You’re probably here because that grid is looking a little too yellow and not nearly green enough. It happens. We’ve all been there, staring at the screen on a Monday morning, wondering if the New York Times editors are personally out to get us. Today's puzzle is one of those that feels easy until it suddenly isn’t.
Wordle answer April 8 is CLASH.
It’s a solid word. It’s common. But in the world of Wordle, common words can be the most dangerous because they share so many letter patterns with other words. If you missed it, don't sweat it. Even the pros get trapped in the "hard mode" cycle sometimes.
Breaking Down the Wordle Answer April 8
Let's look at why CLASH might have tripped you up.
First, the structure is a classic consonant blend. Starting with "CL" is very common in English, but it also opens the door to a dozen other possibilities like CLEAN, CLEAR, or CLICK. If you guessed "CLEAN" first, you likely saw that "C" and "L" light up green and thought you were on the home stretch.
Then comes the vowel. "A" is the most frequent vowel used in Wordle after "E." Using it in the middle spot is a standard move. But the ending—the "SH" digraph—is where the difficulty spikes.
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Digraphs are pairs of letters that make one sound. In Wordle, they are silent killers. You’re looking for individual letters, but your brain has to process the "SH" as a unit. If you were hunting for "S" and "H" separately, you might have wasted turns trying words like "SHIPS" or "HASPS" without realizing they belonged together at the end of the word.
The Strategy Behind Today's Puzzle
Most people use a starting word like ADIEU or STARE. If you used STARE today, you got that "A" in the middle, but everything else was grey. That’s a tough start. It leaves you with too many variables.
When you see a blank slate like that, the best move is to pivot to a word that uses high-frequency consonants like C, L, and H. Honestly, a word like "CHINS" or "LATCH" would have been a godsend for your second or third guess.
Why the Word CLASH Matters
In linguistic terms, CLASH is a powerful word. It’s an onomatopoeia—it sounds like what it describes. When two things hit each other, they clash. But in the context of April 8, it’s just a bunch of tiles.
There’s a specific psychological phenomenon called the "incubation effect" that helps with Wordle. If you’re stuck on guess four and can't see the Wordle answer April 8, put your phone down. Walk away. Make some coffee. When you come back, your brain has often rearranged the letters in the background. It’s why you sometimes see the answer instantly after struggling for twenty minutes.
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Avoid the Hard Mode Trap
If you play on Hard Mode, today was a nightmare. Hard mode forces you to use every hinted letter in your next guess. If you got "C-L-A" early, you were basically locked into a guessing game.
- CLACK
- CLANG
- CLASP
- CLASH
This is what Wordle players call a "word trap." You have four or five words that only differ by one or two letters. If you have three guesses left and four possible words, it becomes a game of pure luck. That’s not strategy; that’s a coin flip. To avoid this in the future, if you aren't on official Hard Mode, use your fourth guess to burn as many "trap" letters as possible. A word like "SPING" (if it were valid) or "PHONE" could help eliminate the S, H, or G in one go.
Looking Back at Recent Trends
The NYT has been leaning into words that feel "vibrant" lately. We’ve seen a lot of words with "Y" endings or double letters. CLASH is actually a bit of a departure from that. It’s a very "staccato" word.
Josh Wardle, the original creator, famously used a list of about 2,300 words for the daily puzzles. Since the New York Times took over, they’ve curated that list, occasionally removing words that are too obscure or potentially offensive. CLASH is a safely "safe" word, but its placement in the calendar—right at the start of the week—is a classic way to shake players out of their weekend fog.
Historically, the Wordle answer April 8 has been varied. In 2023, the word was SNARE. In 2022, it was BLACK. Notice a pattern? They love those five-letter words with "A" in the middle and strong consonant endings. It seems the editors have a "type" for this specific date in April.
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Expert Tips for Tomorrow
Since you've already dealt with today's word, you need to prep for tomorrow. Don't let a loss or a close call today mess with your head.
- Vary your openers. If STARE didn't work today, try something like TRACE or AUDIO tomorrow.
- Watch for the digraphs. After seeing "SH" today, be on the lookout for "CH," "TH," or "WH" in the coming days. They tend to come in clusters.
- The "Y" Factor. We haven't seen a "Y" at the end of a word in a few days. Statistically, we are due for a word like "LUCKY" or "FUNNY" soon.
The Wordle answer April 8 reminded us that even simple words can be complex. CLASH doesn't have any repeating letters, which usually makes a word easier, but the specific combination of the "CL" start and "SH" finish created a narrow path to victory.
Final Tactics for Consistent Wins
The key to long-term Wordle success isn't just knowing the answer for one day. It's about letter elimination. Think of the keyboard as a map. Your goal isn't necessarily to find the right letters, but to prove which letters are definitely wrong.
If you’re down to your last guess and you’re torn between two words, look at the letters you haven't used yet. Which one appears more frequently in the English language? "S" and "H" are much more common than "K" or "P." Usually, the NYT leans toward the more common letter unless they're feeling particularly mischievous.
Tomorrow is a new grid. Take what you learned from the Wordle answer April 8—the importance of checking for digraphs and avoiding the "trap" of similar endings—and apply it. You've got this. Keep your streak alive by playing the odds, not just your gut. Use your first two guesses to clear the board of major vowels (A, E, I, O) and the most common consonants (R, S, T, L, N). Once those are out of the way, the hidden patterns in the puzzle become much easier to spot.