Wordle Solver

Wordle gives you six attempts to guess a secret five-letter word. After each guess, tiles turn green if the letter is in the correct position, yellow if the letter is in the word but in the wrong position, and gray if the letter does not appear in the word at all. To use this solver, enter your green letters in their exact positions, add any yellow letters along with the positions where they turned yellow (so the solver knows where NOT to place them), and list all gray letters to exclude. Hit Solve to see every valid word matching your clues — then use Unlock It mode to reveal letters one at a time if you want to find the answer yourself with just a small nudge.

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About Wordle

Wordle is a daily word puzzle created by software engineer Josh Wardle in 2021 as a personal gift for his partner, who loved word games. Wardle built the game quietly and shared it with family first, then made it public in October 2021. Within weeks, Wordle grew from 90 players to over 300,000, and by January 2022 it had tens of millions of daily players worldwide. The New York Times acquired Wordle for a reported seven-figure sum that same month, and it remains one of the most played daily word puzzles on the internet.

The premise is deceptively simple: guess a five-letter word in six attempts. After each guess, the tiles change color to reveal information. Green means the right letter in the right position. Yellow means the letter is in the word but placed incorrectly. Gray means the letter does not appear in the word at all. One new puzzle is released every day at midnight, and crucially, every player worldwide solves the same word — creating a shared daily experience that sparked a global phenomenon of results sharing on social media.

Wordle's cultural impact has been extraordinary. It spawned hundreds of variants including Quordle (four boards simultaneously), Octordle (eight boards), Absurdle (adversarial Wordle that changes the answer to defeat you), Nerdle (mathematical equations), Worldle (geography), Heardle (music), and dozens of language-specific versions. The New York Times added Wordle to its Games suite alongside Spelling Bee and the Crossword, and it has introduced an entirely new generation of players to daily word puzzles. The game's elegant simplicity — the entire game fits in a web page with no account required — is considered a masterclass in minimal game design.

Game researchers and linguists have studied Wordle extensively. The optimal starting word has been debated mathematically, with candidates including CRANE, STARE, RAISE, SLATE, and AUDIO each having different strengths depending on the evaluation methodology. The game has also been used in educational settings to teach vocabulary, spelling patterns, and deductive reasoning. Despite its simplicity, Wordle demonstrates sophisticated game design — the six-attempt limit creates just enough tension, and the color feedback system delivers exactly the right amount of information per guess.

Your first guess should maximize the information you receive. Words containing common English letters — E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S, L — give the most useful feedback. Popular starting words include CRANE, STARE, RAISE, SLATE, and AUDIO. Each covers a different mix of common letters. Avoid words with repeated letters on your first guess, as they waste the opportunity to test more letters.

Yellow letters tell you where a letter is NOT, not just that it exists in the word. If E appears yellow in position 3, your next guess must not place E in position 3. Tracking this position-exclusion information precisely is what separates good Wordle players from great ones. Each yellow gives you two pieces of information: the letter is present, and this specific position is wrong.

Gray letters are as valuable as green ones. They eliminate entire letter families from consideration. After two thoughtful guesses, you typically have enough gray information to dramatically narrow the field. Resist the temptation to guess the answer too early unless you're highly confident — an incorrect guess wastes an opportunity to gather more eliminating information.

In Hard Mode you must use all confirmed green and yellow letters in every subsequent guess. This prevents "fishing" guesses designed purely to eliminate letters. Hard Mode is more challenging but develops stronger solving habits. In normal mode, strategic "sacrifice" guesses that test five new letters are often more efficient than forcing a guess with known letters in suboptimal positions.

English five-letter words follow predictable patterns. Words ending in -TION are rare at five letters. Words ending in -IGHT (LIGHT, NIGHT, FIGHT, SIGHT, MIGHT, RIGHT, TIGHT) are a productive family. Words with -OULD (COULD, WOULD, MOULD) are worth knowing. Familiarizing yourself with common five-letter word families speeds up the final guess when you have three or four confirmed letters.

Choose a strong opening word

Understand what yellow means

Use process of elimination aggressively

Hard Mode forces better strategy

Learn common five-letter word patterns

Q: How many Wordle puzzles are there?

The NYT maintains a bank of thousands of common five-letter words. The puzzle has run daily since 2021 with no announced end date. The NYT periodically adjusts the word list to remove obscure or potentially offensive words.

Q: Is the answer the same for everyone worldwide?

Yes — every player sees the same word each day regardless of location or time zone. The word resets at midnight in the player's local time zone. This shared experience is what makes posting results on social media so compelling.

Q: Can I play old Wordle puzzles?

The NYT archive allows subscribers to access past puzzles. Various third-party sites host archives of previous Wordle answers. The NYT also offers a practice mode for additional play beyond the daily puzzle.

Q: Why does the solver show multiple possible answers?

Until you have enough green and yellow clues, many five-letter words fit the pattern. With only one or two clues, hundreds of words may be valid. The solver narrows the list progressively — with three or four clues you typically reach a handful of candidates. Enter all your clues together for the most accurate narrowing.

Q: What's the mathematically best starting word?

Research suggests CRANE, STARE, RAISE, and SLATE are among the most efficient openers, typically solving puzzles in 3.5 guesses or fewer on average. The 'best' word depends on your evaluation criteria — minimizing average guesses vs. minimizing worst-case scenarios.

Q: What happens if I don't solve Wordle in six guesses?

The game ends and reveals the answer. Your streak resets to zero. The NYT tracks your statistics including current streak, best streak, and the distribution of how many guesses you typically need.