When Wordle first launched you were on your own: just five squares, 26 letters, and your brain. But the huge viral success of the game soon created an entire industry encompassing Wordle alternatives, helper tools, and Wordle hints articles such as my own.
All of which means that it's a lot easier to get help with Wordle today, if you choose to. And you should - because even if you don't use any Wordle solver tools while you're playing, they can definitely improve your game if you consult them afterward.
Below, you'll find 5 Wordle solver tools and resources to level up your game and ensure your streak is safe for another day.
1. WordleBot by the New York Times
What is it?
WordleBot was launched by the NYT in April 2022 with two objectives: help people improve their game and persuade people to sign up to an NYT subscription. Obviously, they wouldn't admit to the latter, but it's pretty clear to me that you don't create a tool like this and then put it behind a paywall if that's not one of the aims.
The idea is that you access it after you've completed your daily Wordle (it won't work before that) and it will analyze your game and give you helpful feedback.
And you get plenty of it. For a start, WordleBot will tell you exactly what words it would have played on each turn. I've learned, for instance, that LINED is a great choice if I get a yellow R and E on the first guess, and that SLATE is the best Wordle starting word (though I ignore its advice on that front).
It also tells you how many options remained after each guess, what other players chose, and what the overall average score for each game was. None of this is essential information - but Wordle enthusiasts will lap it up.
Best of all, it really does help you improve your game. Sure, it can be patronizing at times, but its advice around the best way to approach Wordle - ie don't just blindly guess - is invaluable.
it's well worth the $1/week subscription fee (£0.50/AU$0.50) - although do note that after your first year that price does jump considerably. Still, if WordleBot isn't enough for you on its own, that subscription will also get you access to other NYT games, plus plenty of news and features.
Is it cheating to use WordleBot?
In a word: no. WordleBot will only give you information about the day's game after you've completed it, so there's no chance of spoilers and no way to use the info to cheat.
2. Wordle Solver by The Word Finder
What is it?
There are lots of Wordle Solver tools that let you input your letters and then show you your possible answers, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest: the aptly named Wordle Solver on The Word Finder site.
Its key advantage over the competition is that it enables you to specify the exact positions from which yellow letters have already been ruled out, whereas none of the others do. It's not perfect, because if you've ruled out a letter in multiple positions it won't be able to account for that, but it definitely serves up more accurate solutions as a result.
As an example, I tried it with Thursday's Wordle (game #635), which ended up being CIDER. I had the I and E in place, so entered them in the green boxes. I also knew that I had an R and a D in there and that the D couldn't go at the end.
That gave me this result:
CIDER, the answer, was there, as were other guesses I tried including EIDER and WIDER, plus other words that WordleBot subsequently suggested were options: RIDER and HIDER.
The other tools, in contrast, all suggested FIRED as a possible solution, even though it couldn't have been the answer on this occasion.
I don't personally use it while playing the game, because I like to challenge myself to find as many possible answers as I can, but if you're in a rush to complete a game before the midnight deadline, or are completely stumped, it's a great option. It's also handy for post-game use to see what you could have played, if you don't subscribe to WordleBot.
Is it cheating to use the Wordle Solver?
Well, it depends on how you use it - and on your perspective! I wouldn't personally use it during a game, but I've definitely found it helpful afterward. And besides, I'm a bit hardcore about how I play - ultimately you get to draw the line wherever you want.
3. Past Wordle answers
What is it?
The longer Wordle goes on, the harder it will get to remember all of the past Wordle answers. After all, there have now been 638 of them (it started with game #0), and unless you have a much better memory than me, you'll probably struggle to remember more than a few dozen of them.
It's made worse by the fact that so many answers are similar. Did we have FLOAT or GLOAT (or both)? Was that really tough one RIPER or PIPER? Some will doubtless stick in your mind, but many won't.
One option is to consult a list of past answers. A simple page search can tell you whether the word you were about to play has been a previous solution or not, and potentially turn a 5/6 into a 4/6.
Is it cheating to consult a past Wordle answers list?
Again, it's up to you to decide - but I think most people would consider this a fair resource to use while playing. There is no way anyone can remember that many answers, and in a couple of years' time we'll have more previous answers than the number remaining. Games could get farcical without checking a list like this.
Read our past Wordle answers page
4. Wordle Unlimited
What is it?
One of the best ways to improve your Wordle skills is to practice. But given that Wordle itself can only be played once a day, that's not going to help much. Enter Wordle Unlimited, a site that gives you (guess what) unlimited games of your favorite word-guessing puzzle.
It's essentially the exact same game as Wordle, right down to the stats/streak info, so it's a small wonder that it hasn't yet been shut down by the NYT. Play it today and sharpen up your game.
Is it cheating to play Wordle Unlimited?
Absolutely not. It can help you hone your game, but there's no way it can spoil the day's answer.
Play Wordle Unlimited
5. Wordle Archive
What is it?
The other way to practice Wordle is to play old games - potentially all 600-plus of them. This offers an obvious advantage over playing Wordle Unlimited or the like because you might also remember some of the answers when tomorrow rolls around and it's time to play the real thing.
Playing past Wordles has sporadically been possible via one of several Wordle Archive sites, but they've mostly been closed down by the NYT over the last year. However, at the time of writing, there is at least one such site in existence: the prosaically named Wordle Archive. So, may I suggest you give it a go sooner rather than later?
It does exactly what you'd expect: let you replay every single Wordle right back to the very first one. I tried it myself and got all the way up to present day with just one failure - and trust me, that was a tough one! The game itself is set out exactly like the real Wordle, but you can jump to specific puzzles if you want, which is a nice extra touch.
Is it cheating to play the Wordle Archive?
Mostly not - but it does include the current game, so you could conceivably play it there then go to the official site and complete it for a 1/6 or whatever. But you'd only be cheating yourself, really!
