Proper strategy and tactics go a long way if you're trying to keep your Wordle streak alive. The hit browser game challenges players to guess a new five-letter word every day, with only six guesses and a pool of thousands of possible words. Optimal letter placement, great starting word choices, and outside-the-box thinking will take you far.

A streak in Wordle means that you've guessed the right word more than once without missing a day. As such, one of the best tips for maintaining a streak is actually just to remind yourself to check in daily. From there, pick some of Wordle's best-starting words (although there's no shortage of debate here), and use the following tips to find the right word with guesses to spare.

10 Ask WordleBot For Feedback

Use The New York Times' Specially Designed Bot

The New York Times created WordleBot once they added the game to their puzzle section. After completing your daily game, WordleBot provides a detailed, in-depth analysis, rating each guess and providing a luck and skill rating for each.

You can study your game step by step to figure out where and when you could have made better word choices. Its most useful feature tells you how many possible words still fit after each guess, so if you narrow the list down from 200 to 2, then you know you're approaching Wordle with the right mindset.

Players can also check the most common word choices made by the Wordle community each day to gain some insight into the most popular and winning strategies being used.

WordleBot's insight is invaluable, and there's even an interesting FAQ on WordleBot's inner workings from NYT. Unfortunately it's for paid subscribers only, which limits how useful it is. However, if you have a subscription, then it's a useful tool for optimizing your guessing game.

9 Check Which Words Wordle Hasn’t Used Yet

Eliminate Previous Wordle Answers

Wordle now uses a bigger pool than before. However, checking which words Wordle has already used is still a valid way of narrowing down the list. The odds of guessing the right word from a pool of thousands is extremely low, but if you've managed to find some of the right letters, then a word list can offer some suggestions for future guesses.

This may seem like toeing the line when it comes to cheating. However, it's a good tactic for players who want to use Wordle to expand their vocab, or if a word is stuck on the tip of your tongue.

8 Choose The Right Starting Word

Pick The Best Words As Determined By Science

The best Wordle starting word is a matter of debate. A surprising number of mathematicians, statisticians and programmers have weighed in, with new contenders for the best word often appearing in articles and research papers. Since the debate is far from settled, the best approach is for players to draw on a pool of the best starting words:

​However, you can always find your own favorites. Words with lots of vowels are good choices, but make sure to include some common consonants as well.

7 Avoid Wordle’s Least Used Letters

Not All Letters Are Equal

It's also a good idea to avoid less common letters such as J, Q, and X. Some letters will appear much more often than others, and word choices with rare letters gives you the least information to base future guesses on. At best, this forces you to use extra guesses and potentially spoils your guess distribution chart so you can't brag about it. At worst, it could cost you your streak.

Every so often, Wordle will use words with rare letters to trip players up. However, the best strategy is still to focus on common letters, and using them to fill in the blanks.

6 Check Common Word Structures

Use Word Endings And Structure To Your Advantage

English has lots of strange words, but common word structures do exist that players can exploit. It's a good strategy to check common word endings, such as Wordle words that end in ING or EST, or ER. Making guesses based on other common word structures, such as words with R, O, and E in the second, third, and fifth slots, is also a solid strategy to follow.

Some words ending in ED have a very low probability of appearing. Past-tense verbs such as "cried", "fried" and "spied" can be used, but most other verbs ending in ED tend not to appear.

Relying on common word structures is a great way to cut down your list of possible words from hundreds down to a few dozen. The more you play, the more familiar you'll become with these common patterns and word structures.

However, it's also important not to rely on this tactic too much with later guesses. Once you have the rough structure of a word down, switch strategies and use some completely different words.

5 Use Completely Different Words To Identify Any Missing Letters

Make Your Guesses More Efficient

Once you have the correct word ending or structure, avoid wasting guesses on different words that all share the same structure or ending. For example, if you found a word that ends in RAIN, then the right word might be “brain”, “drain”, “grain” or “train”. You might waste guesses by picking one of the four, and your otherwise solid start may actually lead to the end of your streak.

Instead, the best approach is to use a word such as “badge”. The word contains “b”, “d” and “g”, allowing you to identify which missing letter to use with a single guess, rather than several. This does take a bit of imagination, but it can be genuinely game-changing.

4 Avoid Obscure And Inappropriate Language

Don't Be Rude Or Wordy

Wordle automatically screens out a majority of the 15,000 words it can use. This includes cutting out obscure words that most players won't know. Obscene language is also filtered out, but you can always try Wordle's vulgar clone Lewdle instead if you want to use language that doesn't suit polite company.

Crucially, Wordle will still accept obscure and vulgar words, and they can be used to gain information for later guesses. In fact, some of the best starting words mentioned above such as "soare" and "salet" are fairly obscure. However, keep in mind that obscure or obscene words won't ever be the correct answer.

3 Avoid Plurals

Wordle No Longer Uses Them

Wordle also screens out plurals. For example, if you have "past" as your first four letters, the answer won't be the plural "pasts". Instead, words such as "paste", "pasty" or "pasta" are much more likely. As such, avoid guessing plurals even if "S" is a commonly used letter. You can easily find out if the correct answer contains "S" by using words that have it as their first, second, third or even fourth letter.

The same rule also applies to plurals ending in "ES".

2 Use Hard Mode (Or Don't)

Find Out If Hard Mode Works For You

By enabling Wordle’s Hard Mode, you're forced to use any correct letters in subsequent guesses. This cuts out the strategy described above where you use completely different words to minimize guesses.

However, despite its name, Hard Mode may actually make things easier. It limits the pool of possible guesses and focuses you on the letters you've already discovered. You have to be much more selective with your choices. This makes it a great option if you've got a streak and want to impress your friends by using fewer, but more creative guesses.

Alternatively, you can ignore Hard Mode completely and guess words that don’t use any previously revealed letters, even if they're guaranteed to be wrong. As explained by YouTuber Dr. Andrew Steele in his video above, this can be the most efficient way to narrow down the list of possible answers.

One popular tactic is to use a Wordle starting word combo. This involves using two completely different starting guesses such as “raise” and “donut” to cover vowels and common consonants early.

1 Switch Strategies Often

Be Flexible With Your Approach

While picking Wordle words that start with TR, knowing which words to avoid, and using information theory to break the game are all solid strategies, it's best to be prepared for surprises. Occasionally, the game has used words that have tricked large segments of the community. The only way to really prepare is to adapt: avoid getting stuck following a single rigid strategy every day, try new starting words, and experiment with unusual guesses.

In the end, Wordle is all about creativity and flexibility. The secret to keeping a streak alive involves switching between time-tested and novel, unusual strategies every time you play.

Source: New York Times, Nicolas Vega/CNBC, Alex Selby, Daniel Kats/Github

Video Credit: Grant Sanderson/YouTube, Dr. Andrew Steele/YouTube

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  Wordle

  Released:

  2021-10-01

  Developer(s):

  Josh Wardle

  Genre(s):

  Puzzle

  Platform(s):

  iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows

  ESRB:

  E

  Publisher(s):

  Josh Wardle, The New York Times Company

  Summary:

  Wordle is a web-based word-guessing game developed by Josh Wardle that took the world by storm in 2021. Players are given a five-letter word to guess and have six attempts to get the word correct. When they get a letter correct, it will mark itself as green if it's in the correct position and yellow if it is the correct letter in the wrong position. A yellow letter also means that letter could appear more than once. Wordle was purchased by The New York Times Company in 2022 and added to their website and app, keeping the core game free to play as promised - with additional words and other bonuses available through subscription, and is available via browser, iOS, and Android.

  How Long To Beat:

  1h 25m