Today's Wordle hints and answer — solution #1,098 Friday, June 21 (2024)

Today's Wordle answer isn't too tricky. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,098 in 3.4 moves in easy mode or 3.2 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 or just haven't had time to complete today's puzzle. Plus, we are also including an analysis of yesterday's puzzle, #1,097, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,098. Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!

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 letters.
• Four of the five characters are among the ten 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.

Alright then, here's a larger hint: Today's Wordle answer will brighten up a room.

What does today's Wordle start with?

The answer to Wordle #1,098 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 #1,098?

Drumroll, please — it'sPAINT.

Hello Wordlers. Today's puzzle shouldn't cause you too many problems, given four of the five characters are among the nine most common Wordle letters. In other words, a good starter should set you up nicely.

As only 'A' and 'T' are in the top five, my start word of ORATE was merely so-so. Both turned yellow, leaving me with 60 possible answers still in play.

Loads of WordleBot's best Wordle start words left mine in the dust, today. PLACE, for example, leaves 17 answers, while PLATE drops that to four. PLANE and PLANT both leave just the correct answer to find.

On turn #2, I like to prioritize the five next most common letters: 'I', 'C', 'S', 'N' and 'L'.

LATCH felt a solid way of doing that, but it didn't prove a key turning point, with just 'A' turning green and 'T' being ruled out in a second location. Sixteen answers were still available, according to WordleBot*.

I opted for TANKS next, which wasn't going to be the answer (plurals never are) but would hopefully narrow things down. It did, giving me a yellow 'N' and proving that 'T' had to sit in fifth position.

I opted for PAINT next, and it was correct, with all five letters turning green. That's a bit fortunate, as WordleBot points out it could equally have been FAINT, VAUNT, DAUNT, JAUNT or GAUNT.

Hopefully you did well today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.

* These were: FAINT, PAINT, GAUNT, JAUNT, DAUNT, VAUNT, TAUNT, TAINT, TAWNY, TAFFY, TABBY, SAINT, WAIST, TANGY, GAMUT and KAPUT.

Yesterday's Wordle answer

Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,097 was SCENT.

Hello Wordlers. I struggled a bit with today's puzzle, even if all five characters are amongst the ten most common Wordle letters.

Only two are in the top five, of course, which meant my start word of ORATE was of limited use, turning 'E' and 'T' yellow. As very common letters, that meant a massive 87 possible answers were still in play.

As you might imagine, plenty of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were more effective. PLANT, for example, leaves 15 answers, while PLANE drops that to 13. If you played CARET, only five options would be left, and CRATE leaves just one.

I try and prioritize the five next most common letters on my second turn: 'I', 'C', 'S', 'N' and 'L'.

TILES was a good way of doing that, and it gave me a brand new yellow letter ('S') while ruling out both 'T' and 'E' in two new positions. Eight answers were left, according to WordleBot*.

On my third turn, I made a big mistake. I decided to be bold and play a double 'E' with STEEL, without noticing that I'd already tried 'E' in one of the positions.

It was still pretty effective, turning 'S' and 'E' green, and proving 'T' had to sit in last position. Three options were left.

Unfortunately, I picked one of the wrong ones with SWEPT. But it made getting the answer on my fifth go a doddle. I typed in SCENT and completed the puzzle in five moves.

A bit annoying, this. If only I'd stuck with my rules of playing the top ten most common letters quickly, I'd have managed this faster.

Oh well, tomorrow's another Wordling day. See you then.

* These were: SCENT, SPENT, SWEPT, CHEST, GUEST, QUEST, SETUP and STENT.

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 #1,097: SCENT
• Wordle #1,096: TERSE
• Wordle #1,095: COVER
• Wordle #1,094: PRIOR
• Wordle #1,093: GRIND
• Wordle #1,092: PROUD
• Wordle #1,091: VAULT
• Wordle #1,090: ANGST
• Wordle #1,089: DETER
• Wordle #1,088: SWUNG
• Wordle #1,087: MANGA
• Wordle #1,086: CROWD
• Wordle #1,085: HENCE
• Wordle #1,084: MELON
• Wordle #1,083: ETHER
• Wordle #1,082: ORGAN
• Wordle #1,081: GROOM
• Wordle #1,080: STARK
• Wordle #1,079: BRAVO
• Wordle #1,078: BASIN

Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle

The best tip I can give is to use one of thebest 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 a lot of Wordle after it first launched.

We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer used to look for trends 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 on into a fourth 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.

NYT Strands 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 some hints as well as the full answer to today's 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.

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!