How to play Wordle — tips and tricks to help you master the popular word game

Wordle
Wordle (Image credit: Wordle)

"How to play Wordle" is a new query that's been swarming the Google search engine. Perhaps the website's instructions on how to play the popular game are too scant. Or maybe folks are looking for useful tips and tricks on how to become ultimate Wordle masters.

No matter what they're looking for, they can find the answers right here. Not only will we show you how to play Wordle, but we will offer you our best pointers to help you solve the Wordle puzzle quickly and efficiently.

How to Play Wordle

Accessing the ultra-popular Wordle puzzle is easy. Launched by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle, the Wordle website has an easy-to-use interface without any intrusive ads nor pop-up videos. On top of that, it can only be played once a day, which adds to Wordle's addictive appeal.

You can play Wordle by navigating to powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle. 

If you would rather not have to find it in your browser every day, here's how to install Wordle on your iPhone or Android phone.

Wordle instructions

The Wordle instructions are simple. You have six chances to guess the daily, five-letter word. To kick off the game, you must input your first five-letter guess. Once you've done this, Wordle will help you along with color-coded hints. 

Wordle

Wordle (Image credit: Wordle)

If a letter is highlighted in green, it means that it's placed in the correct spot in correspondence with the daily word. If the letter is highlighted in yellow, this signifies that this letter is featured in the daily word, but it's not in the correct spot. Gray indicates that the letter is not in the target word at all.

Take a look at my attempt of the game below to get a better gist of how Wordle works. 

How to play Wordle

How to play Wordle (Image credit: Wordle)

Keep in mind that the word of the day in this example was "knoll." I started off with the word "Paint." The letter 'N' was flagged as the only letter featured in the daily word. I decided to then input the word "Naked" since it has the letter "N," but also introduces new letters for more informative hints.

As it turned out, the letters "N" and "K" are featured in the daily word. I threw in the word "Knock," and boom, the first three letters are in the right place. Here, I cheated a little bit and Googled words that begin with "Kno." With a little process of elimination (l rejected words with letters that Wordle hinted are not in the daily world), I figured out that the word of the day was "Knoll."

Tips on how to become a Wordle master

The first tip on how to become a Wordle master is don't kick off the game as I played it above. It's a rookie mistake to start the game with any ol' five-letter word you can think of. 

1. Begin the game with a five-letter word that's filled with vowels. Some examples include audio, Oujia and Louie. All three have four vowels.

2. Another strategy is to kick off the game with a starting word that has a harmonious mix of the most common vowels and constants. According to Sean Plays, a YouTube content creator who dishes useful Wordle tips, the most "mathematically optimal starting word" is Lares (guardian deities of the ancient Roman religion).

3. One interesting technique is to choose words with digraphs (e.g. "sh-", "st-" and "ch"). According to Vulture, "letter combinations like these can be found in either the beginning or end, so if 's, h' are highlighted in yellow, try it in a different part of the word.

4. Avoid gray letters in your subsequent guesses. Gray indicates that the letter is not featured in the daily word, so keep them at bay so that Wordle can offer you new informative hints. You only have six guesses; don't waste them by making Wordle regurgitate the same information.

5. Don't forget that letters can be repeated. The game's basic color code system won't give this away. In the "knoll" example, guessing an "L" in either of the last two spots would have produced a green or in one of the first three spots would have produced a yellow, but neither would have tipped you off to a second "L" in the word.

How to share your Wordle stats

Should you get your Wordle on the third try (or earlier), you're a genius — show off your Wordle mastery by sharing your stats on social media. 

Wordle

Wordle (Image credit: Wordle)

You can do this by clicking on the bar graph icon. Next, click on "Share." Your stats will be copied onto the Clipboard and you can paste the content on Twitter or Facebook. If you don't follow our instructions on how to install Wordle on your phone then make sure to use the same browser to access Wordle each day. Wordle doesn't track user stats by logins; it uses cookies instead.

Kimberly Gedeon

Kimberly Gedeon, holding a Master's degree in International Journalism, launched her career as a journalist for MadameNoire's business beat in 2013. She loved translating stuffy stories about the economy, personal finance and investing into digestible, easy-to-understand, entertaining stories for young women of color. During her time on the business beat, she discovered her passion for tech as she dove into articles about tech entrepreneurship, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the latest tablets. After eight years of freelancing, dabbling in a myriad of beats, she's finally found a home at Laptop Mag that accepts her as the crypto-addicted, virtual reality-loving, investing-focused, tech-fascinated nerd she is. Woot!