Your Guide to Wordle: What It Is, How to Play, and Tips for Success

Since its launch in late 2021, Wordle has become a national obsession, and many players have even figured out how to play in different languages.

But if you’ve never played before and are curious about all the hype, how can you get started?

In this post, we’ll explain what has made Wordle such a huge success, how you can play, and which tricks you can use to increase your chances of guessing the “word of the day.”

What Is Wordle?

Wordle is a daily word game that was made public by creator Josh Wardle in 2021, and acquired by The New York Times in early 2022.

Like Scrabble and many other word games, Wordle tests your vocabulary and linguistic abilities by giving you six chances to guess the five-letter word of the day, without any clues to start with.

According to The New York Times, over 300,000 people play Wordle daily. So what makes it so popular?

For starters, you only get one chance to play each day, so that already raises the stakes and makes the game more exciting.

Second, the game was designed to be very social in nature. The Wordle of the day is the same puzzle for everyone, which means you can discuss it with your friends and compare your stats afterward.

Speaking of sharing, Wordle has made it easy to share your results without giving away any hints. You can copy and embed a grid of your results in emoji form and share them on social media.

Here are my results from my first-ever Wordle attempt:

Wordle 299 4/6

⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

How to Play

So if all this sounds good to you and you’re ready to try Wordle, let’s review the basics.

Wordle offers this refresher of the rules before each puzzle:

Wordle doesn’t offer any starter letters or hints. You’re simply given a blank 5 x 6 grid, so you must enter any five-letter word to start.

After you’ve entered your first word, Wordle will color-code your squares to offer you hints. If a letter is in the word and in the correct spot, its tile will turn green. If a letter is in the word but not in the right spot, it will turn yellow. If a letter is not in the word at all, its tile will turn gray.

Using those indications, you can keep trying various combinations of letters. You have six chances, and once your grid is complete, you’ll have to wait until the next day to play again.

Here’s a screenshot from my first Wordle attempt. I was really just messing around to test it out, so I started with a totally random word without any real plan or strategy.

But from my first entry, I could see that the letter ‘I’ is in the word, just not in the place I entered it. The ‘C’ tile is green, which means it’s correctly placed, and should stay in its position as the fourth letter in the word.

That led me to try ‘NIECE.” From there I could see that ‘N’ is in the word, just not as the first letter. I also learned that ‘E’ is the last letter of the mystery word. This led me to try ‘WINCE.’

The ‘W’ was a fail, but this attempt confirmed for me that the word definitely ends in ‘INCE.’ Using the letters I hadn’t tried yet, I correctly guessed ‘MINCE’ by the fourth try.

Wordle Tips

I started my first Wordle puzzle with just a random word, but there are definitely strategies out there that can increase your chances of guessing the correct word more quickly.

Try to start with 3 vowels: Ideally, your first word should contain five different letters, three of which should be vowels (examples include “radio” and “media”). Chances are the word of the day includes at least one of those vowels, so from your first word you’ll get some valuable insights about which letters are present and where they might be.

Avoid reusing gray letters: This sounds obvious, but it’s easy to get exciting once you get more clues about which letters are in the word, so you may start spewing out guesses that include a letter that’s already been counted out. Try to slow down and think of letters you haven’t tried yet. The extra effort will pay off.

Remember that letters can appear twice: This isn’t super common, but it has happened before and does complicate things. As you’re trying to guess the word, keep in mind the possibility of a letter being used twice (as long as it’s not one of your gray tiles, of course!).

Is Wordle Free Online?

As of April 2022, Wordle is free to play online, but there’s no guarantee it will remain free. Several of The New York Times’ other online games are behind a paywall, so only time will tell.

If you get an itch to try other fun brain-teasers, check out our list of the best word game apps, many of which are free.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

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Kaelyn Barron

As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.