How To Make The Most Of Your Wordle Guesses
For many of us, we start staring at the clock when it begins to approach midnight local time so that we can play our daily game of Wordle. What can make it disappointing is that we spend all of that time waiting only to guess six times without matching more than one letter. It happens, but there are ways that it can be avoided.
Though it may not seem like it on the surface, Wordle actually does require a fair bit of strategy. Before you make your first guess, there are some things to look out for. Following these tips, you can knock out Wordle every day by the end of the fourth guess.
Wheel of Fortune Rule
If you’ve ever watched “Wheel of Fortune”, then you know that in the final round, contestants are given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. Try to apply this strategy in your daily game of Wordle by starting with words like “stern.” If you’re getting tired of using “stern” to start off every day, try to throw in the letter A, the other most common vowel, with words like “learn,” “stare,” or “rates” to name a few.
If these two particular vowels aren’t on the board, that eliminates a massive amount of potential words that the answer could be. If you’re starting with letters like Q, Z, or X, you’re essentially wasting a turn if those letters aren’t present.
Vowels at the Start
There is always going to be at least one vowel on the board (even if it’s a Y), but it’s all a matter of finding out where it is. Don’t be afraid to try and use a vowel as the first letter of a word. It’s tempting to always start with a consonant, but Wordle has been known to use words that often start with an A or E to throw people off. Words like “award” or “eagle” can be very tricky, especially since they use the same vowel twice. For a bonus tip: try starting out with the word “audio” since it uses four of the vowels all at once.
Never Use Double Letters On The First Guess
Unless you’re trying to go all out and get the word correctly on the very first try, don’t spend your opening turn using double letters. Knowing what is and isn’t on the board is the most important aspect of Wordle. If you’re guessing a word that has double letters and that particular letter doesn’t appear at all, that’s just one more letter that could’ve been used differently.
Don’t Forget C and H
Perhaps two of the most underutilized letters in Wordle are the letters C and H. It can be easy to ignore since they’re not one of those “Wheel of Fortune” letters or a vowel. However, C and H are used more often than you think. In fact, C is the 10th most used letter in the English language. These two often go hand in hand in words, so be on the lookout for words that end in -ch like “watch,” “beach,” or “mulch.”
Take Your Time
One of the biggest enemies of success is impatience, even when it comes to Wordle. Quite often, people will type their guess and hit ‘enter’ without even thinking about it. Rushing can cause you to place the same letter in a spot that was highlighted in yellow and burn through your guesses quickly. Remember, if you start your Wordle round right at midnight, you have a full 24 hours to think of the perfect word. Hopefully you don’t have to sit there all day to think about one word, but you can if you need to.