What is Wordle and How to Play

Wordle is a simple, daily word-guessing game that became widely popular for its minimalist design, social shareability, and bite-sized challenge. Each day, players try to guess a five-letter English word in up to six attempts. Feedback after each guess helps you narrow down the correct word using color-coded hints, turning the task into a mix of deduction, vocabulary, and strategy.

The basics

Objective: Guess the hidden five-letter target word within six guesses.

Platform: Originally a web game; many clones and variations exist on mobile and other platforms.

One puzzle per day: The original game resets daily with a single global word, encouraging shared discussion and comparisons.

How the feedback works

With each guess, each letter in your guess is highlighted to indicate how close it is to the target:

Green (correct): The letter is in the target word and in the correct position.

Yellow (present): The letter is in the target word but in a different position.

Gray (absent): The letter does not appear in the target word at any position (subject to letter-count rules).

Note: If a letter appears multiple times in your guess but fewer times in the target, coloring follows the target’s letter count — some duplicates may be gray even if that letter appears once in the word.

How to play — step by step

Enter a valid five-letter English word as your first guess. Choose a word with common vowels and consonants (e.g., "audio", "raise", "stone") to maximize information.

Read the color feedback and adjust your next guess to keep confirmed letters in place and test new positions for yellow letters.

Use process of elimination: avoid repeating letters proven gray unless you suspect duplicates in the target word.

Continue refining guesses, combining confirmed letters and plausible new letters until you find the target or exhaust six attempts.

Optionally share your result grid (without revealing the answer) to compare with friends.

Strategy tips

Start with words that include multiple vowels and common consonants (R, S, T, L, N).

Pay attention to letter frequency and position: common endings (-E, -S) and common pairings (TH, CH) can guide guesses.

Use information efficiently — a guess can be chosen to maximize new information rather than to be a likely solution.

Remember letter counts: if feedback indicates one instance of a letter, avoid assuming duplicates unless later feedback suggests it.

Variants and accessibility

Daily Wordle: one puzzle per day, social sharing encouraged.

Unlimited/clone versions: let you play multiple puzzles.

Hard mode: requires using revealed hints in subsequent guesses.

Larger or smaller word lengths