2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer is nice and easy. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,173 in 3.3 moves in easy mode or 3.1 if playing by hard rules.
Each day, we will update this article with Wordle hints and tips to help you find today's answer. And if the hints aren't enough, we'll even give you the answer, in case you're really stuck or just haven't had time to complete today's puzzle. Plus, we are also including an analysis of yesterday's puzzle, #1,172, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,173. Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!
Today's Wordle answer — hints to help you solve it
Our first tip is that you should use one of the best Wordle start words for every game you play. But if you want some more specific clues to today's Wordle answer, then here you go:
- It contains one of the five vowels.*
- There are no repeated letters.
- It contains three of the five most common Wordle letters.
* By vowel, we mean A, E, I, O, U. There are other letters that are sometimes considered to be vowels, depending on how they are used.
Those hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Wordle answer. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then skip down further for that.
Alright then, here's a larger hint: Today's Wordle answer is rather strict.
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #1,173 starts with S, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.
OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…
Today's Wordle answer
So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,173?
Drumroll, please — it's STERN.
Hello Wordlers. A nice and easy one today: STERN features three of the five most common Wordle letters, and the other two both crack the top nine.
My starting word of ORATE turned 'E', 'T' and 'R' yellow, leaving just 44 possible answers in play, according to WordleBot.
But the 'Bot's best Wordle start words were even more efficient. CARET, for example, leaves 28 words while SLATE lowers that to 17. If you played TRAIN, only the right answer would be left over.
On my second turn, I aim to prioritize 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C', which was easy to do today with TIERS.
It was a great move, confirming the presence of another letter ('S') while turning both 'E' and 'R' green.
Only one answer was left, and it didn't take me long to figure it out. I typed in STERN and completed the puzzle in three moves.
Hopefully you completed today's puzzle quickly too. See you tomorrow.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,172 was FAINT.
Hello Wordlers. I made an absolute meal out of this one. There's no way it should have taken me six goes, and I was torn between a couple of options for the last turn as well.
My starting word of ORATE, which contains all five of the most common Wordle letters, gave me two yellow characters: 'A' and 'T'. That leaves 60 possible answers in play, according to WordleBot.
WordleBot's best Wordle start words improved on that. PLANE, for example, leaves 25 solutions, while PLANT lowers that to ten. If you played TRAIN, only three options would be left over.
As regular readers will know, I aim to test a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' on my second turn.
For the second day running, I tried a word with a double letter, but it didn't work half as well as yesterday. ATLAS merely ruled out 'A' and 'T' in all-new positions, and told me there was only one 'A'.
NATCH seemed like a good word to try next, and it was, finally turning 'A' green, giving me a yellow 'N' and proving that 'T' had to either start or end the word. Ten options were left, according to WordleBot*.
Failing to see any of them, in desperation, I tried a very unlikely answer: TANKY. Swapping 'T' and 'N' around did rule them both out in new locations, proving the word had to be ?A?NT, however.
How about JAUNT? Nope.
Only one go left and I could see two possible answers: PAINT and FAINT. I opted for the latter and, thankfully, it proved to be correct for a six-turn win.
No doubt you did better today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: FAINT, PAINT, GAUNT, JAUNT, DAUNT, VAUNT, TAUNT, TAINT, TANGY and TAWNY.
Previous Wordle answers
If you're looking for a list of older Wordle answers, we can also help. Here's a list going back 20 games.
- Wordle #1,172: FAINT
- Wordle #1,171: CAMEL
- Wordle #1,170: MUSHY
- Wordle #1,169: SPOUT
- Wordle #1,168: KNAVE
- Wordle #1,167: FLUNK
- Wordle #1,166: LITHE
- Wordle #1,165: CROWN
- Wordle #1,164: STAKE
- Wordle #1,163: SKATE
- Wordle #1,162: FILET
- Wordle #1,161: LEECH
- Wordle #1,160: BRUTE
- Wordle #1,159: MULCH
- Wordle #1,158: DELAY
- Wordle #1,157: METER
- Wordle #1,156: LANKY
- Wordle #1,155: STORM
- Wordle #1,154: BRACE
- Wordle #1,153: ACORN
- Wordle #1,152: SHORE
Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle
The best tip I can give is to use one of the best Wordle start words. I can't stress this enough — it makes a massive difference.
Without one, you'll be scrabbling around in the dark trying (and possibly failing) to find the right five letters (or possibly fewer) out of the 26 possibles. But clever people (not me) have done the math and identified the best start words based on both frequency in English and frequency among Wordle answers. So use them!
Secondly, think about combinations, especially at the start and end. Some options are far more common than others — for instance, SH, ST, CR and CH all feature frequently.
Vowels obviously need consideration too: not all Wordle answers will contain more than one, but plenty do, and some even have three. A good Wordle start word should have used a couple, but if they don't feature you might well want to try another one or two on your next go. Plus, remember the Y — this sometimes acts as a surrogate vowel, and is easy to forget. It also appears at the end of plenty of words.
Finally, try out possibilities. So long as you don't press 'Enter' you can try possible answers to see how they look on screen. Put in likely letters plus any you know are definitely in the word, then mentally change one to the other available options. This technique has worked for me multiple times, and it's particularly helpful when the word in question is not an obvious one (like FJORD or ISLET).
But if you're still struggling with Wordle, check out how Tom's Guide's Wordle experts have honed their strategy after playing a lot of Wordle after it first launched.
We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer used to look for trends and have some further advice for you there. And if you're new to the game you should also take a look at our What is Wordle? guide.
What else should I know about Wordle?
Wordle officially launched in October 2021, but actually started in June of that year and celebrated its first birthday on June 19, 2022. (You can read my thoughts on the 5 things Wordle needs to improve if it's to keep us playing on into a fourth and fifth year.)
However, it only grew in popularity towards the end of the year, then went viral in January as the world woke up to its charms. In fact, it proved so successful that The New York Times bought Wordle for a seven-figure sum in early February and the game is now part of NYT Games.
It's played via the NYT Games website here, and is entirely free. Both the NYT and the game's creator, Josh Wardle, have stated that it will remain free. Some people think that Wordle has got harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn't.
Wordle is a simple game in which your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you're told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place.
If a letter is in the correct place, it turns green. If it's in the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the word at all, it turns gray.
There's just one puzzle a day, and everyone completes the same one. It resets at midnight each day. You'll find more information about the game in our What is Wordle? article.
NYT Strands answer
If you've solved Wordle and need help with other games from the New York Times, we suggest you check out our guide on today's NYT Strands answer, which will give you some hints as well as the full answer to today's puzzle.
Wordle Alternatives
If you're eager for another game to pass the time while you wait, we've put together a list of the best Wordle alternatives.
Other Wordle alternatives to try are the ultra-stressful (but very good) Squabble and the soccer-themed, Who Are Ya?. We also like the geography-based Wordle clone Worldle, the Star Wars-themed SWordle and the math-based Mathler.
There are certainly plenty of options once you've finished Wordle for the day!
