Woman on laptop playing Wordle — UnSplash

What Is Wordle? All the Details on the Viral Word Game—And How to Play It

Get a look behind the tiles of the internet’s favorite word game.

Author:
Jessica Sager
Updated:
Feb 16, 2024

Over the past couple of years, Wordle has blown up—and with good reason. It's addictive!

Josh Wardle created the game as a gift to his partner, Palak Shah, who loves crosswords, he revealed to The New York Times. From November 2021 to January 2022, it went from 90 daily players to upwards of 300,000, then a whopping 2 million and counting.

Wardle explained of the game's appeal, "I think people kind of appreciate that there's this thing online that's just fun. It's not trying to do anything shady with your data or your eyeballs. It's just a game that's fun."

Amen! Find out exactly what Wordle is, how to play Wordle, the best Wordle starting words, and more.

What is Wordle?

Wordle is an addictive online word game that you can play daily here. There is only one puzzle per day.

What is the Wordle website?

Wordle is found on the New York Times now, and can be found on this exact site: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle

When was Wordle purchased by The New York Times?

The New York Times bought Wordle from Wardle for "low seven figures," the company announced on Jan. 31, 2021, as part of its efforts to increase digital subscriptions. "The Times remains focused on becoming the essential subscription for every English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world," the company said in a statement, adding, "New York Times Games are a key part of that strategy."

Wardle said in the company statement at the time, "New York Times Games play a big part in its origins, and so this step feels very natural to me."

Related: Games Like Wordle

Is Wordle still free on The New York Times?

Yes, Wordle is still free.

Related: Wordle Memes

What is a Wordle puzzle?

A Wordle puzzle is simply a five-letter word that you have to guess within six tries.

How can I play Wordle?

You can play Wordle every day here.

How to play Wordle: What are the rules for Wordle?

The rules for Wordle are simple, but that doesn't mean the game is always easy!

You have six tries total to guess the daily Wordle. Each guess needs to be a valid five-letter word. After every guess, the tiles will change colors depending on how close you are to the right answer. If the tiles turn green, it means your letters are both correct and in the right place. If your tiles turn yellow, that means you have the right letters, but in the wrong place.

Wardle says that the challenge of Wordle is satisfying even for him. "Even though I play it every day, I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I do it," he told The Guardian. "It makes me feel smart, and people like that."

Play Wordle for free

Wordle is totally free to play!

Can I play more than one Wordle?

The official Wordle game is only released once per day.

Is there only one Wordle site?

There is only one official Wordle site, but there are other similar world puzzle games online in case you need more than just one Wordle fix per day.

What is the best Wordle starting word?

A good rule of thumb to choose a good Wordle starting word is to examine the frequency of letters in English language words. According to one study of an edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the most frequently used letters in English words are E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S, L, C, U, and D.

As such, good starting words will include some or all of those letters. Examples of good Wordle starting words are "STARE," "TEARS," "NOTES," "RESIN," "STORE," "RIOTS," "STAIN," and "SNORE."

Where can I find Wordle answers?

If you're looking for answers to previous Wordle puzzles, you can find archived lists of previous Wordle answers.

If you're looking for help finding Wordle answers and Wordle cheats (you sneak!), you can check out Wordle Word Finder and Word Find Wordle Cheat & Answers. Don't worry, we won't tell your friends.

What are other word games like Wordle?

If you're looking for Wordle spinoffs, we have plenty!

Word Play has as many word puzzles as your heart desires, all day, every day.
WordGuessr is similar to Wordle, but you can play more than once and it uses more letters.
HelloWordl is a browser version of Wordle that you can play whenever you want. It also lets you adjust the number of letters in the puzzle to mix it up a bit more than traditional Wordle.
Word Master is almost identical to Wordle, but you have unlimited puzzles to play.

Is there a Wordle app?

There isn't a separate Wordle app, but you can find Wordle on your New York Times app under their "Games."

Next, check out these logic puzzles that will prove you really are a genius!