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.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom's Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position and a guide to the best Wordle start words. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
Wordle hints (game #1287) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has 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).
Wordle hints (game #1287) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is G.
G is the eighth most common starting letter, featuring in 115 Wordle answers. It's often paired with an L to make GL---, but I'm not revealing whether that's the case today.
Wordle hints (game #1287) - 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 #1287) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is N.
N is a pretty common ending letter in Wordle: it's the seventh most likely in that position and features in 130 solutions.
Wordle hints (game #1287) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1287.
- Today's Wordle answer is a small, hard seed.
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 #1287)
- NYT average score: 3.8
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- Best start word performance*: CRANE (7 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: WIELD (201)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Today's Wordle answer (game #1287) is… GRAIN.
The wordle rollercoaster continues, with an average score of 3.8 for today's GRAIN following the ultra-hard AFFIX yesterday (4.5), which followed the easy SHARE (3.5), which followed the ultra-hard EAGLE (4.6), which followed the easy-ish SAUNA (3.7). Don't be surprised if tomorrow's game is a lot tougher, although obviously it doesn't really work like that.
Anyway, pattern or not GRAIN is a fundamentally straightforward Wordle. It begins with one of the most common starting combinations – GR ranks sixth in this regard, with 38 instance among the original 2,309 solutions – plus three top-10 letters in their own right, in A, I and N. If you played the odds today, you'll probably have done just fine.
That's indicated by the success of CRANE as an opening guess here; it's WordleBot's choice as the best Wordle start word and today it left only seven possible answers. I had a rather larger pool of 201 to work with, after my randomly picked WIELD left 201. However, just to prove that my 'you'll have been fine if you played common letters today' assertion was correct, I followed up with SAINT – chosen for that reason alone – and cut those 201 words down to a quartet of GRAIN, BRAIN, CHAIN and AGAIN.
Rather embarrassingly, I didn't spot AGAIN – I think I was thrown by the repeated A – but I did get the other three. I knew BRAIN had been an answer before (game #1,197), and thought CHAIN had too (it had, #904 in December 2023) so went with GRAIN and got lucky for a three.
Except… there was no luck involved at this stage really, because I learned afterwards that AGAIN had also been an answer (#721, in June 2023), so really there were no other possibles beyond GRAIN. I imagine this kind of thing will happen increasingly often as we start using up all of the possible answers.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1286)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1286, 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 A.
A is a reasonably common starting letter in Wordle: 140 games begin with this letter. It ranks 6th among starting letters, behind S, C, B, T and P.
- 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 X.
X is the sixth least likely ending letter in Wordle – and today's game is one of only eight in which it finishes the solution!
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1286.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to attach.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1286)
- NYT average score: 4.5
- My score: 5
- WordleBot's score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SAINT (43 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: TIGHT (291)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1286) was… AFFIX.
What do HELIX (game #32), BORX (#662) and INDEX (#787) all have in common? Obviously they're all previous examples of Wordle answers that end in an X, a short list to which you can now add today's solution, AFFIX.
These are four of only eight Wordles that end in an X, a select group clearly – and one that tends to be hard to solve, given that INDEX had an average score of 4.2, BORAX of 4.7 and AFFIX 4.5. That innate difficulty was added to by the presence of a double-F – itself a rare occurrence, in that a mere 22 answers contain that pattern.
AFFIX was set up to be tough, then, and that was certainly my experience. It most likely will have been difficult for most people; only one of the top 20 best Wordle start words dipped below 100 remaining answers, SAINT at 43, and most were in the 150-200 range.
My random opener, TIGHT, was worse still at 291, but I did at least have a yellow I, and added in four other common letters to make SLICE. This was a "terrific choice" according to WordleBot, but incredibly unlucky – it failed to uncover any more letters, and the 'bot awarded me only 5/99 for luck (versus 94/99 for skill).
I still had 30 words left at this stage, the 'bot told me afterwards, but I probably didn't focus as intently as I should have done, and identified only a handful including BRAIN, DRAIN and NADIR. It seemed to me that N was an important letter to include, but in reality I should have focused on D – which could also have given me the likes of RADIO, OVOID, AVOID, BRAID and RAPID.
BRAIN was not a disaster at all, but it still left six words: AUDIO (which I knew had been a past answer), AVOID, MAFIA, MAXIM, VAPID and AFFIX. I found all six apart from the final one, and decided that MAFIA would be a good choice as it would guarantee me a solve in five at worst. When the F turned green I was momentarily stumped, but a further hunt turned up AFFIX, and I played that next for my five.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than two 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 #1286, Thursday 26 December: AFFIX
- Wordle #1285, Wednesday 25 December: SHARE
- Wordle #1284, Tuesday 24 December: EAGLE
- Wordle #1283, Monday 23 December: SAUNA
- Wordle #1282, Sunday 22 December: BRAWN
- Wordle #1281, Saturday 21 December: BLADE
- Wordle #1280, Friday 20 December: FLASH
- Wordle #1279, Thursday 19 December: STRAY
- Wordle #1278, Wednesday 18 December: HEFTY
- Wordle #1277, Tuesday 17 December: SCOWL
- Wordle #1276, Monday 16 December: BOAST
- Wordle #1275, Sunday 15 December: FUNKY
- Wordle #1274, Saturday 14 December: DROOL
- Wordle #1273, Friday 13 December: BOXER
- Wordle #1272, Thursday 12 December: VYING
- Wordle #1271, Wednesday 11 December: PLUMB
- Wordle #1270, Tuesday 10 December: PATIO
- Wordle #1269, Monday 9 December: FLUNG
- Wordle #1268, Sunday 8 December: HYENA
- Wordle #1267, Saturday 7 December: HILLY
- Wordle #1266, Friday 6 December: SHOVE
- Wordle #1265, Thursday 5 December: ENDOW
- Wordle #1264, Wednesday 4 December: CRYPT
- Wordle #1263, Tuesday 3 December: SHAKY
- Wordle #1262, Monday 2 December: GUILE
- Wordle #1261, Sunday 1 December: MAUVE
- Wordle #1260, Saturday 30 November: DOGMA
- Wordle #1259, Friday 29 November: HIPPO
- Wordle #1258, Thursday 28 November: CHOCK
- Wordle #1257, Wednesday 27 November: SLANG
- Wordle #1256, Tuesday 26 November: WITCH
- Wordle #1255, Monday 25 November: BROWN
- Wordle #1254, Sunday 24 November: TWIST
- Wordle #1253, Saturday 23 November: JELLY
- Wordle #1252, Friday 22 November: PEARL
- Wordle #1251, Thursday 21 November: SPINE
- Wordle #1250, Wednesday 20 November: NICHE
- Wordle #1249, Tuesday 19 November: GOING
- Wordle #1248, Monday 18 November: FRAIL
- Wordle #1247, Sunday 17 November: TALLY
- Wordle #1246, Saturday 16 November: VISOR
- Wordle #1245, Friday 15 November: TACKY
- Wordle #1244, Thursday 14 November: UVULA
- Wordle #1243, Wednesday 13 November: PRIMP
- Wordle #1242, Tuesday 12 November: FLOWN
- Wordle #1241, Monday 11 November: STOIC
- Wordle #1240, Sunday 10 November: INNER
- Wordle #1239, Saturday 9 November: SWELL
- Wordle #1238, Friday 8 November: READY
- Wordle #1237, Thursday 7 November: EVENT
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 last year and is still going strong in 2024.
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' Crossword 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.
4. Answers are never plural.
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.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions. However…
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 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
