NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1055, Thursday, May 9
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 #1055) – 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 #1055) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is J.
J is the least common letter overall in Wordle, but is only the fourth least likely starting letter. That’s because it begins 20 out of the 27 answers it appears in (Y, Z and X are all less common starting letters).
Wordle hints (game #1055) – 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 #1055) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Wordle hints (game #1055) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1055.
- Today’s Wordle answer is moving fitfully.
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 #1055)
- NYT average score: 5.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 5
- Best start word performance*: CARTE (34 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: CHICK (108)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1055) is… JERKY.
Let’s talk about the letter J. If you’d asked me before I started playing Wordle what the least common letters in the game would be, I’d have guessed Q, Z and X… but not necessarily J. But J is in fact incredibly uncommon in both Wordle and the English alphabet in general.
There’s no single source for letter frequency in English (that I can find, at least), but several sources suggest that J is the second least common. For instance, when Samuel Morse was inventing Morse code, he apparently counted the letters on sets of printers’ type, and determined that Z was at the bottom, with J and X just ahead of it. A 1995 study of the Concise English Dictionary, meanwhile, placed Q at the bottom, with J next.
Whatever the story about English in general, there’s no doubting that J is the least common letter in Wordle; I prove as much in my analysis of every Wordle answer. It features in a mere 27 Wordle solutions among the list of 2,309 originally drawn up by creator Josh Wardle, which is two fewer than Q and 10 below X.
As you’d expect, there’s a clear correlation between J being in a Wordle answer, and that answer being a difficult one. J has now appeared 12 times in Wordle – MAJOR, FJORD, JAUNT, ENJOY, JOUST, EJECT, NINJA, JUDGE, JAZZY, JOKER, JOLLY and now JERKY – and the average score for those games is a massive 4.87.
That’s the context, then, for the fact that JERKY has an average of 5.0, according to WordleBot. But there’s more, because this word also contains a K – and K is the seventh least common letter in Wordle. Add the fact that the arguably more obviously PERKY also exists, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Nor is it a game for which the best Wordle start words will have helped much. CRANE, WordleBot’s favorite, left 191 options, while its second choice SLATE left 328. None of the ‘bot’s top 20 dipped below 30.
Neither did my random starter, CHICK, which left 108. But on the plus side, it did include a K, and that was very helpful in working out what to play next.
The thing about K is that it’s very common at the end of an answer, but not so likely elsewhere. The next most likely place for it is in position #4, where it’s almost always followed by a Y. In fact, K appears 55 times in that fourth spot, and in 31 of those cases it’s followed by a Y.
So that gave me some structure for the second guess, which I decided would be LANKY in order to include three other common letters. And I was on the right track: both the K and Y duly turned green. WordleBot said I was unlucky, but I’m not sure I agree. Yes, it still left 11 options, but I now had a good lead on the answer.
I didn’t identify all 11 possibles, but came up with DUSKY, MUSKY, SMOKY, MURKY, PESKY, PERKY, JERKY and GEEKY. The three I missed were PORKY, DORKY and KOOKY. Rather than guess outright I now needed a narrowing-down word. PERMS would guarantee a solve in four unless the answer were SMOKY or MUSKY, in which case I might still have a 50/50. WordleBot said it was a “terrific choice” and this time it was lucky too – the E and R turned green, but with the P ruled out it now couldn’t be PERKY, and instead had to be the more difficult JERKY.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1054)
In a different time zone where it’s still Wednesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1054, too.
- Wordle yesterday had 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).
- The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It’s the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
- 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 S.
S is really not a common ending letter at all – mainly because Wordle generally doesn’t allow plurals. It’s the 15th most likely letter to appear at the end of an answer.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1054.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is godly.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1054)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: PARSE (5 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: STERN (80)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1054) was… PIOUS.
Phew! Thank heavens that’s over. A run of 5, 5, 5, 6 was not on my to-do list for May 2024, so I’m pleased it’s finally come to an end. I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again, but hopefully it won’t be for a while at least.
Before I get too big-headed, though, PIOUS isn’t in the same difficulty class as MUSTY, SHAVE, DECAL or VALUE, and WordleBot says people are solving it in an average of 3.7 guesses. I suspect some people will find it harder than that suggests, but plenty will find it even easier – and the difference will be (you guessed it) your start word.
As you can no doubt see, PIOUS contains three vowels, which typically makes Wordle easier. We can debate for hours about the rights and wrongs of playing lots of vowels early on (I personally find consonants much more useful in Wordle), but there’s no escaping the fact that the two most popular openers, ADIEU and AUDIO, are packed with vowels. And therefore, Wordles that have lots of vowels tend to be solved more easily by those many thousands of people who start with either of those words.
I’ll pause for a second for the obligatory reminder that neither ADIEU or AUDIO are even close to being among the best Wordle start words; WordleBot awards each opener a skill score, and by that measure ADIEU (80 out of 99) and AUDIO (79) are way down the list. The very best options are all at 99.
Still, they worked today, with ADIEU reducing the possible answers to 27 and AUDIO to a mere three. The latter was better than any of WordleBot’s top 20, with PARSE being the best there (five remaining).
My start word, however, was STERN – which the keen-eyed among you will see has but one vowel. Thanks again, random word generator. That left me with 80 options, as well as a sinking feeling that I’d be in line for another poor score.
Fortunately, my second guess was a lot more successful. With E ruled out I wanted to include two more vowels, plus a couple more common consonants. LOCUS enabled me to do just that, and though WordleBot only called it a “solid” guess, it was (for once) a lucky one. The O turned yellow, the U and S both went green and suddenly I only had one solution left. That was PIOUS, and I played it next for a much-needed 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 #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
- Wordle #1006, Thursday 21 March: SHADE
- Wordle #1005, Wednesday 20 March: LINGO
- Wordle #1004, Tuesday 19 March: ABIDE
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.
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