It’s time for your daily round of Wordle hints, expertly crafted to help you keep your streak going even on the toughest of days.
You might think that you don’t need any clues for Wordle today, but remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Below, you’ll find a selection of Wordle hints to guide you in the right direction. You don’t have to use them all, but there are five in total should you need them, covering vowels, starting letter, ending letter and more. And if you don’t have time to play at all, you can see the answer, too.
Want more word-based fun? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, which remains the best of all the main Wordle alternatives.
SPOILER WARNING: Wordle hints and today’s answer are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #838) – 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 #838) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is B.
B is a very, very common starting letter in Wordle. In fact, it’s the third most common overall, behind only S and C.
Wordle hints (game #838) – 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 #838) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is H.
H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.
Wordle hints (game #838) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #838.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a number of things.
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 #838)
Today’s Wordle answer (game #838) is… BUNCH.
Uh-oh! Yes, it’s time for one of those Wordles. You know, the kind that have multiple possible answers that differ only by one letter, typically the first one. CATCH/BATCH/MATCH/PATCH/WATCH/HATCH is one of the most famous such sequences; WATCH, game #265 in March 2022, was one of the first Wordles to go viral for how hard it was.
We had another one not so long ago in the form of HOUND, which had an average score of 4.6 based on so many people also guessing the likes of FOUND, MOUND, WOUND, ROUND, SOUND, POUND and BOUND.
BUNCH doesn’t have quite so many alternatives, but you still could have picked from PUNCH, LUNCH, HUNCH and MUNCH, as well as the answer itself.
The key to these games is not to guess blindly, working your way through the alphabet until you stumble upon the correct starting letter. Or, if you play on hard mode, you need to not get yourself into a trap where you have -UNCH and have to guess blindly.
How your game played out will therefore have depended in great part on whether you tried to narrow things down first. But either way, it will have been hard; WordleBot says it has an average score of 4.5, which makes it second only to DADDY among the past month’s puzzles.
It’s also a game where it really paid to get lucky with your choice of the best Wordle starting words. Most of them weren’t particularly helpful and left dozens of choices for your second guess. For instance STARE, my pick, left 319 possible answers and SLATE, WordleBot’s favorite, left 309. Very few were below 50. But CRANE cut the solutions to a mere 18, CRONE to 19 and LANCE to just 10.
A good second guess should have helped; mine certainly did. I went with CLOUD, which is always my go-to after I draw a blank on the opener. Today it gave me a yellow C and yellow U, which didn’t seem too promising, but it turns out it had actually cut the options by 310, leaving me with just nine to pick from.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that -UNCH words (BUNCH, PUNCH, MUNCH, HUNCH) made up four of those nine, with CKY, CY or CK making up four more (QUICK, JUICY, MUCKY, YUCKY). The ninth? Um, PUBIC. Let’s move on…
I decided to establish which pattern it was by guessing PUNCH, which was a bit sloppy of me really – I’d have been better going for WordleBot’s suggestion of IMPLY, which couldn’t have been right but which would have left only two answers. PUNCH did confirm the pattern of the word, but left three.
Still, I had three guesses left and three words to pick from. I couldn’t lose. I could have guaranteed a 5/6 by playing PLUMB, but instead decided to try for a 4/6. BUNCH was my next choice and I got lucky – that was indeed the answer, meaning I still beat the average for the day.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #837)
In a different time zone where it’s still Wednesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #837, 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 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 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 #837.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a sudden gush.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #837)
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #837) was… SPURT.
This puzzle is a good example of why playing cautiously can be the best way to maximize your score. Or at the very least, it’s a good example of why I tend to play cautiously.
WordleBot says it has an average of 3.5 – making it an undeniably easy game compared to some. And there are no real complications here, beyond the fact that it has only one vowel, a single U. This is the least common of the five standard vowels, and doesn’t tend feature in as many opening guesses as A, E, I or O.
That’s not enough to make it difficult, though. As the 3.5 average indicates, for most people this will be a straightforward one to solve.
Even so, I could easily have ended up with a 4/6 if I’d approached it in a different way.
I had an incredibly fortunate start, with STARE, my choice of the best Wordle starting words, leaving me with just six possible answers: SPORT, SPURT, SNORT, SHORT, SHIRT and SKIRT. The temptation to try to solve it on the second guess was strong.
But which one to go for? I’d probably have chosen SHORT, SPORT or SHIRT, but either one might have left me with a 50/50 or worse. Whereas instead, I played PHONE – a word chosen because it eliminated all of the possibilities and guaranteed me a 3/6.
So, let’s take a look at what would have happened if I hadn’t gone with PHONE.
If I’d guessed SHORT, I would have had S–RT after my second attempt. That would have left me with SKIRT or SPURT for my third – a simple 50/50. I’d probably have played SKIRT next, and would ultimately have scored a 4/6.
If I’d have gone with SHIRT? Well, that would also have left S–RT, but this time I’d have had a choice of a SPORT, SNORT or SPURT. Again, I’d probably have scored a 4/6.
Things would have been slightly better if I’d gone with SPORT; I would have had SP-RT and a guaranteed 3/6. But that’s no better than what I eventually ended up scoring. A 1/6 chance might sound like a good one, but that still means you have a 5/6 chance of getting it wrong. Play the odds and you’ll probably come out on top more often than not.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than a year 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 #837, Wednesday 4 October: SPURT
- Wordle #836, Tuesday 3 October: WHILE
- Wordle #835, Monday 2 October: MERRY
- Wordle #834, Sunday 1 October: BERET
- Wordle #833, Saturday 30 September: DADDY
- Wordle #832, Friday 29 September: AZURE
- Wordle #831, Thursday 28 September: COACH
- Wordle #830, Wednesday 27 September: SMILE
- Wordle #829, Tuesday 26 September: LOYAL
- Wordle #828, Monday 25 September: ROCKY
- Wordle #827, Sunday 24 September: RIGHT
- Wordle #826, Saturday 23 September: CAROL
- Wordle #825, Friday 22 September: BRUSH
- Wordle #824, Thursday 21 September: STONE
- Wordle #823, Wednesday 20 September: SNARE
- Wordle #822, Tuesday 19 September: CLOSE
- Wordle #821, Monday 18 September: FRANK
- Wordle #820, Sunday 17 September: MUSIC
- Wordle #819, Saturday 16 September: ANGEL
- Wordle #818, Friday 15 September: EXERT
- Wordle #817, Thursday 14 September: RAYON
- Wordle #816, Wednesday 13 September: CLEAR
- Wordle #815, Tuesday 12 September: WHISK
- Wordle #814, Monday 11 September: OLDER
- Wordle #813, Sunday 10 September: QUOTE
- Wordle #812, Saturday 9 September: LUCKY
- Wordle #811, Friday 8 September: ROUSE
- Wordle #810, Thursday 7 September: DWELL
- Wordle #809, Wednesday 6 September: GNASH
- Wordle #808, Tuesday 5 September: BIRCH
- Wordle #807, Monday 4 September: GIDDY
- Wordle #806, Sunday 3 September: AWAIT
- Wordle #805, Saturday 2 September: ONION
- Wordle #804, Friday 1 September: SPACE
- Wordle #803, Thursday 31 August: BRIDE
- Wordle #802, Wednesday 30 August: AUDIO
- Wordle #801, Tuesday 29 August: CAPER
- Wordle #800, Monday 28 August: WRITE
- Wordle #799, Sunday 27 August: PEACE
- Wordle #798, Saturday 26 August: CHOIR
- Wordle #797, Friday 25 August: OCEAN
- Wordle #796, Thursday 24 August: WORDY
- Wordle #795, Wednesday 23 August: VERVE
- Wordle #794, Tuesday 22 August: SPICE
- Wordle #793, Monday 21 August: BEACH
- Wordle #792, Sunday 20 August: QUEST
- Wordle #791, Saturday 19 August: MAGMA
- Wordle #790, Friday 18 August: EXACT
- Wordle #789, Thursday 17 August: AMISS
- Wordle #788, Wednesday 16 August: SCRUB
- Wordle #787, Tuesday 15 August: INDEX
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 2023.
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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