Today's Wordle hints and answer — solution #1,069, Thursday, May 23 (2024)

Today's Wordle answer is rather tricky. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,069 in 4.2 moves in easy mode or 3.9 if playing by hard rules.

Each day, we will update this article with Wordle hints and tips to help you find today's answer. And if the hints aren't enough, we'll even give you the answer, in case you're really stuck or just haven't had time to complete today's puzzle. Plus, we are also including an analysis of yesterday's puzzle, #1,068, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,069. Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!

Today's Wordle answer — hints to help you solve it

Our first tip is that you should use one of the best Wordle start words for every game you play. But if you want some more specific clues to today's Wordle answer, then here you go:

• It contains one of the five vowels.*
• There is one repeated letter.
• It features none of the five most common Wordle letters.

* By vowel, we mean A, E, I, O, U. There are other letters that are sometimes considered to be vowels, depending on how they are used.

Those hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Wordle answer. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then skip down further for that.

Alright then, here's a larger hint: Today's Wordle answer is nothing but net.

What does today's Wordle start with?

The answer to Wordle #1,069 starts with S, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.

OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…

Today's Wordle answer

So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,069?

Drumroll, please — it'sSWISH.

Hello Wordlers. A tricky one today: a heady mix of an uncommon word, a repeated letter and an unusual character in 'W' (only 44 Wordle answers have it in second position).

That lack of the five most common Wordle letters meant that my start word of ORATE was a total bust. None of the letters turned yellow or green, leaving me with a whopping 253 possible answers in play.

Most of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were even worse, with normally solid starters like PLATE, TROPE, CARET and DEALT all leaving over 300 answers.

But there were some exceptions: SPLIT leaves 32 options, while SLICE reduces that to 23. If you played SHALT, just five possibilities would be left in play.

While I usually endeavor to play 'I', 'N', 'S', 'C' and 'L' on my second turn, when I don't have any letters to work with, I prioritize my two untested vowels with MUSIC.

This got me two yellow letters: 'S' and 'I', which in turn reduced the number of possible answers to just 20, according to WordleBot*.

I opted for SLING next. Finally, I was making some progress as both 'S' and 'I' went green.

SPIKY, however, seemed to get me no closer as 'P', 'K' and 'Y' were all ruled out.

But actually, I'd eliminated so many answers that only one word was left. I typed in SWISH and completed the puzzle in five turns.

Hopefully you did well today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.

* These were: SKILL, SPILL, SHILL, SWILL, SPIKY, SWISH, SKIFF, SPIFF, SILKY, SILLY, SHINY, SPINY, WHISK, PHISH, SWING, BLISS, SNIFF, SLING, SLINK and KNISH.

Yesterday's Wordle answer

Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,068 was EXALT.

Hello Wordlers. Today's puzzle is slightly tricky: even though EXALT contains three of the five most common Wordle letters, it's not exactly a regularly used word nowadays. Additionally, that 'X' is pretty rare too ('X' features in second place in just 14 answers, including this one).

ORATE set me up nicely for a three-turn win. 'A' turned green, while 'T' and 'E' went yellow, leaving me with just 13 possible answers left, according to WordleBot*.

Amazingly, a fair few of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were even stronger. PLATE, PLANT, SLATE and BLAST all leave four solutions, while TABLE halves that to two. DEALT, LEAPT and LEAST all leave just one!

As regular readers will know, I try and fit a mix of 'I', 'N', 'S', 'C' and 'L' around my confirmed letters on my second turn.

With three characters already confirmed, the best I could do was to try 'C' with TEACH. This didn't seem too effective at the time, merely turning 'T' and 'E' yellow in different places, but WordleBot says I was down to just the right answer now.

I was somewhat reluctant to try EXALT as 'X' is such a rare letter. But after a short period of scanning for anything else, I gave it a try. To my delight, all the letters went green for a three-turn win.

Hopefully you also managed a quick win today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.

* These were: BEAST, DEALT, FEAST, LEAPT, LEAST, MEANT, YEAST, BEAUT, LEANT, ENACT, EXACT, TEACH and EXALT.

Previous Wordle answers

If you're looking for a list of older Wordle answers, we can also help. Here's a list going back 20 games.

• Wordle #1,068: EXALT
• Wordle #1,067: DINGO
• Wordle #1,066: NICER
• Wordle #1,065: HITCH
• Wordle #1,064: BRINY
• Wordle #1,063: TUTOR
• Wordle #1,062: STALL
• Wordle #1,061: PINCH
• Wordle #1,060: AMASS
• Wordle #1,059: CUMIN
• Wordle #1,058: OUTER
• Wordle #1,057: TIDAL
• Wordle #1,056: MEDIA
• Wordle #1,055: JERKY
• Wordle #1,054: PIOUS
• Wordle #1,053: MUSTY
• Wordle #1,052: SHAVE
• Wordle #1,051: DECAL
• Wordle #1,050: VALUE
• Wordle #1,049: EBONY

Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle

The best tip I can give is to use one of thebest Wordle start words. I can't stress this enough — it makes a massive difference.

Without one, you'll be scrabbling around in the dark trying (and possibly failing) to find the right five letters (or possibly fewer) out of the 26 possibles. But clever people (not me) have done the math and identified the best start words based on both frequency in English and frequency among Wordle answers. So use them!

Secondly, think about combinations, especially at the start and end. Some options are far more common than others — for instance, SH, ST, CR and CH all feature frequently.

Vowels obviously need consideration too: not all Wordle answers will contain more than one, but plenty do, and some even have three. A good Wordle start word should have used a couple, but if they don't feature you might well want to try another one or two on your next go. Plus, remember the Y — this sometimes acts as a surrogate vowel, and is easy to forget. It also appears at the end of plenty of words.

Finally, try out possibilities. So long as you don't press 'Enter' you can try possible answers to see how they look on screen. Put in likely letters plus any you know are definitely in the word, then mentally change one to the other available options. This technique has worked for me multiple times, and it's particularly helpful when the word in question is not an obvious one (like FJORD or ISLET).

But if you're still struggling with Wordle, check out how Tom's Guide's Wordle experts have honed their strategy after playing a lot of Wordle after it first launched.

We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer used to look for trends and have some further advice for you there.And if you're new to the game you should also take a look at our What is Wordle? guide.

What else should I know about Wordle?

Wordle officially launched in October 2021, but actually started in June of that year and celebrated its first birthday on June 19, 2022. (You can read my thoughts on the 5 things Wordle needs to improve if it's to keep us playing for its third year.)

However, it only grew in popularity towards the end of the year, then went viral in January as the world woke up to its charms. In fact, it proved so successful that The New York Times bought Wordle for a seven-figure sum in early February and the game is now part of NYT Games.

It's played via the NYT Games website here, and is entirely free. Both the NYT and the game's creator, Josh Wardle, have stated that it will remain free. Some people think that Wordle has got harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn't.

Wordle is a simple game in which your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you're told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place.

If a letter is in the correct place, it turns green. If it's in the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the word at all, it turns gray.

There's just one puzzle a day, and everyone completes the same one. It resets at midnight each day. You'll find more information about the game in our What is Wordle? article.

NYT Strands answer

If you've solved Wordle and need help with other games from the New York Times, we suggest you check out our guide on today's NYT Strands answer, which will give you an overview of how the game works and how to solve the puzzle.

Wordle Alternatives

If you're eager for another game to pass the time while you wait, we've put together a list of the best Wordle alternatives.

Other Wordle alternatives to try are the ultra-stressful (but very good) Squabble and the soccer-themed, Who Are Ya?. We also like the geography-based Wordle clone Worldle, the Star Wars-themed SWordle and the math-based Mathler.

There are certainly plenty of options once you've finished Wordle for the day!