If you enjoy Wordle and are looking for a good strategy to approach it, I'll share what I'm doing. I'm sure there are people with better success than I'm having, but my results feel pretty good:
The goal, of course, is to eliminate as many letters as possible in the first couple turns, minimizing the possible number of words in later turns. My approach is to:
First Guess: AUDIO
This immediately checks 4 vowels, and if I get at least 2 vowels, I usually move immediate into guessing words that include D, S, T, L, R, and N. This starts to find correct vowel positions on my second guess, and starts to eliminate top consonants.
An intentional benefit to this word is putting U in the second position. If it appears green, meaning that it's in the right position, I'll guess a Q word as my second word, eliminating the chance that they're trying to catch me with an uncommon letter.
For instance, if U is in the correct position and there are no other correct letters, I would guess "QUEST" -- this checks E, S, and T, which are all critical early guesses, and eliminates this chance of a Q word.
If I get U in the correct spot and I or O are in the wrong spot, I might guess QUITE or QUOTE to again check on Q as well as other popular letters (T and E). Again, this also helps me find my vowel positions on turn #2 instead of having to wait for turn #3.
Second Guess: STYLE
Again, I only make this my second guess if I got less than 2 vowels in my first guess. With this word, I check S, T, and L (all top consonants) along with checking the rest of the vowels. Notice that I guess this, even if one vowel and/or "D" were correct in the first turn because I'm not trying to place that vowel or the D yet. I'm just trying to find / eliminate critical letters.
After this guess, I've gone through 10 of probably the 12 most important letters to check, with R and N being other highly used consonants. You can check those on turn #3 if they fit with what you've found in the first two turns. But often after going through these 10 letters shown above, you're well on your way to solving your daily Wordle.
Another Approach:
I've seen IRATE as another first turn move. It checks 5 of the top 6 most commonly used letters, including 3 vowels. I personally like to move through all the vowels. So if I were to start with IRATE, and didn't get at least 2 vowels from it, I would likely move onto LOUSY or YOUNG as my second guess. This would again eliminate all vowels while checking either L and S (the better option, I think; also puts Y in the last position, which might be useful, since Y often ends a word when used), or N and G.
The only thing this approach doesn't do is address that sneaky possible Q word. You might find that U is in the word, but until you know whether it's the second letter, that sort of hangs out there. I also personally like checking D, as it's the 4th most common word ending, following E, S, and T. My approach checks all these letters in the first 2 turns.
Hope this helps with your daily Wordle!
- Usually check all the vowels in the first 2 turns, as this rapidly helps you diminish what words you can choose from.
- Check D, S, T, and L in the first two turns. This leaves only R and N unchecked in terms of the most used consonants. But I check the others because they let me move through all the vowels.
First Guess: AUDIO
This immediately checks 4 vowels, and if I get at least 2 vowels, I usually move immediate into guessing words that include D, S, T, L, R, and N. This starts to find correct vowel positions on my second guess, and starts to eliminate top consonants.
An intentional benefit to this word is putting U in the second position. If it appears green, meaning that it's in the right position, I'll guess a Q word as my second word, eliminating the chance that they're trying to catch me with an uncommon letter.
For instance, if U is in the correct position and there are no other correct letters, I would guess "QUEST" -- this checks E, S, and T, which are all critical early guesses, and eliminates this chance of a Q word.
If I get U in the correct spot and I or O are in the wrong spot, I might guess QUITE or QUOTE to again check on Q as well as other popular letters (T and E). Again, this also helps me find my vowel positions on turn #2 instead of having to wait for turn #3.
Second Guess: STYLE
Again, I only make this my second guess if I got less than 2 vowels in my first guess. With this word, I check S, T, and L (all top consonants) along with checking the rest of the vowels. Notice that I guess this, even if one vowel and/or "D" were correct in the first turn because I'm not trying to place that vowel or the D yet. I'm just trying to find / eliminate critical letters.
After this guess, I've gone through 10 of probably the 12 most important letters to check, with R and N being other highly used consonants. You can check those on turn #3 if they fit with what you've found in the first two turns. But often after going through these 10 letters shown above, you're well on your way to solving your daily Wordle.
Another Approach:
I've seen IRATE as another first turn move. It checks 5 of the top 6 most commonly used letters, including 3 vowels. I personally like to move through all the vowels. So if I were to start with IRATE, and didn't get at least 2 vowels from it, I would likely move onto LOUSY or YOUNG as my second guess. This would again eliminate all vowels while checking either L and S (the better option, I think; also puts Y in the last position, which might be useful, since Y often ends a word when used), or N and G.
The only thing this approach doesn't do is address that sneaky possible Q word. You might find that U is in the word, but until you know whether it's the second letter, that sort of hangs out there. I also personally like checking D, as it's the 4th most common word ending, following E, S, and T. My approach checks all these letters in the first 2 turns.
Hope this helps with your daily Wordle!
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