A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Wednesday’s puzzle instead then click here.
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.
Wordle hints (game #1517) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.
* 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 #1517) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is K.
K is not a common starting letter in Wordle by any measure. In fact it ranks 22nd out of 26; a mere 20 answers begin with a K.
Wordle hints (game #1517) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are 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 #1517) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is L.
L is a really common letter to find at the end of a Wordle. There are 155 games that finish with an L, and it ranks as the fifth most likely letter there.
Wordle hints (game #1517) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1517.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a sign of the end of something.
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 #1517)
- NYT average score: 4.5
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- My skill score: 99
- My luck score: 35
- My start word performance: COBRA (567 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: SLATE (98)
- Tomorrow’s start word: LUMEN
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1517) is… KNELL.
Right, so this is how it’s going to be now, is it? A period of relatively easy Wordles from the original list, then a couple of really difficult ones newly added by the NYT. That’s fine if so, at least we know where we stand.
And make no mistake, KNELL is a difficult Wordle answer. It has an average score of 4.5 at the time of writing – which is a tiny bit higher than yesterday’s KEFIR, which was at 4.4.
That K at the start was not expected – at least not by me. We’ve never before had two K-starting answers in a row, which is unsurprising given that as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, K only starts 20 of Wordle’s 2,309 original words.
KNELL is the 18th such word to appear, but is the third that’s been added by the NYT puzzle setters, so there are a minimum of five still to come. But quite possibly more, given that Wordle’s editor appears to be hunting around for uncommon words.
For the record, the ones we’ve had so far are KARMA (game #13), KEBAB (#108), KNOLL (#219), KHAKI (#421), KNOCK (#539), KOALA (#574), KIOSK (#610), KAYAK (#671), KNEEL (#710), KAZOO (#730), KNELT (#845), KNEAD (#1103), KNAVE (#1168), KNACK (#1306), KRILL (#1385), KNOWN (#1406) and yesterday’s KEFIR. That’s a pretty tricky bunch, all told.
The thing about KNELL is that the K is not the only complication to it. There’s also that KN start, and the repeated L, and the fact that it’s really not a common word. In fact, I’ve only ever heard it as part of the phrase ‘death knell’. It certainly wouldn’t be the first thing to jump to mind if I was asked to name a five-letter word starting with K…
I escaped with a four, thanks to a couple of good choices on guesses two and three. And I know they were good choices, because WordleBot awarded me a 99 for skill today, which at least partly offset my luck score of just 35.
It also made amends for my opening guess, COBRA, which drew a blank and left 567 options. On the plus side, that did rule out four common letters, so playing STILE next required nothing more than the ability to assemble five of the remaining six from the top 10 into a genuine word.
STILE gave me a green L and yellow E, and cut the options to eight. I found six of those, which were JELLY, NEWLY, WHELK, WHELP, QUELL and KNELL – but missed DWELL and KVELL.
Based on the words I did have jotted down, I decided that WHELK would be my best guess and the ‘Bot agreed.
Even here I didn’t get that much luck. WHELK might have given me a three if it was correct, and was almost guaranteed to give me a four even if it wasn’t; it would definitely rule out all of the options, other than maybe leaving a 50/50 between KNELL and KVELL. Obviously I didn’t know that at the time, given that I’d missed the latter – so I thought I was a dead cert for a four.
Instead, of course, the worst of those three scenarios played out; not only was WHELK not correct, but it didn’t rule out all of the other options either, instead leaving me with that 50/50.
Then again, is it really a 50/50 if you don’t know that there’s a second option? Technically yes, but I was never going to play anything other than KNELL in reality, so it was only later that I found out I might have scored a five. I would probably have been happy with that given how tough KNELL is, but I’ll gladly take a four instead.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1516)
In a different time zone where it’s still Wednesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1516, 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 K.
K is not a common starting letter in Wordle by any measure. In fact it ranks 22nd out of 26; a mere 20 answers begin with a K.
- There were no 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 R.
R is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – it’s actually the 4th most common there, behind E, Y and T.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1516.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a fermented food.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1516)
- NYT average score: 4.4
- My score: 2
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- My skill score: 77
- My luck score: 93
- My start word performance: RACER (6 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: SLATE (329)
- Tomorrow’s start word: COBRA
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1516) was… KEFIR.
The jury is still out on whether KEFIR provides a real health benefit, to the extent that the website Verywell Health reported in May this year that “it may improve gut health” and in June that it “makes no difference for your gut health”, but I like it nonetheless and have a pot of kefir yoghurt every day with my breakfast.
What is undeniable about it is that it makes for a tricky Wordle word, with an average score of 4.4 according to WordleBot. That makes it the toughest game since DAUNT nearly two weeks ago and ends a pretty easy run so far in August, certainly compared to what we saw in July.
Its difficulty may stem partly from its relative obscurity as a word; I feel like it’s only in the past few years that it’s become a big health thing in the US and UK at least, and it may be that some people are just not that aware of it.
A bigger problem may be the structure of the word, because there are no other answers among Wordle’s 2,309-strong original list that have the format KEF at the start.
Actually, correction – there are no answers at all that have that format in the list, because this one was not on Josh Wardle’s list. Instead, it’s another NYT addition, and these almost always skew towards the difficult end of the spectrum.
Nor is the ending of the word much more common; there are only seven original answers that end in an IR, of which we’ve had five so far: TAPIR (game #193), THEIR (#275), STAIR (#294), FLAIR (#303) and CHOIR (#798). I’m pretty sure I know what one of the remaining two is, but I can’t for the life of me think of the other. By all means have a guess in the comments.
While it is a difficult word in general, it was not a tough game for me – because I really lucked out twice.
Firstly, my random word generator told me to play RACER – which I was pretty happy about, despite that repeated letter, because it enabled me to play A, E, C and R, and to rule out (or in) an ER word right away.
I was surprised when the R turned green but the E went yellow, and on investigation realized that there were now not many words left. In fact, there were only six, but I only found four of them: THEIR, DEMUR, LEMUR and KEFIR. Inexplicably I missed FEMUR – despite it having the same format as two words on my shortlist – and also TENOR.
Now, I was pretty certain that THEIR and LEMUR had both been past Wordle answers, and was correct; I mentioned THEIR above, while LEMUR was the answer to game #1291 in December.
In my head, that therefore left me a 50/50 of DEMUR and KEFIR and I decided to go with the latter because I’d just eaten a pot of it and it was fresh in my mind.
With hindsight, this might have backfired – because if it was wrong, I might still have had three words left and could even have ended up with a five (though a three or four would have been much more likely). But I didn’t know that at the time, so played KEFIR in blissful ignorance and instead scored my second two of the month.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three 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 #1516, Wednesday 13 August: KEFIR
- Wordle #1515, Tuesday 12 August: NOMAD
- Wordle #1514, Monday 11 August: SOUTH
- Wordle #1513, Sunday 10 August: MINTY
- Wordle #1512, Saturday 9 August: NASAL
- Wordle #1511, Friday 8 August: IMBUE
- Wordle #1510, Thursday 7 August: CORAL
- Wordle #1509, Wednesday 6 August: GROAN
- Wordle #1508, Tuesday 5 August: STORK
- Wordle #1507, Monday 4 August: RIGID
- Wordle #1506, Sunday 3 August: LUMPY
- Wordle #1505, Saturday 2 August: DAUNT
- Wordle #1504, Friday 1 August: BANJO
- Wordle #1503, Thursday 31 July: FRILL
- Wordle #1502, Wednesday 30 July: ASSAY
- Wordle #1501, Tuesday 29 July: OMEGA
- Wordle #1500, Monday 28 July: SAVVY
- Wordle #1499, Sunday 27 July: WHOLE
- Wordle #1498, Saturday 26 July: HAUNT
- Wordle #1497, Friday 25 July: GOFER
- Wordle #1496, Thursday 24 July: QUAKE
- Wordle #1495, Wednesday 23 July: WATER
- Wordle #1494, Tuesday 22 July: BURNT
- Wordle #1493, Monday 21 July: TIZZY
- Wordle #1492, Sunday 20 July: BLANK
- Wordle #1491, Saturday 19 July: SWORD
- Wordle #1490, Friday 18 July: LORIS
- Wordle #1489, Thursday 17 July: MODAL
- Wordle #1488, Wednesday 16 July: NERVY
- Wordle #1487, Tuesday 15 July: FOIST
- Wordle #1486, Monday 14 July: UNDID
- Wordle #1485, Sunday 13 July: GNOME
- Wordle #1484, Saturday 12 July: EXILE
- Wordle #1483, Friday 11 July: BRAND
- Wordle #1482, Thursday 10 July: JUMPY
- Wordle #1481, Wednesday 9 July: NOVEL
- Wordle #1480, Tuesday 8 July: DREAD
- Wordle #1479, Monday 7 July: STILT
- Wordle #1478, Sunday 6 July: ATRIA
- Wordle #1477, Saturday 5 July: BALER
- Wordle #1476, Friday 4 July: CURVE
- Wordle #1475, Thursday 3 July: POPPY
- Wordle #1474, Wednesday 2 July: INCUR
- Wordle #1473, Tuesday 1 July: MOLDY
- Wordle #1472, Monday 30 June: BLINK
- Wordle #1471, Sunday 29 June: WITTY
- Wordle #1470, Saturday 28 June: STUMP
- Wordle #1469, Friday 27 June: PLAIN
- Wordle #1468, Thursday 26 June: OFFER
- Wordle #1467, Wednesday 25 June: COMFY
- Wordle #1466, Tuesday 24 June: ELITE
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 in 2022 and is still going strong in 2025.
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’ Games 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.
12. The NYT has added in some of its own words, that weren’t in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
