Wordle Strategy: How to Win Every Time (Tested on 2,130 Answers)

October 20, 2026 · Ali Ahmad

Quick answer: to win Wordle every time, open with a word made of five different common letters (such as SLATE, CRANE or RAISE), use your second guess to test new letters instead of trying to win, and only go for the answer once you are down to a handful of options. Played this way, our solver won all 2,130 likely Wordle answers in six guesses or fewer, with an average of 3.4 guesses.

Most Wordle strategy articles are tips from people who play a lot. This one is built on tests. We played a full game of Wordle against every one of our 2,130 likely answers, using different starting words and different styles of play, and counted exactly how many guesses each one took and how many games it lost.

The strategy that never lost

Here is the method our solver used. It is simple enough to follow in your head:

1. Guess 1: a strong starter. Five different letters, all from the most common group (E, A, R, O, T, I, L, S, N).
2. Guess 2 and later: split the answers. Pick the guess that leaves the fewest possible answers on average, even if it cannot be the answer itself. Often that means a word full of letters you have not tried yet.
3. Go for the win when two or fewer answers are left. At that point, just guess one of them.

This is how the games finished, starting with SLATE:

More than half of the games were won in three guesses, and none were lost. You do not need to do the maths yourself: the Wordle Solver shows the possible answers and ranks the best next guess for you after every move.

Why “always guess a possible answer” loses games

Most people play differently. After each guess they type in the most familiar word that still fits the colours. That feels natural, but it is a weaker strategy. We tested it too, by always guessing the most common word that could still be the answer:

Guessing only words that fit the clues lost 29 games out of 2,130. That is about one loss every 73 games, enough to break a long streak every couple of months. Using a “spare” guess to test new letters fixes almost all of them.

The word traps that break streaks

Almost every lost game has the same cause: a group of answers that differ by only one letter. Once you have four greens, you can only try one of them per guess, and there may be more options than guesses left. These are the biggest traps among the 2,130 likely answers:

In total, 321 likely answers belong to a group of four or more words like these. The fix is to stop guessing them one by one. If you are stuck on _ATCH with guesses to spare, a word like CLAMP tests C, L, M and P at once. On _IGHT, STERN tests S, T, E, R and N in one go. On _OUND, FRESH or SWAMP covers four of the missing letters. One “wasted” guess like this usually tells you the answer for the next one.

You can list every word that fits your pattern in the 5 letter word finder: put your green letters in place and leave the unknown box empty. Lists like 5 letter words ending in H and ending in D help too.

The best starting words, tested over full games

We also played full games with different first words. The usual top picks are almost tied. The famous vowel-heavy starters are clearly behind:

Two lessons here. First, the exact choice among good starters barely matters: SLATE, CRANE and RAISE finish within 0.03 guesses of each other, so pick the one you like. Second, ADIEU and AUDIO cost you about one extra guess in every six games, because they test vowels and skip the common consonants R, S, T, L and N. Our guide to 5 letter words with the most vowels explains why, and Best Wordle Starting Words, Ranked by Data ranks all 8,602 options.

Wordle hard mode strategy

In hard mode, every guess must keep the green letters in place and use every yellow letter you have found. That takes away the “spare guess” trick above, so hard mode is mostly about avoiding traps before you fall into them. In our test, playing every guess within the clues raised the average from 3.44 to 3.56 guesses and turned 0 losses into 9.

Hard mode tips that follow from the data:

• Start even stronger. You cannot fix a weak start later, so use a top starter, not ADIEU or AUDIO.
• Prefer guesses that bring in new letters. Among the words that fit, choose the one with the most letters you have not tried, not the most familiar one.
• Watch for trap endings early. If your second guess shows _IGHT, _OUND or _ATCH forming, choose your third guess to test as many of the possible first letters as the rules allow.
• Tick “Hard mode” in the solver. The Wordle Solver then only suggests words that are legal hard-mode guesses.

Don’t forget repeated letters

One in three likely answers (709 of 2,130) uses a letter twice, such as SPEED, GEESE or ROBOT. The most repeated letters are E, A, O, L and T. If you have tried every common letter and nothing fits, the answer probably repeats one you have already found. Wordle colours repeated letters in a specific way, and our solver follows the same rule, so you can trust what it shows.

Know which letters to test

E, A, R, O and T are the most common letters in Wordle answers, and S is the most common first letter. E ends almost one answer in five, while very few answers end in S, because Wordle rarely uses plurals. The full numbers, letter by letter and position by position, are in Most Common Letters in 5 Letter Words.

Tools that help

• Wordle Solver: possible answers and the best next guess, with a hard mode option
• Wordle Game Analyzer: replay your game and see how good each guess was
• 5 letter word finder: search by green, yellow and gray letters
• Quordle & Octordle Solver: the same method for several boards at once
• Best Wordle Starting Words
• 5 letter words starting with S and ending in E

Frequently asked questions

How do you win Wordle every time?

Start with a strong word such as SLATE or CRANE, use your next guesses to rule out as many answers as possible, and only guess the answer when two or fewer are left. Played this way, our solver won all 2,130 likely answers within six guesses.

How can I get Wordle in 3 guesses?

With a good starter and a smart second guess, more than half of games can be won in three. Our solver won 57.6% of games in three guesses or fewer starting with SLATE. Nobody can win every game in three, because some answers need more information.

What is the best Wordle hard mode strategy?

Use a top starter, prefer guesses that test new letters, and watch for word families like _IGHT and _ATCH before you get four greens. Hard mode in our test averaged 3.56 guesses and lost 9 games out of 2,130.

What should I do when I’m stuck on Wordle?

If several words differ by one letter, use a guess that tests many of those letters at once instead of guessing them one by one. If nothing fits, check for a repeated letter. The Wordle Solver lists every word still possible.

Is it better to always guess a word that could be the answer?

No. In our test, always guessing the most common possible word averaged 3.84 guesses and lost 29 games. Using some guesses to test new letters averaged 3.44 and lost none.

About this test

We played one full game for each of our 2,130 likely Wordle answers, for each starting word and style of play. The solver could guess any of the 8,602 valid five-letter words in normal mode. At every step it chose the guess that left the fewest answers on average. For the hard mode test, every guess had to fit all the clues so far, which is a little stricter than Wordle’s own rule. The likely answers are our own estimate based on word frequency, not the official New York Times list, so your real games may differ slightly. You can download the word lists for free under CC BY 4.0 and read how they were built on our methodology page.