• 4-minute read
• 26th January 2022

What Is Wordle? And Why Do We Love It?

Are you one of the 3,000,000 (and counting) people who are hooked on Wordle? Or are you wondering what all the fuss is about? Read on to learn why the online word game has become so popular with word lovers everywhere, from students to authors. And maximise your chances of winning by checking out our Wordle tips.

(Caution: Wordle is addictive – don’t say we didn’t warn you!)

How Do You Play Wordle?

Wordle is a simple game in which you have to figure out a mystery five-letter word in six or fewer attempts. Each time you make a guess, the game colour codes the letters of your chosen word, guiding you towards the correct answer:

• Green means the letter is in the right spot.

• Yellow means the letter is in the word, but in a different position.

• Grey letters do not appear in the word at all.

For example, let’s suppose the mystery word is “CHAIR” and you’ve entered “CRATE” as your first guess. The “C” and the “A” are in the correct place, so they’d be highlighted in green. The “R” would be yellow, because it does appear in “CHAIR”, only not as the second letter. The “T” and “E” would be grey, as they aren’t in the target word at all.

With the clues you’ve been given, you can now try another word, hopefully arriving at “CHAIR” within six goes.

Why Is Wordle So Popular?

Wordle was designed by software engineer Josh Wardle for his partner Palak Shah, who adores word games. It quickly became a hit on his family WhatsApp group, so in October 2021, Wardle decided to release it online.

The game is appealing because there is only one word to guess each day. This means it won’t take up too much time and makes it more fun because players only get one chance per day to win.

After a couple of months, over 300,000 people were playing Wordle. Next, its creator made it possible for players to share their results on social media without giving away the day’s mystery word. With the addition of this ingenious feature, Wordle’s popularity skyrocketed.

How to Win at Wordle

So now you know how to play Wordle (and how to brag about it when you win), here are our top tips to help you attain those prized green squares:

1. Choose a first word with at least three vowels.

Every guess that you make in Wordle has to be a real word. So you can’t simply enter “AEIOU” to find out which vowels are in the mystery word. Some players use the same word every day for their first guess, while others prefer to mix it up.

We suggest trying a word that has three or more vowels and other common letters like “R,” “T,” “L,” or “N”. “S” occurs in a great deal of words, but only because it is often used to pluralise shorter words. Wordle’s winning word is rarely a plural, so “S” isn’t necessarily a good choice for your first guess.

“ADIEU” is a popular choice because it has four vowels. “ORATE”, “ALINE”, and “RATIO” are other good starters.

2. Use the clues you’re given wisely.

If you get a grey letter, avoid using it in subsequent guesses. This will give you more chances to identify any missing letters. On the other hand, if you’ve guessed a letter and its position correctly, you could omit it from your next guess(es) for the same reason: i.e., you’ll get more shots at guessing the unknown letters.

3. Remember the answer could contain double letters.

This one speaks for itself! For example, if you’ve ascertained that the mystery word contains “O”, but not “A”, “E”, or “U”, it’s likely that it has a double “O” (e.g., PROOF).

Summary: Why Do We Love Wordle?

Wordle is a simple but addictive word game that’s taken the internet by storm. Its charm lies in its simplicity and the fact that every player is tackling the same puzzle. This makes for a fun sense of rivalry, which is heightened by the game’s clever result-sharing feature.

We love playing Wordle. Luckily, there’s only one game per day, so we have plenty of time left for our real passion, proofreading. If you’d like one of our word nerds to check your writing for errors, why not send us a free sample to proofread today?