NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1058, Sunday, May 12

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 #1058) - clue #1 - Vowels

How many vowels does today's Wordle have?

• Wordle today has vowels in three 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 #1058) - clue #2 - first letter

What letter does today's Wordle begin with?

• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is O.

Vowels are generally less common than you'd expect at the start of a word, and O is only the 17th most likely letter to begin a Wordle answer.

Wordle hints (game #1058) - clue #3 - repeated letters

Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?

• There are no 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 #1058) - 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 #1058) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1058.

• Today's Wordle answer is on the exterior.

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 #1058)

• NYT average score: 4.1

• My score: 5

• WordleBot's score: 3

• Best start word performance*: TASER (15 remaining answers)

• My start word performance: ETUDE (17)

* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words

Today's Wordle answer (game #1058) is… OUTER.

I'm not entirely sure how I managed to score a 5/6 here. WordleBot says OUTER has an average score of 4.1, and it may well cause problems for some people, but I should not really have been one of them.

The complicating factor for OUTER is that it's an ER word, and these are almost always harder than many other types of Wordle. There are simply so many of them that narrowing down the options can be a very difficult task. However, OUTER is unusual among ER words in that it has two vowels at the start, as opposed to the far more likely consonant-vowel pattern seen in, for instance, JOKER or RIPER or ROVER or any of those other tricky ER answers.

As a result, this may have been easier to solve if your start word contains lots of vowels. And indeed, AUDIO was one of the big winners today, leaving 14 solutions. That's a lot higher than the results for that word on the previous couple of days, sure, but still better than any of WordleBot's top 20.

My start word put my in a similar position: it was ETUDE, which gave me three yellow letters and cut my options to 17. A 3/6 should have been possible from here, a 4/6 definite. But I inexplicably failed to realize this could be an ER word, and instead went with QUIET for my second guess. I have no excuse beyond sloppiness; I was in a rush today and didn't spend as long on Wordle as I usually do. We've all been there, right? There's only so many times you can tell the family that you'll be joining them for breakfast soon, honest.

QUIET was not a disaster at all, in that it cut those options to only four, all of which were now ER words: TUBER, TUNER, CUTER and OUTER. But I followed that with an even worse mistake, playing TUNER rather than, say TENOR, which would have guaranteed me a 4/6. Then, when TENOR was wrong, I compounded it by going with CUTER, before finally settling on OUTER for a 5/6.

Guessing blindly is not what I generally do, but we all have off days and here was another one for me.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1057)

In a different time zone where it's still Saturday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1057, 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 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.

• 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 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 #1057.

• Yesterday's Wordle answer is water that periodically rises and falls.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1057)

• NYT average score: 3.6

• My score: 3

• WordleBot's score: 3

• Best start word performance*: TRADE (2 remaining answers)

• My start word performance: SHARE (247)

* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1,057) was… TIDAL.

For the second day in a row the AUDIO crowd are going to be very, very happy. Yesterday, they had only three answers left for their second guess, and will almost certainly have scored either a 2/6 or 3/6. Today, they had just a single answer and therefore a guaranteed two.

Given that AUDIO was once again played by 5% of all Wordlers today, the overall average (which currently stands at 3.6) will definitely be lower than it would otherwise have been purely because of the word's popularity as an opener. What's more, several other start words performed well today; the overall picture was much more positive than it was yesterday. For instance, SLATE, WordleBot's second favorite opener, left only 18, ADIEU (which left only one yesterday) was at 15 and TRADE (which a few people might well start with) left two.

None of this should be a big surprise if you're familiar with what the most common letters in the game are. As my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, four of the letters in TIDAL are in the top five, with D the only outlier (it's 13th). Common letters equals good results for many start words equals low average score all round.

My game was every bit as uneventful. I started with another unlucky word: SHARE, which could have been a great one for some answers but which today left 247 possible solutions, then followed it with TALON, because – you guessed it – they were the most common as-yet-unplayed letters.

TALON worked wonderfully, giving me a green T and yellow L to go with the still-yellow A, and reduced my options to only two: TIDAL and TUBAL. I say there were two left, because that's what WordleBot reported after I'd finished playing – but I had no idea at the time and thought TIDAL was the only option. Is TUBAL really a possible solution? I'm not so sure, but it didn't matter anyway, because I played TIDAL instead and scored a 3/6.

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 #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

• Wordle #1011, Tuesday 26 March: MAYOR

• Wordle #1010, Monday 25 March: SALLY

• Wordle #1009, Sunday 24 March: TOWEL

• Wordle #1008, Saturday 23 March: RISEN

• Wordle #1007, Friday 22 March: DECAY

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.