Most people find uncovering today's Wordle answer to be a little tricky, but here's a hint to get you started: Today's Wordle answer is punishing. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes August 2's Wordle #1,870 in 3.7 moves in easy mode, or 3.6 if playing by hard rules.
Each day, we will update this article with Wordle hints and tips to help you find today's answer. And if the hints aren't enough, we'll even give you the answer, in case you're really stuck. Be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,870, Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!
2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer — hints to help you solve it
Our first tip is that you should use one of the best Wordle start words for every game you play. But if you want some more specific clues to today's Wordle answer, then here you go:
It contains two of the five vowels,* there are no repeated characters, and it features two of the five most common Wordle letters.
* By vowel, we mean A, E, I, O, U. There are other letters that are sometimes considered to be vowels, depending on how they are used.
Those hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Wordle answer. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then skip down further for that.
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #1,870 starts with P, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.
OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…
Today's Wordle answer
So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,870?
Drumroll, please — it's PENAL.
Hello Wordlers. Today, my strategy of targeting the ten most common Wordle letters as quickly as possible paid off nicely. That's because PENAL contains four of the top nine.
My chosen starter of ORATE is made up of the top five, and today it turned both 'A' and 'E' yellow. That sounds good, but still left a massive 126 possible answers in play, according to WordleBot.
The Bot's best Wordle start words were naturally a big improvement. CARPS leaves 34 answers, while PLOTS lowers that to 13. If you opened with LANCE or LEAPS, you'd be down to three options.
The next most common letters are 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C', so I looked for a way of trying three of them around my yellow characters.
CLEAN seemed like a good way of doing that, and it was. Not only did 'A' go green, but 'L' and 'N' both turned yellow. 'E' was ruled out in two more spots too, leaving just two possible answers, according to WordleBot.
PENAL was the one that came to mind, so I typed it in for a three-turn win. The alternative? VENAL.
Hopefully you did well today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are clues and the solution to the previous puzzle.
- It contains one of the five vowels
- There is one repeated character
- It doesn't feature any of the five most common Wordle letters.
The answer to Wordle #1,869 starts with S, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.
OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…
The Wordle answer for game #1,869 was... SLUSH.
Hello Wordlers. Despite SLUSH not featuring any of the five most common Wordle letters and packing a double 'S', I was able to complete the puzzle in three moves. Let's see if I got lucky.
I began, as ever with ORATE. But every letter struck out, leaving a massive 253 possible answers, according to WordleBot.
The Bot's best Wordle start words were far more effective. PLOTS leaves 24 answers, while PLANS lowers that to 15. If you opened with LAPSE, only seven options would be left over.
Normally, I advocate playing as many of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' as possible on my second turn. But when you don't have any confirmed characters, it makes sense to prioritize 'U' and 'I' instead.
My go-to move is always MUSIC in this scenario, and today it was very helpful indeed. Both 'U' and 'S' turned yellow, leaving just 13 options, according to WordleBot*.
I got very lucky and beat those 13-1 odds. I thought of SLUSH, and decided to play it as it contained 'L' (the sixth most common Wordle letter), even though it had a double 'S'. I figured at the very least, I'd narrow down where that particular consonant sat.
But all the letters turned green, giving me a three-turn win. As you'll see from the other possibilities in the footnote, that was very fortunate indeed.
Hopefully you were equally lucky today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: SKUNK, SNUFF, SPUNK, SWUNG, BLUSH, FLUSH, PLUSH, SLUNG, SLUNK, SKULL, SKULK, SLUSH and SHUSH.
Previous Wordle answers
If you're looking for a list of older Wordle answers, we can also help. Here's a list going back 20 games.
- Wordle #1,869: SLUSH
- Wordle #1,868: PURSE
- Wordle #1,867: FLUME
- Wordle #1,866: VALVE
- Wordle #1,865: SONAR
- Wordle #1,864: POSER
- Wordle #1,863: GRAPE
- Wordle #1,862: ALOHA
- Wordle #1,861: PUTTY
- Wordle #1,860: ORBIT
- Wordle #1,859: LORRY
- Wordle #1,858: SHILL
- Wordle #1,857: DIVER
- Wordle #1,856: CHURN
- Wordle #1,855: BOOTH
- Wordle #1,854: LEGAL
- Wordle #1,853: BUTTE
- Wordle #1,852: PSHAW
- Wordle #1,851: STEAK
- Wordle #1,850: STOUT
Check out our hints for other New York Times Games
NYT Connections hints and answer
We also have a daily guide to today's NYT Connections hints and answer, so head on over there if you're having trouble.
NYT Pips hints and answers
Pips is the Times' newest game, which involves arranging dominoes in a particular order. Here's today's Pips hints and answers if you need help completing the puzzles.
NYT Strands hints and answer
If you've solved Wordle and need help with other games from the New York Times, we suggest you check out our guide on today's NYT Strands answer, which will give you an overview of how the game works and how to solve the puzzle.
Wordle alternatives
If you're eager for another game to pass the time while you wait, we've put together a list of the best Wordle alternatives. We also have a page on today's Quordle answers, because it's our favorite.
Other Wordle alternatives to try are the ultra-stressful (but very good) Squabble and the soccer-themed, Who Are Ya?. We also like the geography-based Wordle clone Worldle, the Star Wars-themed SWordle and the math-based Mathler.
There are certainly plenty of options once you've finished Wordle for the day!
Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle
The best tip I can give is to use one of the best Wordle start words. I can't stress this enough — it makes a massive difference.
Without one, you'll be scrabbling around in the dark trying (and possibly failing) to find the right five letters (or possibly fewer) out of the 26 possibles. But clever people (not me) have done the math and identified the best start words based on both frequency in English and frequency among Wordle answers. So use them!
Secondly, think about combinations, especially at the start and end. Some options are far more common than others — for instance, SH, ST, CR and CH all feature frequently.
Vowels obviously need consideration too: not all Wordle answers will contain more than one, but plenty do, and some even have three. A good Wordle start word should have used a couple, but if they don't feature you might well want to try another one or two on your next go. Plus, remember the Y — this sometimes acts as a surrogate vowel, and is easy to forget. It also appears at the end of plenty of words.
Finally, try out possibilities. So long as you don't press 'Enter' you can try possible answers to see how they look on screen. Put in likely letters plus any you know are definitely in the word, then mentally change one to the other available options. This technique has worked for me multiple times, and it's particularly helpful when the word in question is not an obvious one (like FJORD or ISLET).
But if you're still struggling with Wordle, check out how Tom's Guide's Wordle experts have honed their strategy after playing every Wordle so far and losing only once.
We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer to look for patterns and have some further advice for you there. And if you're new to the game you should also take a look at our What is Wordle? guide.
What else should I know about Wordle?
Wordle officially launched in October 2021, but actually started in June of that year and celebrated its first birthday on June 19, 2022. (You can read my thoughts on the 5 things Wordle needs to improve if it's to keep us playing for its third year.)
However, it only grew in popularity towards the end of the year, then went viral in January as the world woke up to its charms. In fact, it proved so successful that The New York Times bought Wordle for a seven-figure sum in early February and the game is now part of NYT Games.
It's played via the NYT Games website here, and is entirely free. Both the NYT and the game's creator, Josh Wardle, have stated that it will remain free. Some people think that Wordle has got harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn't.
Wordle is a simple game in which your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you're told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place.
If a letter is in the correct place, it turns green. If it's in the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the word at all, it turns gray.
There's just one puzzle a day, and everyone completes the same one. It resets at midnight each day. You'll find more information about the game in our What is Wordle? article.
