You're probably here because you've got two guesses left, a grid full of yellow squares, and a rising sense of dread. It happens. December 12 brings us Wordle 1271, and honestly, it’s one of those days where the New York Times reminds us that English is a deeply weird language. If you are staring at your screen in a cold sweat, don't worry. Most people are struggling with this one because it hits that annoying sweet spot of being a common word that uses a very frustrating vowel construction.
Wordle isn't just about knowing words. It's about probability. Every day, thousands of players log onto the NYT Games site or app, and every day, a good chunk of them lose their streaks to words that feel "easy" once you see them but are nightmares to deduce. Today is no different.
The December 12 Wordle Answer is MIGHT
The answer to Wordle 1271 for December 12 is MIGHT.
It’s a heavy hitter. It functions as both a modal verb (as in, "I might go to the store") and a noun representing power or strength. While the word itself is something you probably say ten times a day, it’s a mechanical trap in the context of a five-letter puzzle.
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Why MIGHT Is Actually a Disaster for Your Streak
Let’s talk about the "IGHT" trap. This is the stuff of Wordle nightmares. When you get those last four letters—I, G, H, and T—you feel like a genius. You think you’ve won. Then you realize you’re standing in a minefield.
Think about the possibilities. You could have light, night, fight, right, sight, tight, or wight. If you have three guesses left and you’ve locked in those four letters, you are basically flipping a coin. This is where most people lose their 100-day streaks. They guess "Right" and it's wrong. They guess "Light" and it's wrong. Suddenly, they're out of tries.
Josh Wardle, the original creator, designed the game to be simple, but the move to the New York Times and the curation by editor Tracy Bennett has introduced a bit more intentionality in how these "trap" words appear. You have to be tactical. If you find yourself in the "IGHT" hole early on, the smartest move is often to burn a guess on a word that uses as many of those starting consonants as possible. A word like FORMS or FILMS could help you eliminate Fight, Light, and Might all at once. It feels counterintuitive to guess a word you know isn't the answer, but in Wordle, sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.
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Breaking Down the Strategy for Dec 12
If you haven't solved it yet and are looking for a nudge without the full spoiler (well, if you skipped the header above), consider your vowels. Today only uses one: I.
The placement of the G and H is what usually trips people up. In English, the "gh" combination is often a silent vestige of Old English. It doesn't follow the phonetic rules we teach kids in kindergarten. When you see that green G in the middle, your brain might scramble to put a vowel after it. Resist that.
- Starting Word Performance: If you started with ADIEU, you only found the I. That's a rough start.
- The STARE approach: If you used the popular STARE or SLATE, you likely got the T and maybe some nothingness.
- The Vibe: Today’s word feels sturdy. It’s a word of capability.
Data from WordleBot, the NYT’s internal analyzer, often shows that words ending in "T" have a slightly higher solve rate, but the "IGHT" cluster specifically drags the average guess count up to about 4.2 or 4.5. Most days hover around 3.8. You aren't bad at the game; the math is just against you today.
A Look Back at Recent Wordles
Looking at the trajectory of December so far, the NYT has been leaning into words that have common suffixes. We’ve seen a lot of "ER" and "Y" endings lately. MIGHT breaks that pattern by going for a consonant-heavy finish.
If you look back at historical data from 2023 and 2024, December usually features at least one "holiday" adjacent word, but mostly it’s a mix of mid-tier difficulty nouns. Last year, around this time, we saw words like SHAFT and CHUCK. The game isn't necessarily getting harder, but the "pool" of remaining words is shrinking. There are only about 2,300 words in the original solution list. We are well over 1,200 days into this phenomenon.
Expert Tips for Tomorrow’s Puzzle
Don't let the "IGHT" trauma affect your play tomorrow. Every day is a fresh start.
First, vary your starting word. If you always use CRANE, maybe try ARISE or PILOT. Changing your opener keeps your brain from falling into predictable patterns.
Second, pay attention to the "Yellow Letter" logic. If you have a yellow I in the second spot, don't just move it to the fourth spot. Try it in the third. Most five-letter English words have the vowel in the middle. It’s basic linguistics.
Third, take your time. There is no clock. People who play Wordle at 12:01 AM often have lower success rates than those who play over their morning coffee. Fatigue leads to "hard mode" errors where you repeat letters that you already know are grey.
Actionable Steps for Wordle Success
If you want to protect your streak through the rest of December, follow these specific protocols. They aren't just guesses; they are based on letter frequency analysis used by competitive players.
- The "Trap" Detection: If you see a pattern like _ _ _ _ T or _ O _ _ E, stop. Do not guess another word that fits that pattern. Write down all the possible letters that could fit the empty slots. If there are more than three, use your next turn to guess a "filler" word that contains those possible consonants.
- Vowel Hunting: Use a second word that contains O and U if your first word only had A or E. Missing a "U" is often what prevents people from seeing words like GUILD or MOUNT.
- Letter Frequency: Remember that S, T, R, N, and E are the most common letters in the Wordle dictionary. If you are stuck, try to build a word using what's left of that group.
- Stay Calm: It’s a game about five-letter words. Even if you lose the streak today because of the MIGHT/LIGHT/NIGHT cluster, you can start a new one tomorrow.
Keep your head in the game and keep those consonants moving. The "IGHT" words are some of the toughest hurdles in the game, but once you identify the pattern, you can outsmart the algorithm.