Looking for a nudge on today’s Wordle without giving the whole thing away? Below are layered hints for puzzle #1557, followed by the full answer if you need it. If you want to play first, open Wordle on the New York Times site at nytimes.com/games/wordle.

Today’s Wordle #1557 at a glance

Hint Detail
Theme-style clue An opening
Letter frequency Four letters are among the ETAOIN SHRDLU set; the fifth is also common
Vowel count Two vowels
Repeated letters None
Starting letter M
Ending letter H

Spoiler: the answer to Wordle #1557

MOUTH

A clean three-guess path

One efficient route today: open with “RAISE,” follow with “TOUCH,” then decide between the emergent pair “YOUTH” and “MOUTH.” “MOUTH” closes it in three.

Yesterday’s Wordle (#1556)

Answer: QUILL.

Quick rules refresher

  • Green: correct letter in the correct spot.
  • Yellow: letter is in the word, wrong spot.
  • Gray: letter is not in the word.

You have six guesses total.

Starter words that surface information fast

There isn’t a single “best” opener, but these frequently surface useful signals:

Balanced, common-letter starters Starters that prune many options early
CRANE SALET
TRACE REAST
SLANT TRACE
CRATE CRATE
CARTE SLATE

Other solid options: ARISE, ROUND. If you want vowel coverage early, ADIEU or AUDIO do that; if you’d rather probe consonants, try RENTS or CLAMP.

Strategy note

Use guesses to gather information, not just confirm hunches. If you’ve narrowed the ending (for example, to -OUND), don’t cycle through one consonant at a time. Combine multiple candidates into a single probe word to light up or eliminate several paths at once.

Also keep in mind that Wordle solutions are now hand-edited selections, which can occasionally lean a bit tricky or topical (holidays, cultural moments), though the core difficulty remains consistent day to day.