NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (2024)

NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (1)

Jump to:

  • Hint #1: Vowels
  • Hint #2: First letter
  • Hint #3: Repeated letters
  • Hint #4: Ending letter
  • Hint #5: Final clue
  • Today's answer
  • Yesterday's hints
  • Yesterday's answer
  • Past answers
  • What is Wordle?

It's time for your guide to today's Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.

Don't think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.

Want more word-based fun? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my new NYT Strands today page for my verdict on the New York Times' latest brainteaser.

SPOILER WARNING: Today's Wordle answer and hints are below, so don't read on if you don't want to see them.

Your Wordle expert

NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (2)

Your Wordle expert

Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom's Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.

Wordle hints (game #1068) - clue #1 - Vowels

How many vowels does today's Wordle have?

Wordle today has vowels in two places*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Wordle hints (game #1068) - clue #2 - first letter

What letter does today's Wordle begin with?

The first letter in today's Wordle answer is E.

We don't get many Wordle answers that start with an E – though it's the most common letter in the game, it's only the 14th most likely to begin a solution.

Wordle hints (game #1068) - clue #3 - repeated letters

Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters in today's Wordle.

Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one.However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Wordle hints (game #1068) - clue #4 - ending letter

What letter does today's Wordle end with?

The last letter in today's Wordle is T.

T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.

Wordle hints (game #1068) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1068.

  • Today's Wordle answer is to elevate by praise.

If you just want to know today's Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I'd always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We've got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.

If you don't want to know today's answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don't say you weren't warned!

Today's Wordle answer (game #1068)

NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (3)

  • NYT average score: 3.9
  • My score: 4
  • WordleBot's score: 3
  • Best start word performance*: LEAST (1 remaining answers)
  • My start word performance: CREEP (315)

* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words

Today's Wordle answer (game #1068) is… EXALT.

Before consulting WordleBot today, I played a little game with myself (because I'm that much fun) and predicted what the average score would be. "It's got an X in it!" I thought. "That will make it harder. Plus, E is not a common start word. This could easily be another one at 4.3 or higher."

Well, reader, I was wrong. According to WordleBot, the average score at the time of writing is a mere 3.9, so bang on the norm for the game. It's easier, supposedly, than DINGO yesterday (4.3, see below), HITCH (5.1), BRINY (4.5) and TUTOR (4.1), and on a par with NICER and STALL. Weird.

The reason for that low-ish average, presumably, is that a few of the best Wordle start words cut down the options considerably. SLATE, WordleBot's second favorite and the fourth or fifth most popular on any given day, left a mere four solutions. STARE, the third most popular, left 13. A few that are not played so often were even better: LEAST and LEANT were both at one, STALE at two.

And looking at the letters, maybe that's not surprising. After all, four of the five are ultra-common, with E ranked number one in the alphabet, A at two, T at five and L at six. Of course X is a different matter. As I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, it's the third least common letter in the game, ahead of only Q and J. Out of the 2,309 original Wordle answers, there are only 37 games that include an X.

Given all that, maybe it's not surprising that the difficulty evens out in the middle, with the commonality of the other four letters canceled out by the added complication of the X.

My game was in keeping with the overall average: a standard 4/6. My start word, chosen at random, was a disaster; CREEP left 315 possible answers. My second guess, STALE, was a huge success: it gave me two greens, one more yellow to add to the E I already had, and cut those 315 to just two. What a rollercoaster, eh?

But there was one more twist in the tale. I spotted right away that DEALT was an option, and couldn't see any others. That pesky X entirely escaped my attention, so I played DEALT with a certain amount of misplaced overconfidence. That'll teach me: the T at the end turned green, but not the E, and I was forced to search for one more answer. That was EXALT, and I played it next for a 4/6.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1067)

In a different time zone where it's still Tuesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1067, too.

  • Wordle yesterday had vowels in two places.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

  • The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was D.

D is the ninth most common starting letter in the game, so maybe slightly less likely than you might expect.

  • There were no repeated letters in yesterday's Wordle.

Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one.However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.

  • The last letter in yesterday's Wordle was O.

O is a middling ending letter. It ranks 12th in this regard, and finishes 58 Wordle answers in total.

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1067.

  • Yesterday's Wordle answer is a type of dog.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1067)

NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (4)

  • NYT average score: 4.3
  • My score: 4
  • WordleBot's score: 5
  • Best start word performance*: SANER (51 remaining answers)
  • My start word performance: MUNCH (98)

* From WordleBot's Top 20 start words

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1067) was… DINGO.

It's a rare day on which WordleBot scores a 5/6, but that's what's happened here, with another potentially difficult game. The 'bot says the current average is 4.4, but I'd take that with a pinch of salt; that was the situation this time yesterday, but NICER ended up at 3.9 (see below), so who knows where DINGO will settle. [NB: it was 4.3]

My guess is that it won't change that much, though. As well as WordleBot's poor score, further evidence comes with the fact that none of its top 20 best Wordle start words reduced the options to fewer than 50. That's another rare occurrence, in that usually one or two do that, even if the majority are close to triple figures. Today, SANER – not a particular popular pick as first guess – left 51, while CRANE left 81, SLATE 314 and STARE 321.

However, one word was much more successful today – and once again that was AUDIO, which left only three answers. This has been a regular theme lately, with the world's second most popular start word (behind ADIEU) beating the objectively better choices.

Does this mean AUDIO is becoming a better choice? No. The fact that it stands out is merely because AUDIO has such a different structure to most of the best start words. On the days when it works, the others don't, and vice-versa. There are still far more days when CRANE or SLATE beat AUDIO than the opposite. We just notice those rare days as an exception to the norm.

Here's another rare thing about DINGO: only one of the consonants is in the top 10 most common list, as shown in my analysis of every Wordle answer, and that's N at position #9. No R, no T, no L, no S. D is 13th, G is only 17th.

I scored a 4/6, which I'd usually consider to be no more than acceptable but which today appears to be pretty good. My start word was MUNCH, which left 98 answers, and when my second guess TASER drew a blank, I thought I'd blown my chances.

However, by eliminating five common letters, TASER had cut those 98 choices to only 14. I came up with a few of those, including PINKY, WINDY, DINKY and DINGY, but didn't try too hard to find more; at this stage I still thought I might have dozens of options, given that I only had one letter on the board. I decided to guess the last of those because it seemed like a good narrowing-down word, but it was better than that – it gave me four greens and left only one answer! That was DINGO, and I played it next for my WordleBot-beating 4/6.

Wordle answers: The past 50

I've been playing Wordle every day for more than two years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday's answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.

  • Wordle #1067, Tuesday 21 May: DINGO
  • Wordle #1066, Monday 20 May: NICER
  • Wordle #1065, Sunday 19 May: HITCH
  • Wordle #1064, Saturday 18 May: BRINY
  • Wordle #1063, Friday 17 May: TUTOR
  • Wordle #1062, Thursday 16 May: STALL
  • Wordle #1061, Wednesday 15 May: PINCH
  • Wordle #1060, Tuesday 14 May: AMASS
  • Wordle #1059, Monday 13 May: CUMIN
  • Wordle #1058, Sunday 12 May: OUTER
  • Wordle #1057, Saturday 11 May: TIDAL
  • Wordle #1056, Friday 10 May: MEDIA
  • Wordle #1055, Thursday 9 May: JERKY
  • Wordle #1054, Wednesday 8 May: PIOUS
  • Wordle #1053, Tuesday 7 May: MUSTY
  • Wordle #1052, Monday 6 May: SHAVE
  • Wordle #1051, Sunday 5 May: DECAL
  • Wordle #1050, Saturday 4 May: VALUE
  • Wordle #1049, Friday 3 May: EBONY
  • Wordle #1048, Thursday 2 May: SLICE
  • Wordle #1047, Wednesday 1 May: DIARY
  • Wordle #1046, Tuesday 30 April: PROWL
  • Wordle #1045, Monday 29 April: CRAFT
  • Wordle #1044, Sunday 28 April: PRUNE
  • Wordle #1043, Saturday 27 April: GLEAM
  • Wordle #1042, Friday 26 April: VAPID
  • Wordle #1041, Thursday 25 April: INTRO
  • Wordle #1040, Wednesday 24 April: OVERT
  • Wordle #1039, Tuesday 23 April: ROVER
  • Wordle #1038, Monday 22 April: LASER
  • Wordle #1037, Sunday 21 April: JOLLY
  • Wordle #1036, Saturday 20 April: LUCID
  • Wordle #1035, Friday 19 April: RAISE
  • Wordle #1034, Thursday 18 April: FACET
  • Wordle #1033, Wednesday 17 April: TITHE
  • Wordle #1032, Tuesday 16 April: SHANK
  • Wordle #1031, Monday 15 April: EQUIP
  • Wordle #1030, Sunday 14 April: BLIMP
  • Wordle #1029, Saturday 13 April: STEEL
  • Wordle #1028, Friday 12 April: WHINY
  • Wordle #1027, Thursday 11 April: LOUSE
  • Wordle #1026, Wednesday 10 April: BROTH
  • Wordle #1025, Tuesday 9 April: MERGE
  • Wordle #1024, Monday 8 April: BREED
  • Wordle #1023, Sunday 7 April: VOILA
  • Wordle #1022, Saturday 6 April: FINCH
  • Wordle #1021, Friday 5 April: WRIST
  • Wordle #1020, Thursday 4 April: CLIMB
  • Wordle #1019, Wednesday 3 April: PLAIT
  • Wordle #1018, Tuesday 2 April: SERUM
  • Wordle #1017, Monday 1 April: FROND

What is Wordle?

If you're on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you've not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it's the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2024.

We've got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.

What is Wordle?

Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it's in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh?

It's played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times' Crossword app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free.

Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak.

What are the Wordle rules?

The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray.

4. Answers are never plural.

5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode.

8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle.

9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone.

10. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions. However…

11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won't be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.

NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (5)

Marc McLaren

Global Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).

More about websites apps

NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Tuesday, May 21 (game #79)Quordle today – hints and answers for Tuesday, May 21 (game #848)

Latest

Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, May 22 (game #849)
See more latest►

Most Popular
CISA issues warning for new actively exploited NextGen Healthcare Mirth Connect vulnerability
These smart AR binoculars by Unistellar could be game-changers for stargazing – and that's not all they do
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's latest story trailer showcases 'the tyranny of Messmer's flame'
The Callum Skye is a futuristic, dune-bashing EV that costs as much as a Porsche 911
AI price war kicks off in China after Alibaba slashes prices
Exodus gets brand-new concept art showcasing a new alien race - the Silicates
LG refuses to dismiss rumors that its Meta Quest VR headset collab is off
Here are all the Qualcomm Snapdragon X AI laptops announced at Microsoft's 'AI Era' event
New BenQ 4K projector is a home theater dream – if you can afford it
De-risking the business - how to evolve your approach to security
US government rules financial firms now have to disclose data breaches within 30 days
NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1068, Wednesday, May 22 (2024)

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Reed Wilderman

Last Updated:

Views: 5689

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (72 voted)

Reviews: 87% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Reed Wilderman

Birthday: 1992-06-14

Address: 998 Estell Village, Lake Oscarberg, SD 48713-6877

Phone: +21813267449721

Job: Technology Engineer

Hobby: Swimming, Do it yourself, Beekeeping, Lapidary, Cosplaying, Hiking, Graffiti

Introduction: My name is Reed Wilderman, I am a faithful, bright, lucky, adventurous, lively, rich, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.