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 Wednesday'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 #1601) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in three 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 #1601) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is G.
G is the eighth most common starting letter, featuring in 115 Wordle answers. It's often paired with an R to make GR--- or an L to make GL---, but I'm not revealing whether that's the case today.
Wordle hints (game #1601) - 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 #1601) - 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 #1601) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1601.
- Today's Wordle answer is an assumed appearance.
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 #1601)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 95
- My luck score: 88
- My start word performance: QUELL (52 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (33)
- Tomorrow's start word: RARER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1601) is… GUISE.
I didn't have high hopes for today's game when my random word generator served up a Q-starting guess for my first attempt – but I needn't have worried.
This was the second day in a row where I'd had that QU--- opener, but whereas yesterday's QUACK failed to uncover any letters and left more than 1,100 options, today's QUELL gave me both a green U and a yellow E, and cut the shortlist to a mere 52.
I still needed a massive slice of luck to convert that into a three, though, but I got that on the second guess when CURSE left only one possible solution and I duly spotted GUISE next up.
I won't be the only one to have enjoyed a fine day today (in Wordle terms), because GUISE only has an average score of 3.5 anyway. That's the same as the figure for yesterday's SHORT, and once again there were some start words that helped tremendously. Today, those words were ARISE and RAISE – which each left only three words.
Even without that kind of start I don't expect GUISE to cause too many problems, because it doesn't hold any real complications. The inclusion of three vowels helps too, and the net effect is a second simple game in a row. Don't be surprised if tomorrow is a lot tougher.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1600)
In a different time zone where it's still Wednesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1600, 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 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 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 #1600.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is not long.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1600)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 50
- My start word performance: QUACK (1,105 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (43)
- Tomorrow's start word: QUELL
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1600) was… SHORT.
It's 1,600 up for Wordle, although really it's 1,601, because the first answer (CIGAR) was game #0. That aside, it's not a particularly memorable one; just a standard Wordle that will probably be forgotten by the time tomorrow's rolls around.
WordleBot reports that it has an average score of only 3.5, marking it out as a rather easy one, but in reality your mileage may vary. Much will undoubtedly depend today on your choice of start word, because one in particular made things very simple indeed. That word was STARE, which left only six possible answers, a fact that will surely have skewed the average today.
Without it, it probably plays more like a standard 3.8 or 3.9 game. It begins with an oh-so-common S, so the challenge may have been finding the second letter; almost unique among consonants, S can be followed by the majority of other consonants (11 out of the remaining 20 letters), as well as the five standard vowels.
My opening QUACK ruled out three of those – Q, C and K – plus two of the vowels, but didn't actually give me any yellow or green letters. That meant I still had 1,105 options for my second guess and was already up against it to get a four.
I did so largely thanks to my third guess. My second was TONER, which gave me the T, the O and the R and which left 10 still. Not bad, but still work to do. But I came up with most of those 10 (missing VITRO and DROIT) and got lucky when FROTH added the H into the mix to leave SHORT as the only solution.
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 #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
- Wordle #1561, Saturday 27 September: FRITZ
- Wordle #1560, Friday 26 September: DALLY
- Wordle #1559, Thursday 25 September: DRAPE
- Wordle #1558, Wednesday 24 September: BLUNT
- Wordle #1557, Tuesday 23 September: MOUTH
- Wordle #1556, Monday 22 September: QUILL
- Wordle #1555, Sunday 21 September: COVEN
- Wordle #1554, Saturday 20 September: DEFER
- Wordle #1553, Friday 19 September: LATER
- Wordle #1552, Thursday 18 September: KNIFE
- Wordle #1551, Wednesday 17 September: TEETH
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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