If you are looking to flex your mind, try the new word game that everyone is going gaga over. The addictive word-guessing game, Wordle is simple yet incredibly compelling. Recently bought by the New York Times, Wordle has taken the world by storm with over 300,000 people playing it daily. There is one puzzle per day and everyone is guessing the exact same word. Intrigued, yet?
The website picks a five-letter word of the day, and a player gets six attempts to guess it. Once you submit your word, the color of the tiles will change. A correct letter in the right spot will show up in green, a yellow tile indicates the right letter in the wrong spot, and a letter that is not in the word will be displayed in gray tile.
While the rules of the game are quite simple, excelling at it is a whole different matter. If you are having trouble keeping your score up, we have listed five tips to help you ace Wordle. Give them a try!
Start with a word with vowels in it
Everyone who has played the game has a different opinion about picking the first word. You can stick to the same word every time or start with a new one each time you play. Regardless, pick a word that has a lot of vowels to increase the success rate. For example, “audio” or “adieu” have four out of five vowels and can narrow down your vowel guessing. You can use the next attempts to identify the consonants.
Choose two dissimilar words for the first two slots
Whether you are following some strategy for the first guess or not, make sure to choose a completely different word with a diverse set of letters for the second line. This way you can limit the radius through the process of elimination, making it easier to identify the word of the day. You can also use a database for five-letter words, but if you really want to exercise your mind, you should do it without any assistance.
Be on lookout for repeated letters
It is mind-blowing how many times you can get stuck remembering five-letter words while playing Wordle. As you only have six attempts to get it right, you need to use each slot carefully. You should be observant for letters that might show up more than once, as a repeated letter makes your guesses less effective by taking up space that could have been used for a correct letter. Thus, avoid reusing letters in gray tiles.
Grab a pen and paper
You can get all the right letters in your early tries and still be unable to figure out the right word. If you get stuck in such cases, go old school, grab a pen and paper, and start going through your vocabulary. Take a paper and write out the word with the blank slots that you need to fill in with the right letters. Instead of reusing letters that are eliminated in gray tiles, work through it methodically.
Hard mode for added challenge
Wordle has a hard mode that makes the game a little difficult if you are up for a challenge. The mode adds a rule – once you get a correct letter in a word, yellow or green, those letters must be included in your following guesses. Hard mode restricts your word list significantly and can help you solve the game in fewer tries.