRY words — FURRY, HURRY, CURRY — or the URLY ones, CURLY and BURLY. But the likes of CURVY and MUCKY were also still being played by a few percent of Wordlers as late as guess number five, so I suspect there may be a few fails out there.
My streak is still intact, fortunately, thanks in large part to a fairly lucky third guess. SANER and then CLOUT had reduced the shortlist to 11, and at that point I realized that several of those would be --UR-Y words. I did also have a few where the R was at the start instead — for instance RUNNY and RUMMY — and then a couple of anomalies in the form of DRUID and QUIRK.
It was those R-Y words that I fixated on, though, so I decided to play FURRY, which would have the benefit of giving me two chances to turn the yellow R green. FURRY was not right, but it ruled out 10 of the 11 options and directed me towards MURKY as the answer.
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 #1888, Thursday 20 August: MURKY
- Wordle #1887, Wednesday 19 August: GRILL
- Wordle #1886, Tuesday 18 August: STRIP
- Wordle #1885, Monday 17 August: TRIBE
- Wordle #1884, Sunday 16 August: ASPIC
- Wordle #1883, Saturday 15 August: LOOSE
- Wordle #1882, Friday 14 August: GEODE
- Wordle #1881, Thursday 13 August: CRASH
- Wordle #1880, Wednesday 12 August: WIMPY
- Wordle #1879, Tuesday 11 August: FENCE
- Wordle #1878, Monday 10 August: SNIPE
- Wordle #1877, Sunday 9 August: CLUNK
- Wordle #1876, Saturday 8 August: PRIVY
- Wordle #1875, Friday 7 August: FEIGN
- Wordle #1874, Thursday 6 August: GRIPE
- Wordle #1873, Wednesday 5 August: POSIT
- Wordle #1872, Tuesday 4 August: MOTIF
- Wordle #1871, Monday 3 August: REPLY
- Wordle #1870, Sunday 2 August: PENAL
- Wordle #1869, Saturday 1 August: SLUSH
- Wordle #1868, Friday 31 July: PURSE
- Wordle #1867, Thursday 30 July: FLUME
- Wordle #1866, Wednesday 29 July: VALVE
- Wordle #1865, Tuesday 28 July: SONAR
- Wordle #1864, Monday 27 July: POSER
- Wordle #1863, Sunday 26 July: GRAPE
- Wordle #1862, Saturday 25 July: ALOHA
- Wordle #1861, Friday 24 July: PUTTY
- 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
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.
