2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer is really rather hard. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,272 in 4.8 moves in both easy and hard modes.
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, #1,271, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,272. 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 characters.
- It contains none of the five most common Wordle letters (but starts with one of the five rarest).
* 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 eagerly competing.
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #1,272 starts with V, 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 #1,272?
Drumroll, please — it's VYING.
Hello Wordlers. This is the nastiest answer in a while! Not only does VYING not contain any of the five most common Wordle letters, it also starts with the fifth rarest in 'V'. That character only features in 152 Wordle answers, starting just 43 of them including this one.
That meant that my opener of ORATE struck out, just like yesterday, again leaving me with 253 possible answers, according to WordleBot.
The Bot's best Wordle start words were better, but not by as much as you might imagine with most in the 70+ range. There were some good exceptions, however. PAINT leaves 41 answers, while SAINT lowers that to 35. From a *lot* of scrolling, the lowest I could see was TEARY with 16.
When faced with no confirmed characters, I supplement my rule of playing as many of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' as possible with another: my answer must contain the two remaining vowels.
As such, for the second day running, I opted for LUCID. But it was far less effective today, only turning 'I' yellow, and leaving a whopping 35 answers in play, according to WordleBot*.
I opted for SHINY next, which proved highly effective. Both 'N' and 'I' turned green, while 'Y' went yellow.
Only the right answer was left at this point, but that didn't mean I was going to get it straight away. I knew the answer had to be Y?IN? or ?YIN?, but what on Earth could that be?
After cycling through all my letters a couple of times, it finally hit me: VYING. I typed it in for a four-turn win.
Hopefully today's nasty puzzle didn't trip you up, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: FIZZY, PIGGY, ZIPPY, WIMPY, JIMMY, JIFFY, KINKY, PINKY, NIPPY, NIMBY, SKIMP, SKIFF, SPIFF, FISHY, HISSY, WISPY, KISSY, MISSY, WHISK, PHISH, WHIFF, WHIZZ, SHINY, SWING, VYING, SNIFF, SPIKY, WHINY, SWISH, SPINY, SISSY, KNISH, HIPPY, NINNY and HINKY.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,271 was PLUMB.
Hello Wordlers. I can't help but feel I got rather lucky to complete today's puzzle in three moves. After all, PLUMB is an unusual word and features just one of the ten most common Wordle letters ('L').
That meant my opener of ORATE found no characters, leaving a massive 253 possible answers, according to WordleBot.
Unsurprisingly, the Bot's best Wordle start words improved on that, especially if they featured an 'L' in second spot. PLATE (seven), PLACE (six) and PLANE (four) were all incredibly handy openers.
With no characters on the board, I wanted to play a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' as usual, but I had to give overall priority to my two remaining vowels.
I did that with LUCID, which gave me two yellow characters: 'L' and 'U'. That reduced the number of possible answers to 17, according to WordleBot*.
Here I got incredibly fortunate, with WordleBot giving me a luck score of 97% for trying PLUMB.
I wasn't expecting it to be right — I just wanted to move my two yellows around — but right it was and I completed the puzzle in three moves.
Hopefully today's puzzle didn't end your streak, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: FLUNG (Monday's answer!), FLUSH, SLUNG, FLUFF, SLUSH, SLUNK, FLUKY, FLUNK, BLUFF, BLUSH, PLUSH, PLUNK, SKULL, SKULK, SLUMP, PLUMP and PLUMB.
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 #1,271: PLUMB
- Wordle #1,270: PATIO
- Wordle #1,269: FLUNG
- Wordle #1,268: HYENA
- Wordle #1,267: HILLY
- Wordle #1,266: SHOVE
- Wordle #1,265: ENDOW
- Wordle #1,264: CRYPT
- Wordle #1,263: SHAKY
- Wordle #1,262: GUILE
- Wordle #1,261: MAUVE
- Wordle #1,260: DOGMA
- Wordle #1,259: HIPPO
- Wordle #1,258: CHOCK
- Wordle #1,257: SLANG
- Wordle #1,256: WITCH
- Wordle #1,255: BROWN
- Wordle #1,254: TWIST
- Wordle #1,253: JELLY
- Wordle #1,252: PEARL
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 it was actually started earlier 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!
