Wordle
The daily five-letter word that started it all.
Wordle is the daily word game that started the whole "-dle" genre. Everyone in the world gets the same secret five-letter word each day and six guesses to find it. After every guess the letters turn green (right letter, right spot), yellow (in the word, wrong spot) or grey (not in the word at all). Built by software engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, it went viral in late 2021 through its spoiler-free emoji grid, and The New York Times bought it in early 2022. It still runs there today, free to play.
How to play Wordle
- Type any valid five-letter English word and press Enter. Your first guess is a probe — you have no information yet.
- Read the colours. Green tiles are locked in place. Yellow tiles are in the word but somewhere else. Grey tiles are out.
- Use what you learned: keep greens where they are, move yellows to a new position, and drop greys entirely.
- Repeat. You have six guesses in total. The puzzle resets at midnight in your local time zone.
- Share your result. The game copies a grid of coloured squares that shows your path without revealing the word.
The rules people miss
- A letter can appear more than once in the answer. If you guess a word with two Es and only one turns yellow, the answer has exactly one E.
- Guesses must be real words from Wordle's dictionary — you can't burn a guess on "AEIOU".
- Hard mode (in settings) forces you to reuse every revealed hint in your next guess. It is harder, but it also stops you from wasting guesses on pure probes.
- Your streak only counts days you actually finish the puzzle. Skipping a day resets it. Signing in to a New York Times account keeps stats across devices.
Tips to get better at Wordle
- Open with a word rich in common letters and vowels — favourites among regular players include CRANE, SLATE, TRACE and ADIEU. The exact word matters less than covering lots of common letters.
- Your second guess should test new letters, not confirm ones you already know, unless you are in hard mode.
- Think in positions. S is common at the start but rare in the middle; E and Y like the end. Placing likely letters in likely spots turns yellows into greens faster.
- When you have three greens and several candidate words, spend a guess on a word that separates the candidates instead of guessing one of them — it often saves the last two guesses.
- Doubled letters (like LL or EE) trip most players up. Consider them from guess four onwards if the obvious words are exhausted.
Frequently asked questions
Is Wordle free?
Yes. Wordle is free on the New York Times Games site and in the NYT Games app. Some other NYT games are subscriber-only, but Wordle is not.
When does Wordle reset?
At midnight in your device's local time zone, so a new puzzle arrives at the start of each calendar day where you are.
Does everyone get the same word?
Yes — one word per day for the whole world, which is why sharing results and comparing with friends works.
What is the difference between Wordle and the other -dle games?
The format — one shared daily puzzle, a limited number of guesses, colour-coded feedback and a shareable result — is what the other games borrow. They swap the subject: countries, songs, equations, movies, and in RNGdle's case a random number you never guess at all.