Wordle can be both addictive and frustrating to the roughly 3 million people who play it. Many of us would love a little assistance getting to the answer.
Not cheating — just a hint or two.
To help you out, we’re providing clues to solve today’s puzzle, Wordle No. 608, and giving tried-and-true tips for playing the game in general.
Heads up, though: We’re also posting the answer to today’s Wordle.
For more on Wordle, check out the best Wordle strategy tips, some ideal starter words and a host of Wordle alternatives.
How do I play Wordle?
Correct letters in the right spot show up in green on the Wordle app.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Wordle is a daily word game invented by software engineer Josh Wardle in 2021. It’s now available on The New York Times website and app.
Players get six chances to guess a five-letter word. Unless you’re extremely lucky, that means entering a guess and learning what you can from the results to choose your next entry.
- The right letter in the correct spot shows up in a green box.
- A correct letter in the wrong spot appears in a yellow box.
- A letter that isn’t in the word at all shows up in a gray box.
Wordle tips
Even if you don’t want a clue to today’s answer, there are some best practices that can help you get to the finish line.
Choose a good first word. It’s nearly impossible to get the answer right out of the gate, so use your first guess strategically. Choose a word with three vowels — like orate, ratio or media.
Personally, I alternate between adieu and audio.
You also want to start out with a word that uses five different letters, to increase your odds of landing on some of the right ones.
Your guesses have to be real words. You might be tempted to randomly enter some commonly used letters to see if any are in the answer. Like, R, S, T, L, N and E — the letters provided to players on Wheel of Fortune.
But you’ll get a “Not in word list” message if you try.
Don’t pick SAT words. Wordle will sometimes use less common words — WOOER, KNOLL and REBUS have all been answers. But it’s rare for the solution to be a truly obscure term. (The words NINTH, APPLE, STAGE and GIANT were all Wordle answers during the week of Feb. 6.)
If you’re torn between a few different guesses, go for the more frequently used word.
Pick two very different words for your first two guesses. This one comes directly from The New York Times. Especially if your first answer doesn’t net a lot of clues, starting over with a new word with all new letters can help with the process of elimination.
Of course, it’ll also add to your overall score, so it really depends on how confident you are that you can solve the puzzle.
Wordle hints for Feb. 17
Hint 1: Today’s answer has two vowels.
Hint 2: There is one repeated letter
Hint 3: The word starts with the letter that repeats.
Hint 4: If you don’t clear this, there could be trouble.
What’s the Wordle answer for Feb. 17?
Still can’t get it? OK, we’ll tell you the answer to today’s Wordle. This is your last chance to look away.
Today’s word is…
Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images
CACHE
Cache has five definitions, according to Dictionary.com, most notably “a hiding place, especially one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.”