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.
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.
Wordle hints (game #1311) – 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 #1311) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1311) – 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 #1311) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is D.
D is a fairly common letter to end a Wordle answer: it’s the eighth most likely to be in that position in a solution.
Wordle hints (game #1311) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1311.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a sea creature.
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 #1311)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SAINT, SLICE (19 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: FIERY (203)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1311) is… SQUID.
Does that make today’s Wordle a Squid Game? Technically yes, although it’s a little less violent than the hit Netflix show. More pertinently, it’s a Q game – which means it’s also theoretically a difficult game.
As anyone who’s checked out my analysis of every Wordle answer will know, Q is the second least common letter in the game, appearing only 29 times in total. What’s more only five of those 29 appearances feature the Q in the second position. We’ve already had EQUIP, EQUAL, SQUAD and SQUAT, so this is the fifth and final one, right?
Except, no, it’s not. Instead, this is another example of an extra answer, one that the NYT has added to creator Josh Wardle’s original list of 2,309 words (actually 2,315 words, but the NYT also deleted a few). It’s the 12th addition, with the others having been GUANO, SNAFU, BALSA, KAZOO, LASER, PIOUS, BEAUT, MOMMY, PRIMP, UVULA and ATLAS. Which means, of course, that there is still one more -Q— word to come. Or potentially more, if the NYT adds in any others.
SQUID was one of the most glaring omissions from the original list; I saw more than one Reddit thread discussing how strange it was that it wasn’t included, so it’s fitting that it finally gets its day in the sun. That said, there may be people who are less pleased about its arrival, because it is a potentially tricky Wordle to solve. It’s not on a par with yesterday’s ROWER, admittedly; that word had a monumentally high average score of 5.6, whereas SQUID is at 3.9. But it’s not easy, either.
Much may have depended on whether you considered the possibility that S could be followed by Q. I didn’t, and ended up with a four partly through luck – it could easily have been a five if things had played out slightly differently.
I started poorly, again, with my random word generator giving me FIERY. This is another good word in theory that proved to not be so good in practice, leaving me 203 possible solutions today. When I followed that with SAINT, I had the game back on track; this left only five words.
The problem was that I only found three of the five, SOLID, SPOIL and SUSHI. I played SPOIL thinking that even if it was wrong it would guarantee me a four, only to realize with horror that I’d messed up. Not only was SPOIL wrong, but I’d missed two other words, SQUID and SQUIB. I got lucky with the 50/50, but it was a reminder not to forget that SQ combination, rare though it might be.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1310)
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1310, too.
- Wordle yesterday had 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).
- The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was R.
R is a surprisingly uncommon starting letter. Despite ranking third overall in Wordle, it’s merely the 11th most likely to begin an answer.
- There were 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 R.
R is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – it’s actually the 4th most common there, behind E, Y and T.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1310.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is someone who uses oars.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1310)
- NYT average score: 5.6 (revised)
- My score: 6
- WordleBot’s score: 5
- Best start word performance*: TASER (105 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: STAVE (402)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1310) was… ROWER.
Some Wordles divide opinion, but I don’t think yesterday’s will be one of them; ROWER is undeniably, brutally, horribly difficult.
WordleBot says it has an average score of 5.4 and, if it doesn’t drop over the course of the rest of the day, that would place it as the equal fifth hardest Wordle ever. (Note – it actually ended up at 5.6, making it the fourth worst ever outright.)
Only PARER (game #454, average score 6.3), MUMMY (#491, 5.8), CORER (1214, 5.7) and JAZZY (#712, 5.5) have been tougher, while FOYER (#304), RIPER (#613), JOKER (#675) and JOLLY (#1037) had the same score. Many people will lose their streak today, particularly those unlucky souls who play on hard mode and who will face a near-impossible task to narrow down the options in those six guesses.
My own fine run certainly came crashing to a halt, with a 6/6 following a week of mostly threes and one two. There’s a chance I might have scored a five if I’d guessed a little more sensibly midway through my ordeal, but even WordleBot could only manage a five itself, so a six is by no means a poor result; I’m just pleased not to have yet suffered a genuine failure.
Even Wordle novices (of which there can’t be many left now, 1,300 games in) will see what the problem is. Or rather, problems. Firstly, it’s an ER word, and I’ve spent enough time complaining about them before that I won’t waste words doing so again. Secondly, it contains a repeated letter R. And thirdly, it has a W in the middle.
The challenge, as it always is with these kind of words, lies in establishing that it’s an ER word early, then working out what those two consonants are in positions #1 and #3. And don’t go thinking that even the best Wordle start words will have helped, because of the top 20 none dipped below 100. RAISE, which isn’t in that list but which is a popular opener, was about the only good choice today; it left 33 options.
At the other end of the scale, my opening STAVE – which would be a very good starter in many situations – left 402. But on the plus side, that yellow E did point me in the way of the ER format right away. I went with LONER next, and my hunch proved correct, with the O, E and R all turning green.
Usually, three greens at this stage would be a great result that would herald a score of four or even three. But not today: I still had 19 possible answers left, and what’s more they were made of a horrible combination of letters. There were Rs and Ms and Ws and Cs and Ds and Ks and Xs and Bs and Hs and Ps. There were Fs and Gs and Ys and Zs… almost every consonant left in the game featured in one or more answer.
I drew up a list, then removed the ones I knew had definitely been past Wordle answers (JOKER, HOMER, CORER, BOXER, WOOER, FOYER) and was left with 13: ROWER, MOWER, COWER, CODER, DOPER, DOZER, GOFER, POKER, POWER, ROGER, ROPER, MOPER and BOWER. The last three seemed unlikely to me, but all made my shortlist and all subsequently turned up on WordleBot’s, too.
After staring at the options for about 20 minutes I settled on PUDGY next. WordleBot said this was a “wonderful” choice, but really I could have done better; it cut my shortlist to nine, but WIMPY (the ‘bot’s choice) left only three. Some of that was luck, but not all of it.
Next up, I went for COWER. I didn’t expect it to be the answer, but I knew it would guarantee me the solution unless the format was that same -OWER one. And – inevitably – it was.
This left me with three words still in play, ROWER, MOWER and BOWER. A failure was still a possibility here, so I played it safe with RUMBA and when the R turned green knew that ROWER was the word I needed. And now I need a good lie down…
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than two 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 #1310, Sunday 19 January: ROWER
- Wordle #1309, Saturday 18 January: SILLY
- Wordle #1308, Friday 17 January: PROSE
- Wordle #1307, Thursday 16 January: FLINT
- Wordle #1306, Wednesday 15 January: KNACK
- Wordle #1305, Tuesday 14 January: FANCY
- Wordle #1304, Monday 13 January: CLOAK
- Wordle #1303, Sunday 12 January: TOTAL
- Wordle #1302, Saturday 11 January: DINGY
- Wordle #1301, Friday 10 January: CRAWL
- Wordle #1300, Thursday 9 January: WAFER
- Wordle #1299, Wednesday 8 January: DRAFT
- Wordle #1298, Tuesday 7 January: ATLAS
- Wordle #1297, Monday 6 January: SPRIG
- Wordle #1296, Sunday 5 January: CYBER
- Wordle #1295, Saturday 4 January: RELAX
- Wordle #1294, Friday 3 January: CHEAP
- Wordle #1293, Thursday 2 January: CHOSE
- Wordle #1292, Wednesday 1 January: NERVE
- Wordle #1291, Tuesday 31 December: LEMUR
- Wordle #1290, Monday 30 December: STARE
- Wordle #1289, Sunday 29 December: MAMBO
- Wordle #1288, Saturday 28 December: DECRY
- Wordle #1287, Friday 27 December: GRAIN
- Wordle #1286, Thursday 26 December: AFFIX
- Wordle #1285, Wednesday 25 December: SHARE
- Wordle #1284, Tuesday 24 December: EAGLE
- Wordle #1283, Monday 23 December: SAUNA
- Wordle #1282, Sunday 22 December: BRAWN
- Wordle #1281, Saturday 21 December: BLADE
- Wordle #1280, Friday 20 December: FLASH
- Wordle #1279, Thursday 19 December: STRAY
- Wordle #1278, Wednesday 18 December: HEFTY
- Wordle #1277, Tuesday 17 December: SCOWL
- Wordle #1276, Monday 16 December: BOAST
- Wordle #1275, Sunday 15 December: FUNKY
- Wordle #1274, Saturday 14 December: DROOL
- Wordle #1273, Friday 13 December: BOXER
- Wordle #1272, Thursday 12 December: VYING
- Wordle #1271, Wednesday 11 December: PLUMB
- Wordle #1270, Tuesday 10 December: PATIO
- Wordle #1269, Monday 9 December: FLUNG
- Wordle #1268, Sunday 8 December: HYENA
- Wordle #1267, Saturday 7 December: HILLY
- Wordle #1266, Friday 6 December: SHOVE
- Wordle #1265, Thursday 5 December: ENDOW
- Wordle #1264, Wednesday 4 December: CRYPT
- Wordle #1263, Tuesday 3 December: SHAKY
- Wordle #1262, Monday 2 December: GUILE
- Wordle #1261, Sunday 1 December: MAUVE
- Wordle #1260, Saturday 30 November: DOGMA
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 last year and is still going strong in 2024.
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’ Crossword 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.
4. Answers are never plural.
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.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle’s list of 2,309 solutions. However…
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 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
