You’ve been there. It’s 11:45 PM, you’re staring at a grid of yellow and grey tiles, and your brain is absolute mush. You have one guess left. The letters you have are S, A, and E. Is it "SHAKE"? No, wait, did they use "SHAKE" last month? Or was it "SHARK"? This is the psychological torture Josh Wardle unintentionally gifted the world, and honestly, it’s only getting harder as the calendar flips.
The list of wordle words that have been used is growing every single day. Since the New York Times bought the game back in 2022, the database has been slowly ticking down. There are only so many common five-letter words in the English language that don't offend anyone or feel too obscure. If you aren't tracking what's already been played, you are basically playing on hard mode without even knowing it.
It's a game of elimination.
The Math Behind the 2,300 Word Vault
When Wordle first launched, the original solution list contained about 2,315 words. This wasn't just a random scrape of the dictionary. Josh Wardle’s partner, Palak Shah, actually sifted through thousands of five-letter words to narrow them down to things people actually recognize. You won't find "QAJAQ" or "XENON" as a solution (usually), even if they are technically legal guesses.
Because the game uses one word per day, we are burning through the "easy" vocabulary. We’ve already seen classics like "TREAD," "STARE," and "AUDIO" pass us by. Once a word is used, the NYT (currently) has a policy of not repeating it. This is huge. If "RAISE" was the answer six months ago, guessing it today is a wasted turn. It can help you find letters, sure, but it will never, ever give you that sweet 1/6 or 2/6 dopamine hit.
People get really heated about this. Some purists think checking a list of wordle words that have been used is cheating. I disagree. It’s strategy. If you’re playing a game where the deck isn't reshuffled, counting the cards is just being smart.
Recent Heavy Hitters and Why They Tripped You Up
Let’s look at some recent winners—or losers, depending on how your streak went. We’ve seen words like "SNAFU" and "GUAVA." Honestly, "SNAFU" felt like a personal attack on my morning coffee routine. These aren't your standard "CHAIR" or "HOUSE" varieties.
The New York Times editors, specifically Tracy Bennett, have the power to curate the order. They aren't just letting a random number generator pick the daily word anymore. They occasionally time things—like "FEAST" around Thanksgiving or "PARTY" for an anniversary. But mostly, they are trying to keep us on our toes by pulling from the remaining pool of wordle words that have been used data to see what’s left.
Did you know "SLATE" was once a favorite starting word? It was actually the optimal starting word according to some algorithms until it finally showed up as the answer. Now? It’s retired. Done. Using "SLATE" as your first guess now is purely a reconnaissance mission. You’re looking for the yellow and green, but the dream of the "Ace" is dead for that specific word.
The Evolution of the "Killer" Word
What makes a word difficult? It’s rarely the letters themselves. It’s the "trap."
Think about the "_IGHT" trap. If the word is "NIGHT," but you haven't used the letters for "LIGHT," "MIGHT," "FIGHT," "SIGHT," or "TIGHT," you are statistically likely to lose your streak. Tracking the wordle words that have been used allows you to see which of those variations are already off the table. If "LIGHT" and "MIGHT" are gone, your odds of survival just jumped by 40%.
- ER Trap: Words ending in ER (WAFER, TIGER, CATER)
- Double Letters: Words like "MUMMY" or "SISSY" (These are streak-killers)
- Vowel Heavy: "ADIEU" is a popular opener, but it hasn't been the answer yet.
Actually, let's talk about "ADIEU." Thousands of people use it every single day. It’s efficient for clearing vowels. But as a solution? It’s a polarizing choice for the editors. It feels almost too "meta" at this point.
Why the NYT Changes Matter
When the transition happened from Wardle’s original site to the Times, there was a lot of conspiracy-theory-level chatter. "They made it harder!" "They’re using weird words now!"
The truth is a bit more nuanced. The NYT actually removed some words from the original list. They cut things that were potentially offensive or used British spellings that might confuse a primarily American audience (though they’ve kept plenty of others). They also removed some obscure ones. So, the pool of wordle words that have been used is actually being pulled from a slightly smaller, more refined bucket than the one Josh Wardle first built.
They also occasionally skip words. If a word is too close to a major tragic news event, they’ll swap it out at the last minute. This happened with "FETUS" around the time of the Roe v. Wade leak. It creates this weird living history within the game.
The Strategy of Not Guessing the Answer
Wait, what?
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Yeah. Sometimes, the best way to handle the remaining list of words is to intentionally guess a word you know has already been used.
If you are on guess four and you’re stuck between three possible words—say, "BOUND," "FOUND," and "HOUND"—guessing one of them is a 33% shot. If you miss, you might not have enough guesses left to find the right one. Instead, you guess a "throwaway" word that contains B, F, and H. Even if that throwaway word was one of the wordle words that have been used last year, it doesn't matter. Its job is to give you information, not to be the winner.
This is where casual players and "pro" players diverge. The pro players treat the past winners list like a cemetery. They visit it to learn, but they don't expect any life there.
How to Check Your Remaining Options
You don't need to memorize 1,000+ words. That’s insane. Nobody has time for that.
Instead, look for patterns in the wordle words that have been used. You’ll notice the editors love words with "Y" at the end. They love a good double consonant. They rarely use plurals ending in "S" (like "CATS" or "DOGS"). In fact, standard plurals are almost never the solution. If you’re guessing "TREES," you’re probably wasting a guess.
- Use a tracker. There are several community-maintained spreadsheets that log every daily Wordle.
- Analyze your openers. If your favorite starting word hasn't been used yet, keep using it! Your day will come.
- Watch the NYT Wordle Bot. After the game, the bot will tell you how many possible words were left. If it says "1," and you still missed it, it’s usually because you guessed a word that was already used months ago.
The game is as much about linguistics as it is about memory. As we get deeper into the late 2020s, the "easy" words will vanish. We are going to be left with the weird stuff. The "SKIRL"s and "QUELP"s of the world (if those even make the cut).
Real World Examples of Recent Wordle Struggles
A few months back, the word was "SNAIL." Simple, right? But the amount of people who guessed "STAIN" or "SLAIN" first was staggering. If those players had known "STAIN" was already in the wordle words that have been used archive, they could have pivoted their second guess and saved their streak.
Then there was "RIPER." That one caused a minor meltdown on Twitter (or X, whatever). People hated it. It felt clunky. But "RIPER" was a valid, unused word sitting in the database just waiting to ruin someone's 200-day win streak. It's these comparative adjectives that usually get people. They feel like "filler" words, but in the world of Wordle, they are deadly.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Game
Stop flying blind. If you want to actually improve your score and stop losing to "silly" words, change your workflow.
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First, audit your starting word. Search a database of wordle words that have been used to see if your go-to opener has already hit the jackpot. If it has, pick a new one. There is no reason to start every day with a word that can't win. Try "TRACE," "CRANE," or "SLANT" if they’re still available.
Second, when you're down to two options, google it. Seriously. Just type "Has [word] been used in Wordle?" It takes five seconds and can save a year-long streak. It’s not "cheating" if you’ve already narrowed it down yourself; it’s just checking the record.
Third, learn the "NYT Style." They lean toward words that are evocative. They like "GLOOM," "SHINE," and "STORM." They stay away from overly technical or scientific terms. If your potential guess feels like it belongs in a chemistry textbook rather than a 19th-century novel, it’s probably not the answer.
Lastly, embrace the burn. Eventually, the list will run out. The NYT will either have to repeat words, or they’ll have to dig into the truly obscure corners of the dictionary. When that happens, the players who have been paying attention to the wordle words that have been used will be the only ones left standing.
Check the archives. Pivot your strategy. Keep that streak alive.