How to Play Wordle

The daily 5-letter word puzzle everyone’s talking about

Play it here: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

Wordle is a short daily word puzzle from the New York Times. There’s exactly one new puzzle a day, it’s free to play, and it takes most people 5–10 minutes. The whole idea is to guess a secret 5-letter word in 6 tries or fewer.

What You’ll Need

• A computer, laptop, or tablet with an internet connection and a web browser
• No account or download needed to play — it’s free once a day
• A pencil and paper is optional, but some people like to jot down letters they’ve ruled out

The Grid
When you open the page, you’ll see an empty grid — 6 rows, 5 boxes each. Each row is one guess.

1. Type any real 5-letter word for your first guess — for example, CRANE, ADIEU, or STARE are popular starting words because they use common letters.
2. Press Enter (or tap the Enter key on the on-screen keyboard) to lock in your guess.

Reading the Colors
After each guess, every letter’s box changes color. This is the whole game — read the colors carefully, and each guess gets you closer to the answer.

3. Use what you learned to make a smarter second guess. Keep green letters in the same spot, try yellow letters in a new spot, and avoid gray letters entirely.
4. Keep guessing — you have 6 tries total. The on-screen keyboard also changes color as you play, which is a handy reminder of what you’ve already learned.

Solving the Puzzle

When every box in a row turns green, you’ve solved the day’s puzzle! The game will show you how many guesses it took and let you share your result (as a pattern of colored squares, not the actual word) with friends or family if you’d like.

Tips for Success

• Good opening words use common letters like A, E, R, S, T, O — save unusual letters like Q, X, Z for later guesses.
• It’s fine to guess a word that repeats a letter, like ERROR — this can actually help narrow things down.
• There’s no rush — take breaks between guesses and think it over.
• Everyone in the world gets the same word each day, so it’s fun to compare notes with a friend or grandchild who also plays.

If Something Goes Wrong

• Word not accepted? It needs to be a real 5-letter English word — the game will shake the row to let you know.
• Missed today’s puzzle? Come back tomorrow — a brand new word appears every day at midnight.
• Want to play past puzzles? The New York Times offers a small archive to subscribers, but the daily puzzle itself is always free.

Wordle is a wonderful, low-pressure way to exercise vocabulary and logical thinking for just a few minutes each day. Give it a try tomorrow morning with your coffee!