Today's Wordle hints and answer — solution #709, Monday, May 29
Wordle today: Quick menu
2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer is a little easier than yesterday's. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player will complete Wordle #709 in 3.8 moves in both easy and hard modes.
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, #708, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #709. 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 three of the five vowels.*
It has no repeated letters.
Two of the characters are amongst the five 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: You might be able to see today's Wordle answer right now (if you're not playing on mobile).
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #709 starts with M, 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 #709?
Drumroll, please — it's MOUSE.
Hello Wordlers. An answer with three of the five vowels should be fairly straightforward if you use one of the best Wordle start words. A bit disappointing that it took me four goes then, but there we are.
I began with RATIO which was a bad first move today. Indeed, WordleBot gives it an atrocious 4% luck score, as its single yellow 'O' leaves 297 possible answers.
WordleBot's best suggestions beat this comfortably, with LEAST leaving 33 solutions and SLATE taking one more off at 32. STARE brings it down to 24 and CLOSE halves that to 12.
I needed more vowels, stat. And because I couldn't think of a word with 'O', 'E' and 'U' in at this point (I'm now aware the actual answer fit that bill!), I opted for OPENS.
This was a big improvement in fortunes giving me a yellow 'E' and 'S', and ruling out another position for 'O' (albeit, not a very likely one, given just 41 Wordle answers begin with that particular vowel). I was down to just 20 possible answers.
My next bet was MOSEY which really turned my luck on its head with an 82% score from the 'Bot. Both 'M' and 'O' went green, and while the 'S' and 'E' were just yellow, their positions were now confirmed by the process of elimination.
The word had to be MO?SE. I instinctively typed MOUSE and won in four turns, but there was another possibility.
WordleBot points out that it could have been another animal: a MOOSE. Fortunately it wasn't, otherwise I'd have been left with my tail between my legs enduring a disappointing five-turn win.
Hopefully you beat the average today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #708 was SKIMP.
Hello Wordlers. I got rather lucky with today's puzzle, as you'll see in a moment. With three of the characters ('K', 'M' and 'P') amongst the 11 least used in the game, finishing in three turns feels like quite an achievement.
I began with RATIO as per usual, and it was an inauspicious start. Just the 'I' turned yellow, and given that's a pretty common letter, it meant that a massive 234 possible answers remained at large.
Plenty of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were better than mine today (although some were markedly worse, leaving over 300 possible answers). SLATE reduced the number to 69, while PLATE knocks off a further nine taking it to 60. SAINT would have been a great choice today, leaving just 30 possible answers.
Fortunately, my luck was about to change with a very lucky second move that gave me no fewer than three green letters, granting me a luck score of 95% from WordleBot.
I played SLIME and grinned from ear to ear as 'S', 'I' and 'M' all went green.
WordleBot says there was only one possible option left here, although it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Indeed, I first misspelt 'shimmy', thinking maybe I'd got it wrong.
Thankfully, WordleBot rejected that, and the true answer eventually came to me: SKIMP.
That felt tricky, but hopefully you managed it okay. See you tomorrow for a brand new Wordling week.
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 #708: SKIMP
Wordle #707: RAMEN
Wordle #706: SWINE
Wordle #705: BAGEL
Wordle #704: UTTER
Wordle #703: CLERK
Wordle #702: IGLOO
Wordle #701: BRASH
Wordle #700: FLASK
Wordle #699: GRIEF
Wordle #698: SHORN
Wordle #697: PLANK
Wordle #696: LATTE
Wordle #695: CANOE
Wordle #694: SCARF
Wordle #693: ACRID
Wordle #692: SNACK
Wordle #691: BROOM
Wordle #690: ETHIC
Wordle #689: COCOA
Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle
The best tip I can give is to use one of the best 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 every Wordle so far and losing only once.
We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer to look for patterns 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 for its second 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.
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. We also have a page on today's Quordle answers, because it's our favorite.
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!