A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here.
Skip the hints and jump straight to today's column.
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 #1787) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.
* 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 #1787) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is N.
N is a surprisingly uncommon starting letter. Only 37 games begin with it and it ranks just 18th in this regard.
Wordle hints (game #1787) - 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 #1787) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Wordle hints (game #1787) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1787.
- Today's Wordle answer is lately, for the first time.
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 #1787)
- NYT average score: 4.3
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 94
- My luck score: 51
- My start word performance: SANER (50 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (98)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Today's Wordle answer (game #1787) is… NEWLY.
This is all getting a little tedious now. Yes, for the eighth day in the last nine, the Wordle puzzle is a difficult one. The average score here is 4.3, so significantly above the overall mean for the game of 3.96 — although I'm at a bit of a loss as to why it's creating such difficulties.
Admittedly, I only scored a four myself, so I'm not claiming it's easy. But I expected the average to be more around the 3.9 or 4.0 level, so I'm obviously missing some important factor in my analysis.
A look at WordleBot's report of what others are playing doesn't help; a sizeable number of people played NELLY, for some reason, but not enough to skew the results by that much. It will have to remain a mystery (but if you have theories, then by all means share them below).
My own game played out without any real drama. My opening guess of SANER was reasonably helpful and cut the shortlist to 50, and my follow-up of CLONE reduced that to a trio of KNELT, KNELL and NEWLY.
I didn't think KNELL would be an answer again so soon after it first appeared (in August 2025, so almost yesterday in Wordle terms), but went with KNELT anyway just in case, because that would point the way to either of the others if it was wrong.
It was wrong, leaving me to play NEWLY for a straightforward four.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1786)
In a different time zone where it's still Sunday? Don't worry — I can give you some clues for Wordle #1786, 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 P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
- 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 A.
A is a relatively common ending letter. It ranks 10th in this regard and today's game is one of 63 in which you'll find an A there.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1786.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is worn in the cold.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1786)
- NYT average score: 4.6
- My score: 5
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 96
- My luck score: 34
- My start word performance: SANER (38 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (202)
- Tomorrow's start word: SANER
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1786) was… PARKA.
Was one day's respite not enough for you? Well, don't blame me — I was just as annoyed as many of you probably are!
Yes, after a single easy game we're back in difficult territory, with the seventh game in the past eight that has an average score of above 4.0. In fact, PARKA is the second in three that's crossed over into the nightmare realm reserved for games of 4.5 or higher, following Friday's UMBRA. What's more, PARKA is currently playing slightly harder than that, even, with an average score of 4.6.
There are three definite complications to PARKA. The first, and most obvious, is the repeated A. Okay, so A is not an uncommon letter to appear in multiple form, but any repeats make a game trickier.
Secondly, there's a K in it — and it's not at the end of the word. K is one of those letters, like Y, that is far more likely there than anywhere else; it appears 210 times overall across the 2,309 original solutions, but more than half of those appearances are in the final position. In short, you could be forgiven for not thinking to play it where it is.
And then thirdly, there are a few red herring words that are spelled similarly, on account of that PAR segment at the start: PARTY, PARCH and PARRY were the ones that caught people out.
I was among those who fell for that trap, scoring my first five for a couple of weeks despite a positive opening guess that left me with only 38 options.
CLOTH was a "wonderful choice" for my second attempt, the 'Bot said, but unlucky: it didn't add letters to my green A and yellow R, and still left 10 words to ponder.
Among them were RAPID, RABID, DAIRY and FAIRY, all of which I thought of, plus several others that I didn't. But my choice of RAPID was again judged to be a good one by the 'Bot, and this time it made progress, cutting my list to just two.
These were PARRY and PARKA, neither of which I'd actually thought of. But another look at the board did turn up the first of those, so I played it expecting it to be correct — only to be rather disappointed when it wasn't. Fortunately another few minutes spent shuffling letters around revealed PARKA, and this time it was the solution. Phew!
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than four 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 #1786, Sunday 10 May: PARKA
- Wordle #1785, Saturday 9 May: SATIN
- Wordle #1784, Friday 8 May: UMBRA
- Wordle #1783, Thursday 7 May: BUDGE
- Wordle #1782, Wednesday 6 May: LIKEN
- Wordle #1781, Tuesday 5 May: LATCH
- Wordle #1780, Monday 4 May: RISER
- Wordle #1779, Sunday 3 May: PUFFY
- Wordle #1778, Saturday 2 May: BRING
- Wordle #1777, Friday 1 May: PLUME
- Wordle #1776, Thursday 30 April: CROCK
- Wordle #1775, Wednesday 29 April: RURAL
- Wordle #1774, Tuesday 28 April: QUACK
- Wordle #1773, Monday 27 April: EERIE
- Wordle #1772, Sunday 26 April: GLOSS
- Wordle #1771, Saturday 25 April: WOMEN
- Wordle #1770, Friday 24 April: DRUNK
- Wordle #1769, Thursday 23 April: TWEET
- Wordle #1768, Wednesday 22 April: SNORE
- Wordle #1767, Tuesday 21 April: CLUMP
- Wordle #1766, Monday 20 April: WEAVE
- Wordle #1765, Sunday 19 April: STAND
- Wordle #1764, Saturday 18 April: TOADY
- Wordle #1763, Friday 17 April: BELLE
- Wordle #1762, Thursday 16 April: CUBIT
- Wordle #1761, Wednesday 15 April: BEGUN
- Wordle #1760, Tuesday 14 April: CYCLE
- Wordle #1759, Monday 13 April: ELFIN
- Wordle #1758, Sunday 12 April: ALLEY
- Wordle #1757, Saturday 11 April: PRUDE
- Wordle #1756, Friday 10 April: CAROM
- Wordle #1755, Thursday 9 April: LADEN
- Wordle #1754, Wednesday 8 April: INLET
- Wordle #1753, Tuesday 7 April: DENSE
- Wordle #1752, Monday 6 April: SWORN
- Wordle #1751, Sunday 5 April: ENVOY
- Wordle #1750, Saturday 4 April: SANDY
- Wordle #1749, Friday 3 April: SINGE
- Wordle #1748, Thursday 2 April: SOBER
- Wordle #1747, Wednesday 1 April: FIZZY
- Wordle #1746, Tuesday 31 March: SWAMP
- Wordle #1745, Monday 30 March: COMET
- Wordle #1744, Sunday 29 March: CHUMP
- Wordle #1743, Saturday 28 March: AFOOT
- Wordle #1742, Friday 27 March: IVORY
- Wordle #1741, Thursday 26 March: BEFIT
- Wordle #1740, Wednesday 25 March: WISER
- Wordle #1739, Tuesday 24 March: BROOD
- Wordle #1738, Monday 23 March: SERIF
- Wordle #1737, Sunday 22 March: BASIL
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 in 2022 and is still going strong in 2026.
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' Games 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.
4a. Answers are never plural.
4b. …unless they are. There have been a couple of plural words that don't end in an S or ES, including FUNGI (game #439), ATRIA (#1478) and TEETH (#1551). But S and ES plurals are definitely outlawed.
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.
10a. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions…
10b. …unless they are not. That's because the NYT has added in some of its own words which weren't in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
10c. Plus, the NYT has now started repeating answers that have already appeared in Wordle. We have no idea how often it will do this, so you'll need to be on your guard.
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 4a above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
