What is Wordle and how do you learn to play it?

By Jesse Lennox Published June 18, 2025

If you’ve seen those green squares flooding your social media feed or keep hearing your friends and family talk about keeping their Wordle streaks alive, you’re probably curious what this game is that has the world hooked. Wordle hit the mainstream in 2022 and has since become part of most people’s daily routine. What makes it so addictive is how challenging it can be to solve a puzzle, which makes it important to know the best Wordle starting words or to check out some Wordle answers and hints for any given day’s game. Wordle isn’t as complicated as Connections, Strands, NYT Crossword, or the Mini Crossword, but it is a little tricky if you’ve never played it before. I’ll go over all the rules and information you need to become a Wordle pro in no time.

Wordle is a guessing game in which you need to try to figure out a different five-letter word each day. The game is played by first guessing a word and seeing what color each letter is given.

Using these clues, you need to type in the word within six attempts to win, similar to the game Mastermind. There is a new word each day, and everyone playing gets the same word.

You can play Wordle daily on the official New York Times Games website, either on your desktop or on mobile. It was previously hosted on its own website, but NYT purchased the game in 2022, and it has been hosted exclusively on the NYT website ever since. You do not need a NYT subscription to play.

There is no official Wordle app, but there are plenty of games like Wordle with apps if one game per day isn’t enough for you.

There are plenty of tips and tricks to help you win at Wordle even though the game is different every day.

The first big tip we can offer is to pick smart starting words. The first word you guess in Wordle will either set you up for success or failure. I suggest using words with as many vowels as possible, such as “adieu,” “media,” and “arise.” Other good options include words with common consonants, such as “stern,” “irate,” and “atone.”

Another good tip is to consider common digraphs, which are when two letters appear together, like “TH” or “SH”.

Finally, only use uncommon letters like “J” and “Z” as a last resort since they are very rare and not likely to help you suss out a word.