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.
Skip the hints and jump straight to today's column.
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.
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.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle for more than three years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom's Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position and a guide to the best Wordle start words. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
Wordle hints (game #1587) - 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 #1587) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is D.
D is the ninth most common starting letter in the game, so maybe slightly less likely than you might expect.
Wordle hints (game #1587) - 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 #1587) - 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 #1587) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1587.
- Today's Wordle answer is a tool.
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 #1587)
- NYT average score: 3.8
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 95
- My luck score: 63
- My start word performance: SHARK (395 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (106)
- Tomorrow's start word: PIVOT
Today's Wordle answer (game #1587) is… DRILL.
Finally!
After 14 successive days without a score below four – beating my previous 'record' of 10 days – I've managed a three. It's not exactly up there with humanity's finest comebacks, but I'll take it.
It came courtesy of a very lucky third guess, without which I'd probably have ended up with another four. That would have put me roughly in line with the wider Wordle public, because the average today is 3.8.
It has a couple of obvious complications, namely the repeated Ls at the end and the fact that you could also have played FRILL, GRILL, TRILL, KRILL or potentially BRILL. The latter might have been played as an abbreviation – which would be silly, but only slightly more so than actual answers such as SNAFU and BEAUT – or legitimately as a type of flat fish (and no, I had no idea about that until I looked it up).
The others very much were possibilities, although if you have a photographic memory, or use a past Wordle answers list, you'll know that KRILL (game #1385) and FRILL (#1503) have both appeared before.
Interestingly, the averages for those two were 5.0 and 4.4 respectively; the fact that DRILL is seemingly causing fewer problems is no doubt due to the fact that D is a more common letter in general than K or F.
That was also the reason why I managed a three today. My opening guess, SHARK, was so-so: nothing more than a yellow R and still 395 options to navigate. But my second, TILER, added yellow I and L into the mix and cut that number to six.
And at that stage I got my welcome dose of good fortune. I'd drawn up a shortlist of four: DRILL, FRILL, GRILL and BROIL, missing LURID and LYRIC. I should really have played something to narrow those down; FUDGE would have ruled in/out each of my quartet, and if I'd have known about the other two, I could have gone with DEFOG (assuming it would be accepted) and have guaranteed a four at worst.
But I really, really wanted that three. And I knew that playing DRILL would take me most of the way there; it might leave a 50/50, and so potentially I could still end up with a five, but it was worth a risk, right?
Yes, it was. I went with DRILL hoping for a three and expecting a four, but got lucky with my guess and ended that terrible run.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1586)
In a different time zone where it's still Wednesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1586, 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 T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1586.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is to hinder the growth of.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1586)
- NYT average score: 3.9
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 94
- My luck score: 56
- My start word performance: ERECT (108 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: SLATE (43)
- Tomorrow's start word: SHARK
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1586) was… STUNT.
STUNT does not quite qualify as a letter-trap game, because there's no single character that can be replaced to make lots of other words. However, across all five letters there are various alternatives.
Change the first T? You can make SHUNT. Change the U? There's STINT or STENT. Change the second T? You can have STUNG or STUNK. And of course there are many other possibilities if you change two letters or move a couple around – for instance STOUT or SHOUT or SPOUT or STUCK or STUMP or STUFF.
Those near-neighbors will have complicated the process slightly, and explain why the average is 3.9 rather than being an ultra-low 3.5 or below. And that's despite the fact that STARE left only 22 words and therefore a decent chance of a three for the many people who begin with that.
I began with ERECT, which left a rather higher number of words – 108 – and made it unlikely that I'd be able to finally end my long run of games without a three. But I nearly made it anyway.
That's because my second guess was SAINT, and that was incredibly lucky; it gave me two more green letters to add to the T that I already had and left only a pair of answers, SHUNT and STUNT.
So, once again, I faced the old 50/50 choice. Two words, equal chance that either would be the solution. I was tempted to look at my past Wordle answers list, but resisted; if I had peeked, I'd have seen that SHUNT was the solution to game #1318 back in January. As it was, I didn't – so I was reliant on luck instead.
And guess what? Yep, I got it wrong. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
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 #1586, Wednesday 22 October: STUNT
- Wordle #1585, Tuesday 21 October: DETOX
- Wordle #1584, Monday 20 October: LIMBO
- Wordle #1583, Sunday 19 October: IDEAL
- Wordle #1582, Saturday 18 October: HAVEN
- Wordle #1581, Friday 17 October: GROSS
- Wordle #1580, Thursday 16 October: CATTY
- Wordle #1579, Wednesday 15 October: SPOOF
- Wordle #1578, Tuesday 14 October: FORUM
- Wordle #1577, Monday 13 October: BEARD
- Wordle #1576, Sunday 12 October: WOUND
- Wordle #1575, Saturday 11 October: STACK
- Wordle #1574, Friday 10 October: LEVER
- Wordle #1573, Thursday 9 October: HARDY
- Wordle #1572, Wednesday 8 October: ANNOY
- Wordle #1571, Tuesday 7 October: NYLON
- Wordle #1570, Monday 6 October: AMUSE
- Wordle #1569, Sunday 5 October: PLANE
- Wordle #1568, Saturday 4 October: RELAY
- Wordle #1567, Friday 3 October: SPASM
- Wordle #1566, Thursday 2 October: WIDTH
- Wordle #1565, Wednesday 1 October: SPOIL
- Wordle #1564, Tuesday 30 September: GEESE
- Wordle #1563, Monday 29 September: CIVIL
- Wordle #1562, Sunday 28 September: GOOEY
- Wordle #1561, Saturday 27 September: FRITZ
- Wordle #1560, Friday 26 September: DALLY
- Wordle #1559, Thursday 25 September: DRAPE
- Wordle #1558, Wednesday 24 September: BLUNT
- Wordle #1557, Tuesday 23 September: MOUTH
- Wordle #1556, Monday 22 September: QUILL
- Wordle #1555, Sunday 21 September: COVEN
- Wordle #1554, Saturday 20 September: DEFER
- Wordle #1553, Friday 19 September: LATER
- Wordle #1552, Thursday 18 September: KNIFE
- Wordle #1551, Wednesday 17 September: TEETH
- Wordle #1550, Tuesday 16 September: LEFTY
- Wordle #1549, Monday 15 September: ALONG
- Wordle #1548, Sunday 14 September: NOISY
- Wordle #1547, Saturday 13 September: NADIR
- Wordle #1546, Friday 12 September: THROB
- Wordle #1545, Thursday 11 September: CHAIR
- Wordle #1544, Wednesday 10 September: POUTY
- Wordle #1543, Tuesday 9 September: TRICK
- Wordle #1542, Monday 8 September: CHIRP
- Wordle #1541, Sunday 7 September: TENOR
- Wordle #1540, Saturday 6 September: BULGE
- Wordle #1539, Friday 5 September: DRIFT
- Wordle #1538, Thursday 4 September: BLEND
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.
4a. Answers are never plural.
4b. …unless they are. There have been a couple of plural words that don't end in an S or ES, including FUNGI (game #439), ATRIA (#1478) and TEETH (#1551). But S and ES plurals are definitely outlawed.
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.
10a. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions…
10b. …unless they are not. That's because the NYT has added in some of its own words which weren't in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
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 4a above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
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