You’ve been there. It’s 7:00 AM, the coffee hasn't quite kicked in yet, and you’re staring at a grid of gray squares that feel like they’re judging your soul. Today’s puzzle, Wordle 1670, is one of those that looks simple on paper but can absolutely wreck a streak if you aren't careful. The answer is AVOID, and honestly, it’s a bit of a trickster.
Why? Because of the vowels.
Most people hunt for 'E' or 'I' immediately. When you see that 'A', 'O', and 'I' are all present—three vowels in a five-letter word—it actually narrows the consonant field so much that you might find yourself paralyzed by the possibilities. If you started with a high-vowel opener like AUDIO, you probably felt like a genius about thirty seconds into your morning.
The Trouble With AVOID
The thing about AVOID is that it doesn’t follow the standard consonant-heavy patterns we’re used to seeing in English. We usually look for 'S', 'T', 'R', or 'L'. When the word is built around a 'V' and a 'D', those common letters become useless.
I’ve seen a lot of players get stuck in a "vowel trap" today. They find the 'A' and the 'O', then they start guessing words like ABORT or ADORE. Those are great guesses, but they move you further away from the 'V'. The letter 'V' is statistically one of the least common letters in the Wordle dictionary. It's the kind of letter you only guess when you're desperate or when you've ruled out everything else.
According to the latest WordleBot analysis, today’s puzzle is taking users an average of 4.1 guesses to solve. That’s slightly higher than the usual 3.8 average we see for words with three vowels. It proves that even when the vowels are "easy," the structure can still trip you up.
How to Beat the Vowel Trap
If you're still working through your grid, or if you're looking at your results and wondering where it went wrong, keep these things in mind:
- Don't ignore the 'V'. It’s easy to forget it exists until you’re on guess five.
- Check your 'D' placement. It’s a common end-of-word letter, but it often gets overlooked in favor of 'S' or 'Y'.
- Vowel spacing matters. In AVOID, the vowels are split by a heavy consonant, which breaks up the visual flow of the word.
Why Some Words Feel Harder Than Others
There’s a bit of a psychological game going on with the New York Times curation lately. Ever since they took over from Josh Wardle, the word list has felt a bit more... deliberate. AVOID isn't an obscure word. Everyone knows what it means. But in the context of a game where you’re trying to find patterns, it’s a "disruptor" word.
It lacks the common "sh", "ch", or "th" blends. It doesn't end in "ed" or "ing". It’s just a solid, blunt verb.
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If you struggled today, you aren’t alone. Even the pros who use openers like STARE or ARISE would have found themselves with a lot of yellow tiles and not many clear paths to green. STARE only gives you the 'A', and if you're playing on Hard Mode, you’re forced to keep that 'A' in the second spot, which can actually make AVOID harder to find since the 'A' is the first letter.
Actionable Tips for Tomorrow
Don't let one rough morning ruin your stats. If today's word gave you a headache, change your approach for tomorrow's game.
First, if you haven't already, try switching up your starting word to something that includes a 'D' or a 'Y' if you've been leaning too hard on 'R' and 'T'. Words like ADIEU are popular for a reason—they clear out those vowels fast.
Second, pay attention to the "shape" of the word. If you have an 'A' and an 'O' but they're yellow, stop trying to put them in the middle. Start looking at words that begin with a vowel. AVOID is a classic example of how a word starting with 'A' can hide in plain sight because our brains are wired to look for consonant-vowel-consonant patterns.
Finally, take a breath. It's a game. A streak is just a number, though I know telling that to a Wordle addict is like telling a runner that a PR doesn't matter. Just remember that the "V" words are always the ones that get you.
Review your "lost" letters from today. If you used 'S', 'T', and 'R' and they all came up gray, you've actually done a great job of narrowing down the field. You're building a mental map of what the word isn't, which is just as important as knowing what it is. Tomorrow is a new grid.