Core rules
- Guess a valid five-letter English word accepted by the game.
- After each guess, every letter tile becomes green, yellow, or gray.
- You may use up to six guesses total.
- You win when all five letters are green in the correct positions.
- A new official puzzle unlocks daily at midnight in your local timezone on the NYT Wordle / New York Times Games experience.
What the colors mean
- Green — correct letter in the correct position.
- Yellow — letter appears in the word, but not in that position.
- Gray — letter is not in the word, or no additional copies of that letter remain.
Duplicate-letter scoring is the nuance most rule summaries skip. Read Wordle duplicate letters before you treat every gray as permanent exile.
Valid guesses vs likely answers
The game accepts a wide guess dictionary. Plural forms and past-tense forms may be valid guesses even when they are uncommon as final answers. That asymmetry confuses beginners: “the game allowed it” does not mean “it is a probable solution.”
Hard mode rule
Optional hard mode requires every subsequent guess to include all revealed hints: greens stay put, yellows must be reused. Details and strategy shifts: Wordle hard mode.
Daily puzzle identity
Searches like “nyt wordle today,” “wordle of the day,” and “wordle new york times today” refer to the same official daily puzzle. This website is an independent Wordle resource. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times. See our disclaimer.
How we help within the rules
We do not change the game. We publish spoiler-safe Wordle hints for today, optional answer reveals after verification, and tools like the solver. Beginners can start with how to play.