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Beginner guide

How to Play Wordle

Find the hidden five-letter word in six attempts. Every accepted guess changes the board and gives you information for the next row.

The basic rules, tile meanings and a sample round

The objective

Wordle gives you one hidden five-letter answer and six chances to find it. Enter a valid five-letter word, submit the guess and use the colored feedback to work out which letters belong in the solution.

What the three tile colors mean

A
GreenThe letter is correct and in this exact position.
R
YellowThe letter appears in the answer, but belongs elsewhere.
T
GrayThis copy of the letter is not present in the answer.

The colors give you two kinds of information: which letters are in the answer and where they can or cannot go. Use both parts rather than treating each tile as a simple yes-or-no signal.

A sample round

Imagine the hidden answer is PLANT. The following example shows how a player could use feedback to reach it.

Guess 1CRANETwo letters are confirmed in place; the other letters are not useful for this answer.
Guess 2PLAINThe first three positions are confirmed; N is present but misplaced, and I is eliminated.
Guess 3PLANTAll five letters are correct. Puzzle solved.

This is a simplified demonstration. Actual tile colors are evaluated using the answer's letter counts, including when a guess repeats a letter.

Six steps for a new player

  1. Choose a five-letter word. Use a real word accepted by the game, ideally one with distinct letters.
  2. Submit the guess. The board returns green, yellow and gray feedback.
  3. Keep green letters fixed. They belong in those exact positions for the answer.
  4. Move yellow letters. They must appear somewhere else in the word.
  5. Use new information. Avoid reusing eliminated letters unless repeated-letter feedback makes the situation uncertain.
  6. Continue for up to six attempts. Use each row to narrow the word rather than guessing without a plan.

How repeated letters work

A five-letter answer may contain a letter more than once. If your guess contains two copies but the answer contains only one, the game can mark one copy as present and the extra copy as gray. This is why gray feedback should be interpreted alongside the other copies of the same letter.

What is Hard Mode?

Hard Mode requires later guesses to use revealed green letters in their fixed positions and yellow letters somewhere in the word. It encourages careful use of clues, but it can also make some puzzles more constrained when many answers share the same pattern.

Where can you play?

You can practice right here with our free browser game: play Wordle online. This website is an independent guide and tool resource, and Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company.

Stuck on today's puzzle? Open the daily Wordle hints, search the 5 letter words finder or browse the full Wordle word list.

Beginner mistakes to avoid

  • Leaving a yellow letter in the same position on the next guess.
  • Forgetting that green letters must remain fixed.
  • Assuming every gray tile rules out all copies of a repeated letter.
  • Using a guess that repeats several letters before testing enough distinct ones.
  • Ignoring the possibility that more than one answer fits the current pattern.

When you are ready for another step, try our five-letter word finder or open today's progressive hints.