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How Many Vowels in Today's Wordle
Knowing how many vowels are in the word can really help you narrow down possible letters. It sets the stage for how many consonant slots you're looking to fill.
Updated Fresh Today for (#1886)
Wordle Hint Today: Answer, Clues & Everything Else for Tuesday, August 18, 2026 (#1886)
Looking for a wordle hint today that doesn't spoil the whole puzzle in the first sentence? You're in the right place. This page works through today's Wordle in stages — starting with the gentlest possible nudge and only revealing the full answer once you've had a fair shot at solving #1886 yourself.
Last updated:
Puzzle
#1886
Rating
Medium+
Six clues
Wordle Hints For Today (Work Through In Order)
Start at Hint 1 and stop the moment you've got enough to solve it yourself. Each hint gives away a little more than the last.
2
First Letter of Wordle Today
The opening letter is a huge clue! It immediately chops down the list of potential words, making your next guess much more targeted.
3
Last Letter of Wordle Today
The final letter reveals a word's morphological structure. It helps you visualize the suffix patterns so you can narrow down options.
4
Does Today's Wordle Have a Double Letter
Repeated letters can be a little sneaky because they're easy to miss if you're not specifically looking for them. Knowing they exist changes your guess tactics.
5
Second Letter of Wordle Today
Uncovering the second letter fills in even more of the puzzle, connecting directly with your starting letter to form a solid two-letter framework.
6
Wordle Meaning Hint Today
Sometimes, the best way to crack the code is to think about words that fit a certain definition. This hint should give you a clear direction.
Bonus clue
Picture Clue
A visual that hints at the answer. No letters, just the idea.
Picture clue is hidden.
Open it when the text hints have done all they can.
Answer
Today's Wordle Answer (Spoiler)
Ready for the answer? Reveal the tiles one at a time, or open the whole thing when you are done guessing.
Difficulty
How Hard Was Today's Puzzle?
Medium+
I would call this Medium+ because of its letter mix and how quickly the pattern can come together.
This rating looks at vowels, repeated letters, and uncommon letters. Today's word lands at Medium+ because those pieces decide how much room your guesses have.
Practice
Best Wordle Starting Words
There's no single opener that wins every day. But over the long run, a handful of openers consistently outperform random guesses because they test high-frequency letters across Wordle.
SLATE
Frequently ranked by computer algorithms as the mathematically optimal Wordle opener. It combines three high-frequency consonants (S, L, T) with two vital vowels (A, E). Starting with SLATE eliminates the largest pool of potential words on average, giving you a strong diagnostic foundation.
CRANE
Recommended by the official New York Times Wordle Bot as a top-tier opening word. It tests the vowels A and E alongside common consonants C, R, and N. It offers superb structural feedback for typical English word frames, making your second guess much more targeted.
TRACE
Highly recommended by algorithmic solvers using entropy metrics. It targets extremely common consonant patterns (T, R, C) and is especially useful for uncovering popular word endings like -ACE, -ATE, and -ARE that a surprising number of solutions share.
AUDIO
The premier vowel-heavy opener, testing four of the five main English vowels (A, U, I, O) in a single turn. While it doesn't give much consonant feedback, it immediately maps out the vowel skeleton of the target word, which pays off big on vowel-rich days.
RAISE
An exceptionally strong opener that prioritizes letter frequency. S appears in roughly 36% of all Wordle solutions, and the combination of R, S, and three vowels (A, I, E) provides immediate spatial feedback to help filter out candidates rapidly.
STARE
A balanced powerhouse that combines the most common English consonants (S, T, R) with key vowels (A, E) in standard columns. This opener provides a perfect balance of consonant and vowel info, helping you structure your guesses systematically.
Statistical Opener Insights: Worth knowing: some words that feel like smart openers simply because they are common in everyday English — think ABOUT, BEACH, or COULD — actually perform worse than average once you run the numbers, because their letters cluster in ways that don't eliminate much. Familiarity and statistical usefulness aren't the same thing, so it's worth occasionally trying an opener that looks a little strange on paper (ROATE, SALET, ORATE) purely because it splits the remaining word list more evenly than a "normal" word would.
Tips
Quick Strategy Tips
1.Maximize Letter Diversity Early: Use two completely different words across your first two guesses (testing 10 unique letters) rather than trying to solve the puzzle in guess two. Opening with words like SLATE and CHINO covers a huge portion of the alphabet and narrows down the solution list exponentially.
2.Treat Gray Tiles as Vital Clues: Gray tiles are just as informative as green or yellow ones because they eliminate letters from the board. Keep a mental list of excluded letters and never waste a guess on words that contain them—reusing gray letters is the most common way players lose their daily streak.
3.Reposition Yellow Letters Strategically: A yellow tile indicates that the letter is in the word but in a different position. Do not keep it in the same column on your next turn; actively try it in columns where you haven't tested it yet to lock down its correct placement.
4.Anticipate Repeated Letters: A significant portion of Wordle solutions contain duplicated letters (like APPLE, SWEET, or CLASS). If you are stuck after three guesses, keep in mind that a letter you've already placed might appear a second time in a different slot.
5.Target Common Word Endings: Pay close attention to high-frequency suffixes and vowel pairings as you narrow down candidates. Patterns like -IGHT, -OUND, -ATCH, and -ATE represent a massive block of the Wordle dictionary, so look for consonant combinations that complete these structures.
6.Deploy the "Burn" Guess Tactic: When faced with a trap pattern like _IGHT (FIGHT, MIGHT, SIGHT, TIGHT, NIGHT), do not guess blindly. Play a word that contains as many of those missing consonants as possible (like FLING to test F, L, N) to narrow down the answer in a single, safe turn.
Yesterday
Yesterday's Wordle Answer
Reading this from a time zone where your puzzle already flipped over, or just want to compare notes? Wordle resets at midnight in your own local time zone rather than on one single global clock, so if that word doesn't match what you just solved, check the puzzle number inside your game — you're probably a day ahead or behind whoever's reading this with you.
Puzzle #1885 (2026-08-17)
TRIBE
Archive
Past Wordle Answers (Last 20 Days)
Keeping track of recent answers is a genuinely useful habit. Wordle has started reusing words from earlier in its run now that it's been going for years, so knowing what's already appeared recently helps you rule out guesses that feel "too recent" to reappear — and settles arguments about whether a word's been used before.
| Date | Puzzle | Word | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-17 | #1885 | TRIBE | Medium |
| 2026-08-16 | #1884 | ASPIC | Medium |
| 2026-08-15 | #1883 | LOOSE | Medium+ |
| 2026-08-14 | #1882 | GEODE | Medium+ |
| 2026-08-13 | #1881 | CRASH | Medium+ |
| 2026-08-12 | #1880 | WIMPY | Medium+ |
| 2026-08-11 | #1879 | FENCE | Medium+ |
How to Play
How To Play Wordle
New here, or just want the refresher? Wordle gives you six attempts to guess a secret five-letter word, and every guess has to be a valid English word itself — you can't just type random letters and hope.
6 Simple Steps to Play
1
Enter a starting word
Type in a five-letter word to begin. It must be a valid word from the dictionary.
2
Observe the tile feedback
Each letter tile will change color to show how close your guess was.
3
Lock in green letters
Keep green letters in their exact positions for your next guesses.
4
Move yellow letters
Reposition letters that turned yellow to find where they belong.
5
Avoid gray letters
Rule out letters that turned gray to narrow down the remaining alphabet.
6
Solve within 6 tries
Keep guessing until you find the correct word or run out of attempts.
Understanding the Colors:
Indicator 1:🟩 Green — right letter, right position. Keep it locked there for future guesses.
Indicator 2:🟨 Yellow — right letter, wrong position. Try it somewhere else next guess.
Indicator 3:⬜ Gray — the letter isn't in the word at all.
Everyone in the world gets the same word each day, and the puzzle resets at midnight local time — which is exactly why "today's" answer can differ depending on where in the world you're reading this from. Once you finish, Wordle generates a spoiler-free grid of colored squares you can share without giving the actual letters away.
Trivia & Facts
A Few Things Worth Knowing About Wordle
Who made it, and who owns it now
Software engineer Josh Wardle built Wordle in 2021, originally as a private game to share with his partner, before releasing it publicly that October. It went viral in early 2022, and The New York Times bought it for a seven-figure sum a few weeks later. Both Wardle and the Times have said the game will stay free to play.
The very first answer
When Wordle quietly launched in June 2021, the debut word was CIGAR — trivia that comes in handy approximately never, except as a fun fact for streak-obsessed friends.
There's an actual human curating the word list
Since late 2022, the Times has employed a dedicated Wordle editor, Tracy Bennett, whose job includes pulling overly obscure or inappropriate words out of the answer pool so the daily puzzle stays fair for a general audience.
The word list favors American spelling and tends to skip easy answers
Wordle's dictionary is built around American English, and the Times generally avoids using plain plural nouns (ending in -S or -ES) or simple past-tense verbs (ending in -ED) as answers, even though you're free to guess those forms yourself. It's part of why some answers feel a little less "obvious" than a random five-letter word would.
Repeats do happen now
Early on, Wordle avoided reusing any past answer. With well over four years of daily puzzles behind it, occasional repeats have crept back in — so "that word's already been used" isn't the ironclad rule of thumb it once was.
More Games
Looking For Something Else To Play?
If Wordle's your daily starting point but you want more, the Times' own lineup includes Connections (group 16 words into four hidden categories) and Strands (a themed word search with a bonus "spangram"). Outside the Times, Quordle and Octordle scale the same green/yellow/gray mechanic up to four or eight words at once, Dordle does it with two, and Worldle swaps letters for world geography if you'd rather guess countries than words.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
STRIP — that's the confirmed answer for Wordle #1886 on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
TRIBE, for puzzle #1885 on 2026-08-17.
No. The official game only gives you green, yellow, and gray feedback after each guess — no built-in clues or definitions. That gap is exactly why pages like this one exist.
It depends entirely on why you're playing. If Wordle is a relaxed daily habit, checking a hint or the answer costs you nothing but a little pride. If you're competing with friends or trying to protect a personal-best streak built on your own solving, using a hint takes something away from that specific goal — but there's no scoreboard enforcing it either way.
There's no sign of it. The Times has kept expanding its puzzle lineup around Wordle rather than retiring it, and the pool of common five-letter English words is large enough that running out isn't a near-term concern.
Usually a browser or connection hiccup rather than a problem with the game itself. Try refreshing the page, clearing your browser cache, or checking whether NYT Games is reporting a wider outage. If you're playing offline or in airplane mode, your streak may not save until you reconnect.
American. If you're used to British spellings, this occasionally matters for your guesses — though not for today's answer.
Always five. Answers are also always common, valid English words, so you'll never see proper nouns, abbreviations, or obscure technical jargon.
Yes, the official NYT Wordle Bot is free to access, though some advanced features might require a New York Times subscription depending on your account state.
The official NYT app only lets you play the current day's puzzle, but there are unofficial archives and tools online that let you play older puzzles.
Hard Mode forces you to use any revealed hints (greens and yellows) in all subsequent guesses. This prevents you from making diagnostic "burn" guesses.
Your score is simply the number of attempts it takes to guess the word (from 1 to 6). Most players aim for an average score between 3.5 and 4.5 guesses.
Check Back Tomorrow
This page updates every morning with a fresh wordle hint today, the confirmed answer, and an updated past-answers table — so if tomorrow's puzzle gets the better of you, you know where to find us. Good luck!