How to Play Wordle: Rules, Colors, and Strategy Explained

Wordle Today is a daily word guessing game, guess the hidden word in 6 tries, with color-coded feedback after every guess telling you how close you are. The rules stay exactly the same whether you’re playing the 3-letter grid or the 8-letter grid, so once you learn it here, you’re set for every puzzle size on the site.

The Basic Rules

• Pick a grid size – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 letters, each with its own daily puzzle
• Type a real word – your guess has to match the grid’s letter count and be a valid dictionary word
• Hit Enter – to submit your guess and see the color feedback
• You get 6 tries – the same number of attempts no matter which grid size you’re playing
• Use the feedback – to guide each next guess instead of guessing at random

Step-by-Step: Playing Your First Puzzle

1. Choose a grid size from the menu, 5 letters is the classic starting point if you’re new.
2. Type any valid word of that length and hit Enter to submit your first guess.
3. Read the color feedback on each letter. Green means correct letter, correct spot. Yellow means correct letter, wrong spot. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word at all.
4. Use that feedback to inform your second guess. Keep any green letters in the same position, try yellow letters in a different spot, and drop any gray letters completely.
5. Repeat the process, narrowing your options with each guess, until you either solve the word or run out of your 6 tries.
6. When you’re done, come back tomorrow for a new daily puzzle, or switch to Practice Mode to keep playing right away.

Understanding the Colors

• Green – that letter is in the word and in exactly the right position, don’t change it in future guesses
• Yellow – that letter is in the word, but not in that position, try it somewhere else next time
• Gray – that letter isn’t in the word anywhere, rule it out of every guess going forward

One thing that trips up new players: if a letter appears twice in your guess but only once in the answer, only one instance will show as yellow or green, and the other will show gray. Keep that in mind before assuming a repeated letter is completely absent from the word.

General Strategy Tips

A strong opening guess uses as many different, common letters as possible, no repeats, so you learn the most from a single guess made with zero prior information. Letters like E, A, R, I, O, T, N, and S show up most often across English vocabulary, so an opener that hits several of them tends to outperform a word chosen at random.

Once you have a few letters confirmed, don’t rush to guess your best theory of the final word. It’s often smarter to make a guess that tests a letter you haven’t confirmed yet, even if you don’t think it’s the actual answer, since that can resolve ambiguity between several remaining possibilities in a single step. Save your most confident guess for when you’ve actually narrowed things down.

Daily Puzzle vs. Wordle Unlimited (Practice Mode)

Every grid size defaults to the daily puzzle, the same hidden word for every player, refreshing once at midnight. This is what makes a streak meaningful, since everyone is solving the exact same puzzle on any given day. Flip on Practice Mode to switch to wordle unlimited instead, which gives you a random word from the same answer pool and lets you play as many rounds as you want. Practice Mode is tracked completely separately and never affects your daily streak, so it’s a safe place to experiment with new opening words or just keep playing after you’ve finished the day’s puzzle.

Choosing a Grid Size

• 3 and 4 letters – fastest to solve, good for a quick round or for players just learning the rules
• 5 letters – the classic, most balanced format, the best starting point for most players
• 6 letters – a real step up in difficulty once 5 letters starts to feel easy
• 7 and 8 letters – the toughest grids on the site, built for players who already solve the shorter ones quickly

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Repeating a letter you already know is gray, it wastes a guess without adding new information.
• Guessing a word with two of the same letter as your opener, which teaches you less than a guess with five or more distinct letters.
• Panicking once you’re three or four letters in and switching to random guesses instead of continuing to test methodically.
• Assuming a yellow letter belongs in the same position you tried it, yellow specifically means it belongs somewhere else.
• Forgetting that only standard dictionary words are accepted, proper nouns and abbreviations won’t be recognized as valid guesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do the rules change between grid sizes?

No. Every grid size, from 3 letters up to 8, uses the exact same rules and the same color-coded feedback system. The only thing that changes is the word length and, naturally, the difficulty that comes with a bigger or smaller pool of valid words. Once you’ve learned the mechanics on one grid, you already know how to play all of them.

How many guesses do I get?

Six tries per puzzle, regardless of which grid size you’re playing. That number stays constant across the whole site, though how far six guesses actually gets you does change depending on the word length and how methodically you’re using the feedback.

What do the colors mean?

Green means the letter is correct and in the right position. Yellow means the letter is in the word somewhere, just not where you placed it. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word at all. If a letter appears more than once in your guess but only once in the answer, only one instance of it will show as green or yellow, so don’t assume a second gray instance means the letter is fully ruled out without checking carefully.

Is the daily puzzle the same for everyone?

Yes, for each grid size the daily puzzle uses one shared word for every player, and it refreshes automatically at midnight. If you’d rather not wait for the reset, Practice Mode gives you a random word from the same curated pool that you can replay as many times as you like, completely separate from the daily puzzle and your streak.

Does Practice Mode affect my streak?

No. Practice Mode, our version of wordle unlimited, is tracked entirely separately from the daily puzzle. You can play as many rounds as you want without any impact on your streak in either direction, which makes it a good place to test strategies or just keep playing after you’ve finished today’s puzzle.

Is my data or progress saved anywhere?

No. Everything runs directly in your browser, so your guesses and completed puzzles stay on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server or stored anywhere, and there’s no account or login required to play.

What’s the best strategy for a beginner?

Start with the 5-letter grid, since it’s the most balanced format and the one most guides and tips are built around. Open with a word that has five distinct, common letters, like STARE or CRANE, then use each following guess to test information rather than guessing your gut instinct. Once you’re consistently solving in four tries or fewer, try a bigger grid size for more of a challenge.

Can I play more than once a day?

Yes, through Practice Mode. The daily puzzle itself only offers one word per grid size per day, but switching to Practice Mode gives you unlimited random rounds from the same answer pool any time you want to keep playing.