NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1063, Friday, May 17
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? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my new NYT Strands today page for my verdict on the New York Times' latest brainteaser.
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 #1063) - 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 #1063) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
Wordle hints (game #1063) - 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 #1063) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1063) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1063.
Today's Wordle answer is a guide or teacher.
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 #1063)
NYT average score: 4.1
My score: 4
WordleBot's score: 4
Best start word performance*: TASER (2 remaining answers)
My start word performance: GREED (262)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Today's Wordle answer (game #1063) is… TUTOR.
The keen-eyed among you may have noticed that five days ago my random start word was STALL – which duly turned up as an answer yesterday. And now we have TUTOR… which was my start word exactly a week ago! What is going on? Is the universe mocking me? Am I just unlucky? Or is it just a random coincidence on top of another random coincidence and I'm looking for conspiracies where there are none? Yeah, OK, it's the latter.
Anyway, it's rather annoying, not least because when TUTOR was my start word (for MEDIA) it left 777 possible solutions. It would have been rather more useful today, obviously.
Regardless of start word, TUTOR is potentially a difficult Wordle to solve. WordleBot says it has an average score of 4.1, which sounds about right considering it has a repeated T in it. As I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, T is a reasonably likely letter to be repeated, within the realms of repeated letters: it's fifth behind E, O, L and A. However, there are still only 61 games among Wordle's 2,309 original solutions that contain more than one T, meaning you'd only expect this scenario about every 38 days. It's not common, exactly.
As you might expect, start words that begin with a T fared particularly well today. TRACE left 11 possible answers, as did TRADE, while TASER left only two. However, more pertinent to the average score is probably the fact that AUDIO left only 14; it's the second most common starting word, so that will have brought the average down a bit.
My start word didn't contain a T, or – like AUDIO – a U or O. Instead, GREED gave me only a yellow R and left 262 words to choose from. I say 'choose from', because obviously I didn't come up with a list at this stage. No, I took the easy option of looking at the most common remaining letters, in this case A, O, T, L, I and S, and came up with a word that contained two more consonants and two vowels, to add to the yellow R. I could have gone in a couple of directions – I considered ROAST, for instance – but decided to play STAIR, because it had worked so well yesterday (see below).
It wasn't quite as successful, because yesterday it left only one answer and guaranteed me a 3/6. Today, it left four: TUMOR, TUTOR, MOTOR and ROTOR. I found them all, and set about working out which to play. TUMOR, MOTOR and ROTOR would all have guaranteed me a 4/6 at worst, whereas TUTOR might have left me with a 50/50 and a possible 5/6. So I ruled that out and went with TUMOR for no particular reason. It wasn't right, but it did its job and pointed me towards TUTOR for my four.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1062)
In a different time zone where it's still Thursday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1062, too.
Wordle yesterday had 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).
The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. In fact, it's almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
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 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.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1062.
Yesterday's Wordle answer is to come to a standstill.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1062)
NYT average score: 3.9
My score: 3
WordleBot's score: 3
Best start word performance*: STALE (2 remaining answers)
My start word performance: LEVEL (25)
* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1062) was… STALL.
The thing about STA-- words is that a) they can have a very low average score because lots of people begin with STARE and b) they can have a high average score because there are lots of them, so narrowing them all down can be tricky. The net result today is a game which has an average of 3.9, probably reflecting the fact that some people will have scored twos, and plenty of others fours.
On the first point, STARE left only 11 possible answers today, but SLATE was even better, at three. No, it doesn't start STA, but it has a T in there, and also an L – which was obviously very helpful today. For that reason STALE fared even better, leaving only a pair of possibles.
On the second point, everyone else may have had a tougher time of it. Even if you had the STA part you'll potentially have had to choose between 19 answers, because that's how many of Wordle's 2,309 original solutions begin with that combination. It's actually the most common combo for the first three letters, ahead of SHA (18) and STO (16).
Just how many words there are with that pattern is evident from the most common guesses for Wordle's second and third attempts: STAMP, STALK, STAND, STAIN, STACK, STALE, STARE, STARK and STAIR accounted for around 20% of all second guesses, while those same words plus STAFF and STANK made up about 36% of all third guesses.
Of course, the other complicating factor here is the repeated L at the end. Yes, as I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, L is the third most likely letter to be repeated (behind E and O), but it still makes things harder.
Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that double-L, because my random start word was LEVEL – which already confirmed them both in the answer! It didn't give me any other letters, but it left only 25 solutions. That sounds high compared to the total for STARE or SLATE, but it was arguably more useful when it came to narrowing down the options.
In fact, you can see that from my second guess – which cut those 25 down to one. I tend to play the most common remaining letters for my second guess, and today that meant playing A, R, O, T and S. ROAST would therefore have been a good guess – but instead I decided to include the I rather than O, for STAIR, because I wanted that very common ST combination at the start.
It proved a good hunch, because the first three letters turned green, meaning STALL was now the only possible answer and therefore that I scored a second 3/6 in a row (a fairly rare experience these days).
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 #1062, Thursday 16 May: STALL
Wordle #1061, Wednesday 15 May: PINCH
Wordle #1060, Tuesday 14 May: AMASS
Wordle #1059, Monday 13 May: CUMIN
Wordle #1058, Sunday 12 May: OUTER
Wordle #1057, Saturday 11 May: TIDAL
Wordle #1056, Friday 10 May: MEDIA
Wordle #1055, Thursday 9 May: JERKY
Wordle #1054, Wednesday 8 May: PIOUS
Wordle #1053, Tuesday 7 May: MUSTY
Wordle #1052, Monday 6 May: SHAVE
Wordle #1051, Sunday 5 May: DECAL
Wordle #1050, Saturday 4 May: VALUE
Wordle #1049, Friday 3 May: EBONY
Wordle #1048, Thursday 2 May: SLICE
Wordle #1047, Wednesday 1 May: DIARY
Wordle #1046, Tuesday 30 April: PROWL
Wordle #1045, Monday 29 April: CRAFT
Wordle #1044, Sunday 28 April: PRUNE
Wordle #1043, Saturday 27 April: GLEAM
Wordle #1042, Friday 26 April: VAPID
Wordle #1041, Thursday 25 April: INTRO
Wordle #1040, Wednesday 24 April: OVERT
Wordle #1039, Tuesday 23 April: ROVER
Wordle #1038, Monday 22 April: LASER
Wordle #1037, Sunday 21 April: JOLLY
Wordle #1036, Saturday 20 April: LUCID
Wordle #1035, Friday 19 April: RAISE
Wordle #1034, Thursday 18 April: FACET
Wordle #1033, Wednesday 17 April: TITHE
Wordle #1032, Tuesday 16 April: SHANK
Wordle #1031, Monday 15 April: EQUIP
Wordle #1030, Sunday 14 April: BLIMP
Wordle #1029, Saturday 13 April: STEEL
Wordle #1028, Friday 12 April: WHINY
Wordle #1027, Thursday 11 April: LOUSE
Wordle #1026, Wednesday 10 April: BROTH
Wordle #1025, Tuesday 9 April: MERGE
Wordle #1024, Monday 8 April: BREED
Wordle #1023, Sunday 7 April: VOILA
Wordle #1022, Saturday 6 April: FINCH
Wordle #1021, Friday 5 April: WRIST
Wordle #1020, Thursday 4 April: CLIMB
Wordle #1019, Wednesday 3 April: PLAIT
Wordle #1018, Tuesday 2 April: SERUM
Wordle #1017, Monday 1 April: FROND
Wordle #1016, Sunday 31 March: TABOO
Wordle #1015, Saturday 30 March: FORCE
Wordle #1014, Friday 29 March: REALM
Wordle #1013, Thursday 28 March: SPEAK
Wordle #1012, Wednesday 27 March: STUNG
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.
