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Wordle

18 votes 3.8/5

Intro

Grownups often look down on word-guessing games like Wordle, assuming their chosen words are basically kids-level. But hey, winning a Wordle puzzle is more difficult - and also way more fun - than you would expect! Keep scrolling to unlock our full guide.

An Overview of the Wordle

What Is It?

Wordle is among the most famous online games that test your vocabulary and language competency.

Its rule is simple: use all 6 attempts to guess a word with five letters. You guess it; you win it! These gameplays are rumored to draw on a franchise game show called Lingo and the paper-and-pen game Jotto around 1955.

Reception

Since its release, the Wordle game has quickly garnered millions of players from all corners of the globe - to the point that hundreds of variations and clones were spawned on the Internet.

Nevertheless, those copies can barely beat the fun and thrill our original version brings about!

What Are Wordle's Playing Rules and Features?

Single-Player Basics

In Wordle, players will see a keyboard and a grid of 5 x 6. Their ultimate mission is to figure out all the five-letter keys in only six attempts. Fill every row with letters to reveal meaningful words!

The tile colors will give significant hints to how your game is going:

  • Gray: Wrong letter
  • Yellow: Correct letter but wrong order
  • Green: Correct letter and correct position

Are you getting stuck? Feel free to navigate to "Setting" and click "Letter Hint," which will lend you pointers to certain letters with more than one appearance.

Once every row grid tile is filled, Wordle will disclose the true answer. All correct guesses mean you are a master of vocabulary!

Further Adjustments

  • Hints: Those wanting to play in easier modes can enable "Letter Hints" in their settings and vice versa (turn it off to make the round more challenging).
  • Confetti: You can also activate its confetti animation. Paper confetti will flutter around whenever you win, boosting your mood significantly!
  • Letter numbers: Players have full control over the numbers of hidden letters - from four to eleven. More letters in a word imply more challenges to your guess.

We suggest choosing 4 to 6 letters if you have no prior experience. When you feel more comfortable with the rules, spice things up by trying 7 to 11 letters.

Control Options

  • Use one or both of these approaches:
  • Click your left mouse buttons to pick letters
  • Press the keyboard keys

Available Modes

Daily Modes

First, we have Daily Mode - or Dordle in some versions. Players cannot choose their desired number of hidden letters here; instead, they must guess a word chain (4-11 letters for each word) at 24-hour intervals.

New challenges will unlock the day after once you solve the previous ones, so do not skip your daily participation!

Hard Modes

Next is the Hard Mode, which asks you to "use revealed hints in the next guesses."

Hard to understand? Let us explain. Suppose you guess a word with A, and the A letter is yellow (correct but wrong position); in that case, you must keep using A in other follow-up guesses.

Meanwhile, a green A (correct letter and correct position) will get locked for the remaining game: every next guess must use A in that exact spot.

Even someone new to the game can see that Hard Modes are worlds apart from Daily Modes - where you can type in any word whenever you want to reach the right answer!

Hence, Hard Modes are designed for challenge seekers only. If you think Daily Modes are too boring and below your levels, check out Hard Modes now.

Color Blind & Dark Mode

Unlike the other two, these modes have nothing to do with the game's playing rules; they merely help change the color and background.

Dark Mode: Hate getting your eyes hurt after hours of playing? Activate its Dark Mode to change the white background to dark.

Color Blind: Great for the color-blinded. The mode transforms yellow and green tiles to blue and orange for better vision.

Challenging Other Players

Playing alone is not half-bad, but why not double the thrill by inviting as many friends as possible?

  • A "W+" icon is placed at the top; click it to enter any word of your choice from 4 to 11 letters. (Do not settle on an easy one; make it difficult!)
  • Next, copy and send the link to your pals. Set the timer and wait for them to figure out the word on time!
  • Another great tip: Copy the puzzle URL that you just successfully solved. Send the URL to your BFFs or share it on your Twitter/ Instagram/Facebook account. Challenge others to guess the words in fewer tries than you!

Other Functions and Utilities

Language Options

Wordle offers nineteen language choices, not just English! They include:

  • English (Kids/ US/ UK), German, Mexican
  • Portuguese, French, Netherlands, and Italian
  • Dutch, Polish, Irish, Swedish, Greek, Czech, Indonesian, Turkish, Filipino

That's why players of all languages and nations can enjoy it to no end.

And have we already mentioned the Kids' modes? Once you select "English (Kids)," the words will reduce to children's levels, helping them learn and win each round in a blink. There's no better way to enrich their vocabs, we swear!

Statistics Board

Like other similar games (ex: Foodle), Wordle also incorporates statistics boards, allowing each player to monitor:

  • How many times they have played
  • How many times they won
  • Winning percentage
  • Current streak (returning to zero whenever you lose)
  • Maximum streak
  • Guess distribution (the number of tries made to find each hidden word)

Impressed with your own statistics? Share a screenshot with others to show them who is the boss in the game!

What Are The Best Strategies to Master Each Wordle Round?

Having a rich vocabulary is not enough; a convincing and quick victory also demands smart strategies! Check out this list to learn how to build amazing plans.

Try Words with Many Vowels First

Start with words that have three vowels at minimum. Cases in point are URAEI, OURIE, OUIJA, MIAOU, LOUIE, AUREI, AULOI, ADIEU, or AUDIO; many players try these words first and find immediate success!

Is every vowel in your first guess gray (wrong letters)? Then you know what to do next: enter the next word with non-gray letters. Here's an example: Let's say you just typed "AUREI," and each of its letters is gray. Enter your next word that contains "O," then.

Assess The Letter's Most Common Positions

Many letters appear in certain spots more frequently than others. By illustrations:

  • First Letter: Many words begin with S, B, C, P, T, F, or A. Rumors have it that 15% of Wordle puzzles start with S, while others take about 5% in the same set!
  • Second Letter: After deducing your first letter, move on to the second. H, U, L, I, E, R, O, or A appear in 5% of Wordle puzzles.
  • Third Letter: Consider frequent letters such as N, R, U, E, O, I, or A.
  • Fourth Letter: Seasoned players suggest O, T, C, R, I, L, A, S, N, and E.
  • Fifth Letter: Most words often end with D, N, H, L, R, T, Y, or E.

Focus On Letters That Might Show More Than Once

Many words like Berry, Alley, Sushi, Knoll, Salad, Gases, or Agree have identical letters, so watch them out.

The most common ones are E, S, A, T, or L; be bold and enter them more than once.

Use Paper and Pen While Playing

Keeping track of every guess with paper and pen is definitely among the best tricks!

One common trick used by Wordle masters is to write down green letters (correct letter and correct position) in order and leave the rest empty. Such strategies enable them to guess other letters more easily.

You may also jot all yellow letters (correct letter, wrong position) and arrange them into meaningful words. They push you closer to victory without wasting a try!

Other Games or Versions Similar to Wordle

Remember when we said Wordle had inspired many spin-offs? Time to explore them if you want some refreshing changes:

Wordle Unlimited

The same as Wordle, but no word limits this time (each word should still be finished in 6 tries). Feel free to explore its vast world of vocabulary all day and all night!

Crosswordle

It works like Wordle, except for one thing: the two words you must guess will cross over each other (like crossword puzzles). Though their lengths are different and no hints are offered, remember that the correct guesses are often related in certain ways (ex: "office" and "home").

Absurdle

Another Wordle-inspired puzzle, but with a twist: your component is a malicious AI that hates to see you win! Whenever you guess a word, it will secretly change the right answer.

Winning Absurdle might sound impossible, but all hope is not lost. In fact, many managed to beat the AI in only four turns. Practice makes perfect, after all!

Redactle

A wordplay on "Redacted" and "Wordle", Redactle asks you to figure out the topic of a random Wiki article by guessing all the missing (redacted) words. While you are at it, the game will show how often and where your guessed word appears.

There's undoubtedly a lot of fun in Redactle, but watch out: reaching the right key might take 200 guesses or even more! Thus, those only wanting to take short breaks from their workloads should find solace in other quicker puzzles.

Conclusion

With its straightforward, exciting - and yet incredibly challenging - rules, Wordle is and will continue to be the source of inspiration for millions of vocabulary games worldwide. Take your shot now, and don't forget to tell us about your experience in the comment section!