You wake up, grab your coffee, and open that familiar grid. It’s Saturday, January 17, 2026. You think you’ve got a solid start word. Maybe it’s ADIEU or STARE. But today, the squares aren’t turning green as fast as you'd like. Honestly, you aren’t alone. The average wordle score today is hovering right around 3.9, which is a bit of a spike compared to some of the easier words we've seen earlier this week.
If you struggled with Wordle #1,673, don’t beat yourself up. It’s a weird one. The answer is FIERY.
What the Stats Say About Today's Wordle
Most people are landing this in four. According to the early morning data from WordleBot and various tracking communities, the average player is taking about 3.8 to 4.0 guesses to nail it down. Hard mode players are actually doing slightly better, likely because they are forced to stick with the "I" and "E" placements early on.
Why is FIERY so annoying? It's the structure. We’ve got that "IE" combo that feels like it should be easy, but the "Y" ending often throws people for a loop. You might have found yourself stuck in the "___ER" trap. Think about it: FIXER, FIBER, FILER, FLYER. There are just too many options. If you guessed FIBER on your third try, you probably felt that sting of a yellow "E" and "R" moving around.
The word today doesn't have any repeating letters. That's usually a blessing. But when you have two vowels and a "sometimes" vowel like "Y" all jammed into five spaces, the permutations get messy fast.
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Why the Average Wordle Score Today Matters
We all check the averages to see if we’re "normal," right? If you got it in three, you’re officially ahead of the curve today. If you got it in five, you’re just a victim of a deep word pool.
Yesterday’s word, RACER, had an average score of about 4.2. People actually found that harder because of the double "R." Compared to that, today’s FIERY feels like a bit of a relief, even if it’s still tricky. It’s funny how the community reacts. On a day with a 4.0 average, the Twitter (or X) feeds are usually full of people complaining about "obscure words," but FIERY is a common enough adjective that the frustration is mostly about the guessing logic rather than the vocabulary itself.
How to Beat the Average Next Time
Kinda want to brag to your group chat tomorrow? You've gotta stop using "vowel-heavy" openers if they aren't working. While ADIEU is the old-school favorite, modern solvers are moving toward high-frequency consonant words like SLATE or CRANE.
- Look for the Y: We often forget that "Y" is a major player in five-letter words. If you have an "I" and an "E" but they aren't turning green in the middle, start looking at the end of the word.
- The Trap Avoidance: If you realize you’re in a "___ER" situation, stop guessing words that fit the pattern. Instead, use your next turn to guess a word that uses as many of those missing starting consonants as possible. This is basically the "burn" strategy. For today, a word like FLIPS would have ruled out the "L" and "P" while confirming the "F."
Expert players like those over at the r/wordle subreddit often track their "skill score" versus "luck score." Today was a high-skill day. If you didn't just guess FIERY out of nowhere, you likely had to use some serious process of elimination.
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The Long-Term Trend
Wordle isn't actually getting harder, despite what your frustrated brain might think after a loss. The New York Times has a set list of words. They don't just add "ZXYVL" to mess with you. However, as the game ages, we’ve already burned through many of the "obvious" four-letter-structure words.
We are currently on game #1,673. There are only a few thousand words in the original dictionary list. Eventually, the game will have to repeat or expand. But for now, the difficulty spikes are mostly just down to how many words share the same ending.
If you're looking to improve your personal average, stop focusing on getting it in two. That’s mostly luck. Focus on never failing. A "six" is infinitely better than a "X/6."
To keep your streak alive for tomorrow, take a look at your stats page. If your "four" bar is higher than your "three" bar, you're playing exactly like the rest of the world. And honestly? That's perfectly fine. It's a game, not a standardized test.
Check your "Total Games Played" and see how your current average compares to the global 3.9. If you’re under 4.0, you’re doing great. If you’re over, maybe it’s time to retire AUDIO as your starter and try something with a few more consonants.
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Refining your strategy starts with your second guess. If your first word gives you nothing but gray tiles, don't panic. Use a completely different set of letters for word two. Don't try to "force" a word with the letters you hope are there. Play the data. It's the only way to consistently beat the average.