I've already shared my easy winning strategy for playing Wordle, the hit online game invented by Josh Wardle that's running daily on The New York Times' site. Essentially, I begin with TRAIN and CLOSE, then look at any correct letters and try a word that uses them in numerous spots. When I need to picture possible winning words, I utilize Xs to spell out the correct letters I know so far. So far, the strategy is still working.
And now there's a new tool you can use. I call it my Wordle player cheat sheet. With help from the big brains at the Oxford English Dictionary, I've put together a list ranking all the letters in the alphabet, listed in the order they're most used in English words. So as you might have guessed, E and A are great letters to throw into a Wordle guess. J and Q, not so much.
I also asked readers and friends to share their Wordle strategies. Hope you'll find some tips to freshen up your game play here.
Be a CHAMP
"I used to use TRAIN as my first guess; now my first two words are always NOISE and TRULY. If the word isn't apparent, I next use CHAMP. Those three words give me 15 letters that are most common, including all 6 vowels. If I'm still totally lost, I go with DEBUG, giving me three more consonants." --Dan Hughes
Use yesterday's winner
"I always start with the previous day's winning word. Continuity!" --Marc Hirsh
The random method
"For a long time I used two starter words that gave a lot of vowels and common letters, which always made me a solid four-line winner and sometimes three. But then I branched out and just tossed in random words. Still made me a solid four line winner, sometimes three and a couple of twos." --Susan C. Young
Another vote for random
"I have almost no strategy. My wordle (and quordle) play is a random free for all. I get wordle in 4 guesses almost every time. I use whatever starter word pops into my head. I will use a second, random word to try to get more hits." --Debe Ashe Hoover
Importance of A and R
"I also always type out what I have correct with 'X' in the unknown spot(s). Often times a visual person like me can then see the correct answer right away. Also, if I have an 'a' and an 'r' in the wrong place, I almost always move them to the 3rd and 4th spots, so it (could spell) 'are' or 'ard,' etc. That's where they belong a large percentage of the time, if I don't already have it correct." --Christine Eberhard Minor
Get those vowels
"My strategy is starting with AUDIO to target four vowels." --Vanessa Bloy
Did we mention vowels?
"ALOUD or OCEAN are my usual." --Juli Jansen Pelletier
'Stare' at the puzzle
"I stopped playing — but my starter word was always STARE." --Scott Lerman
Use a 'straw'
"(My starter word) is STRAW…". --Stefan Myslicki