Wordle - Play Free Online | Wipzu
About Wordle
Wordle is the daily word puzzle created by software engineer Josh Wardle in January 2021 as a private gift for his partner Palak Shah, who loved word games. He shared it publicly in October 2021; by January 2022 it had grown from 90 daily players to over 2 million weekly players. The New York Times acquired it that same month for what they described as 'a price in the low seven figures.' It is now one of the most-played word puzzles in the world.
The rules: guess a hidden five-letter word in six attempts. After each guess, tiles change color — green means the right letter in the right position, yellow means the letter is in the word but in a different position, and grey means the letter doesn't appear anywhere in the word. Every guess must be a valid English word. The color pattern from each row narrows the candidates until the answer becomes clear.
This browser version adds a word length selector — 4, 5, 6, or 7 letters — so you can make the puzzle easier or harder than the original. Unlike the original daily format, this version offers unlimited play: start a new word any time. The core six-guess rule and green/yellow/grey feedback mechanic are identical to the original.
Wordle's viral spread was powered by the shareable emoji grid — a spoiler-free result format that showed only colored squares. Everyone played the same word on the same day, so millions of people could compare grids without revealing the answer. The once-per-day constraint made it feel like an event rather than a game you could binge. That social design was as responsible for its cultural moment as the puzzle itself.
Key Features
- Word length selector: 4, 5, 6, or 7 letters — adjustable difficulty beyond the original's fixed five-letter format
- Six guesses per puzzle with green / yellow / grey tile feedback — same core rules as the original Wordle
- Unlimited play — start a new puzzle any time, no daily reset required
- Each guess must be a valid word — random letter strings are rejected
- Best starting word by information theory: CRANE (avg ~3.44 guesses) or SLATE — both maximize first-guess information
- Created by Josh Wardle in 2021; acquired by the New York Times for 'a low seven figures' in January 2022
Controls
How to Play
- 1Choose your word length (4–7 letters) if you want to adjust difficulty from the default 5-letter mode.
- 2Type a valid word of the correct length and press Enter. Nonsense strings are rejected — it must be a real word.
- 3Read the tile colors: green = correct letter in the right position. Yellow = letter is in the word but in a different column. Grey = letter not in the word at all.
- 4Use the information from each row to narrow down candidates. Grey letters are eliminated entirely; yellow letters need repositioning; green letters are locked.
- 5Continue guessing valid words — with each row you should have fewer possible answers remaining. Find the word within six attempts to win.
Tips & Tricks
- Start with a high-information opener. CRANE and SLATE both cover five of the most statistically common letters in the Wordle answer list. CRANE averages approximately 3.44 guesses to solve with good follow-up play. Either is a stronger start than choosing a favorite word.
- Use a complementary second guess that tests entirely new letters not in your opener. Solid two-word pairs: CRANE + BLOTS, SLATE + CRONY. After two well-chosen words you've typically tested 8–10 high-frequency letters and should have enough feedback to narrow the field sharply.
- When 3 or more possible answers remain on guess 4 or later, consider a 'sacrifice' elimination guess — a word you know isn't the answer but tests several candidate-separating letters at once. One targeted elimination guess is statistically better than two direct guesses against 4+ candidates.
- Pay attention to letter position, not just presence. A yellow R means R is in the word but not in that column — your next guess should place R in a different position, not just reuse it anywhere.
- Common answer patterns: many words end in -ER, -LY, -ED, and -ING forms. Letters R, S, T, N, and L appear frequently in the middle positions. These patterns don't guarantee anything but help prune the mental candidate list between guesses.
Game Info
FAQ
Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn software engineer, created it in January 2021 as a gift for his partner Palak Shah. She curated the answer list, cutting ~12,000 five-letter words down to ~2,500 commonly known ones. He released it publicly in October 2021; the New York Times acquired it in January 2022.
Information theory analysis identifies CRANE and SLATE as among the top starters — each covers five of the most common letters in the Wordle answer list and produces maximum useful feedback. CRANE averages approximately 3.44 guesses to solve per 3Blue1Brown's entropy-based analysis.
This browser version adds a word length selector (4–7 letters) and allows unlimited plays rather than one puzzle per day. The core mechanic — six guesses, green/yellow/grey tile feedback — is identical to the original.
Green means the letter is correct and in exactly that position. Yellow means the letter appears somewhere else in the word — your next guess should place it in a different column. Grey means the letter is not in the answer at all and can be eliminated from further guesses.
With an optimal information-theory strategy (analyzed by Grant Sanderson / 3Blue1Brown), the puzzle can be solved in 5 guesses or fewer with near certainty, averaging approximately 3.42 guesses. The key is using a high-entropy opener and making targeted elimination guesses rather than lucky attempts when multiple candidates remain.