![X Highlights Back-to-School Marketing Opportunities [Infographic]](https://imgproxy.divecdn.com/dM1TxaOzbLu_kb9YjLpd7P_E_B_FkFsuKp2uSGPS5i8/g:ce/rs:fit:770:435/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS94X2JhY2tfdG9fc2Nob29sMi5wbmc=.webp)
NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1454, Thursday, June 12
Looking for Wordle hints? I can help. Plus get the answers to Wordle today and yesterday.
A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here.
It's time for your guide to today's Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don't think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? TechRadar's Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our verdict on two of the New York Times' other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today's Wordle answer and hints are below, so don't read on if you don't want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #1454) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in two places*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1454) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is V.
V is a fairly uncommon starting letter in Wordle. There are only 43 answers that begin with a V, and it ranks just 16th.
Wordle hints (game #1454) - clue #3 - repeated letters
Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are no repeated letters in today's Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.
Wordle hints (game #1454) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is N.
N is a pretty common ending letter in Wordle: it's the seventh most likely in that position and features in 130 solutions.
Wordle hints (game #1454) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1454.
- Today's Wordle answer is a specific female animal.
If you just want to know today's Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I'd always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We've got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don't want to know today's answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don't say you weren't warned!
Today's Wordle answer (game #1454)
- NYT average score: 4.4
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 96
- My luck score: 48
- My start word performance: ENEMY (140 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (90)
- Tomorrow's start word: VEGAN
Today's Wordle answer (game #1454) is… VIXEN.
Though I have a tendency to overcomplicate Wordle, it really is a simple game at heart. For instance, the less common the letters in the answer, the harder it is to find – obviously.
Case in point: VIXEN, which contains a V and an X, and which duly has an average score of a mighty 4.4.
X is of course the third least common letter in the game, as shown in my analysis of every Wordle answer. V, meanwhile, is the fifth least common. To have them both in the same word… well, that's not going to make life easier for us.
Still, on the plus side there are not too many other words that are similarly spelled. The -I-EN format has plenty of other options – for instance GIVEN and SIREN – but there are no other VI-EN or -IXEN words, as far as I'm aware.
My game started poorly with ENEMY, which left 140, but got better quickly. My follow up was TONER, which I played to guard against that ER format, and though I was on the wrong path it cut the shortlist to 16.
At least that's what WordleBot said later; I didn't find that many myself. In fact, I only came up with seven: ASHEN, WIDEN, GIVEN, HAVEN, VIXEN, WAXEN and NAVEL.
I decided to play the last of those, because V was a common inclusion among them, and made good progress: the V turned yellow. After a couple of minutes of further deliberation I realized that VIXEN was indeed the only remaining word and played it next for a satisfactory four.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1453)
In a different time zone where it's still Wednesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1453, too.
- Wordle yesterday had vowels in two places.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
- The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
- There were no repeated letters in yesterday's Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.
- The last letter in yesterday's Wordle was D.
D is a fairly common letter to end a Wordle answer: it's the eighth most likely to be in that position in a solution.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1453.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer is a pattern.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1453)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 4
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My skill score: 93
- My luck score: 44
- My start word performance: CLOUT (83 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (59)
- Tomorrow's start word: ENEMY
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1453) was… PLAID.
I fully embraced the PLAID shirt trend of the 1990s, to the extent that by about 1996 I must have owned about 15 of them, which I rotated through the many gigs I went to at which plaid-shirted kids watched plaid-shirted bands play angsty grunge rock.
I can no longer fit into any of those shirts, sadly, but the word remains lodged in my consciousness and maybe that helped me to a four today.
Or it could just be that PLAID is a fairly easy Wordle, more so than Tuesday's TAFFY for sure. That game finished with a 4.5 average (down from 4.8 when I wrote my column), but today's is only at 3.4. If it stays there, it will be one of the easiest we've had all year.
Why so simple? Well for starters, TRAIN left only six options. Though this word sits just outside the top 20 best Wordle start words, according to WordleBot, it is regularly one of the most popular choices, so that will have skewed the numbers. The fact that AUDIO left only eight will have had a bigger impact still, while ADIEU left 15 for good measure.
It won't necessarily have been difficult even if you didn't start with one of those words. The biggest complication is the fact that the PLAI- pattern has a few alternatives in the form of PLAIN and PLAIT, while if you dropped the P you'd also get the likes of FLAIL and CLAIM.
My game progressed without any yellows, which happens more often than you might think and which always leads to a nice clean board. These things please me.
CLOUT, my first guess, left 83 and gave me a green L, and my follow-up SNARE added an A and cut that to seven. I found only three of them, though: FLAIL, LLAMA and PLAID, missing PLAZA, FLAKY, PLAYA and GLAMP.
That impacted my next guess, because FLAIL would have correctly guaranteed me a four based on my shortlisted words, but in reality might have left me a three-way choice.
Fortunately, that didn't happen; when the LAI pattern turned green in the middle, PLAID became the only possible answer so I scored a four anyway.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than three years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday's answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
- Wordle #1453, Wednesday 11 June: PLAID
- Wordle #1452, Tuesday 10 June: TAFFY
- Wordle #1451, Monday 9 June: BOARD
- Wordle #1450, Sunday 8 June: LEASE
- Wordle #1449, Saturday 7 June: REUSE
- Wordle #1448, Friday 6 June: EDIFY
- Wordle #1447, Thursday 5 June: DATUM
- Wordle #1446, Wednesday 4 June: CEASE
- Wordle #1445, Tuesday 3 June: ADMIN
- Wordle #1444, Monday 2 June: PREEN
- Wordle #1443, Sunday 1 June: ROUGH
- Wordle #1442, Saturday 31 May: HABIT
- Wordle #1441, Friday 30 May: IDIOM
- Wordle #1440, Thursday 29 May: QUASH
- Wordle #1439, Wednesday 28 May: POLAR
- Wordle #1438, Tuesday 27 May: SPORT
- Wordle #1437, Monday 26 May: DRONE
- Wordle #1436, Sunday 25 May: GRIFT
- Wordle #1435, Saturday 24 May: SUEDE
- Wordle #1434, Friday 23 May: SHUCK
- Wordle #1433, Thursday 22 May: FOLIO
- Wordle #1432, Wednesday 21 May: ALARM
- Wordle #1431, Tuesday 20 May: BORNE
- Wordle #1430, Monday 19 May: PITCH
- Wordle #1429, Sunday 18 May: LIVID
- Wordle #1428, Saturday 17 May: GROWN
- Wordle #1427, Friday 16 May: FIFTH
- Wordle #1426, Thursday 15 May: EAGER
- Wordle #1425, Wednesday 14 May: BONGO
- Wordle #1424, Tuesday 13 May: AWARE
- Wordle #1423, Monday 12 May: BICEP
- Wordle #1422, Sunday 11 May: DOWEL
- Wordle #1421, Saturday 10 May: YEAST
- Wordle #1420, Friday 9 May: TRIPE
- Wordle #1419, Thursday 8 May: BALMY
- Wordle #1418, Wednesday 7 May: MACHO
- Wordle #1417, Tuesday 6 May: SUITE
- Wordle #1416, Monday 5 May: SHUSH
- Wordle #1415, Sunday 4 May: TROUT
- Wordle #1414, Saturday 3 May: PATSY
- Wordle #1413, Friday 2 May: WHOSE
- Wordle #1412, Thursday 1 May: ADEPT
- Wordle #1411, Wednesday 30 April: IDLER
- Wordle #1410, Tuesday 29 April: BLISS
- Wordle #1409, Monday 28 April: DUMMY
- Wordle #1408, Sunday 27 April: WEEDY
- Wordle #1407, Saturday 26 April: CLASH
- Wordle #1406, Friday 25 April: KNOWN
- Wordle #1405, Thursday 24 April: GENIE
- Wordle #1404, Wednesday 23 April: OZONE
- Wordle #1403, Tuesday 22 April: ARTSY
What is Wordle?
If you're on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you've not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it's the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2025.
We've got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics. Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it's in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh? It's played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times' Games app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free. Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak. The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure. 1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green. 2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray. 4. Answers are never plural. 5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green. 6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance. 7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode. 8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle. 9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone. 10. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions. However… 11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won't be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess. 12. The NYT has added in some of its own words, that weren't in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.What is Wordle?
What are the Wordle rules?
