Today’s Wordle hints – answer, clues and tips for game #837, Wednesday, October 4

It’s time for your daily round of Wordle hints, expertly crafted to help you keep your streak going even on the toughest of days. 

You might think that you don’t need any clues for Wordle today, but remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.   

Below, you’ll find a selection of Wordle hints to guide you in the right direction. You don’t have to use them all, but there are five in total should you need them, covering vowels, starting letter, ending letter and more. And if you don’t have time to play at all, you can see the answer, too. 

Want more word-based fun? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, which remains the best of all the main Wordle alternatives.

SPOILER WARNING: Wordle hints and today’s answer are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.

Wordle hints (game #837) – clue #1 – Vowels

How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?

Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.

* 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 #837) – clue #2 – first letter

What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?

The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is S.

S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. In fact, it’s almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.

Wordle hints (game #837) – 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 #837) – clue #4 – ending letter

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

The last letter in today’s Wordle is T.

T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.

Wordle hints (game #837) – clue #5 – last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #837.

  • Today’s Wordle answer is a sudden gush.

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 #837)

Wordle answer 837 on a yellow background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s Wordle answer (game #837) is… SPURT.

This puzzle is a good example of why playing cautiously can be the best way to maximize your score. Or at the very least, it’s a good example of why I tend to play cautiously.

WordleBot says it has an average of 3.5 – making it an undeniably easy game compared to some. And there are no real complications here, beyond the fact that it has only one vowel, a single U. This is the least common of the five standard vowels, and doesn’t tend feature in as many opening guesses as A, E, I or O.

That’s not enough to make it difficult, though. As the 3.5 average indicates, for most people this will be a straightforward one to solve.

Even so, I could easily have ended up with a 4/6 if I’d approached it in a different way.

I had an incredibly fortunate start, with STARE, my choice of the best Wordle starting words, leaving me with just six possible answers: SPORT, SPURT, SNORT, SHORT, SHIRT and SKIRT. The temptation to try to solve it on the second guess was strong.

But which one to go for? I’d probably have chosen SHORT, SPORT or SHIRT, but either one might have left me with a 50/50 or worse. Whereas instead, I played PHONE – a word chosen because it eliminated all of the possibilities and guaranteed me a 3/6.

So, let’s take a look at what would have happened if I hadn’t gone with PHONE.

If I’d guessed SHORT, I would have had S–RT after my second attempt. That would have left me with SKIRT or SPURT for my third – a simple 50/50. I’d probably have played SKIRT next, and would ultimately have scored a 4/6.

If I’d have gone with SHIRT? Well, that would also have left S–RT, but this time I’d have had a choice of a SPORT, SNORT or SPURT. Again, I’d probably have scored a 4/6.

Things would have been slightly better if I’d gone with SPORT; I would have had SP-RT and a guaranteed 3/6. But that’s no better than what I eventually ended up scoring. A 1/6 chance might sound like a good one, but that still means you have a 5/6 chance of getting it wrong. Play the odds and you’ll probably come out on top more often than not.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know. 


Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #836)

In a different time zone where it’s still Tuesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #836, 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 W.

W is a fairly average letter when it comes to starting an answer. There are 82 solutions that begin with a W, with means that it ranks 13th – so right in the middle of the alphabet.

  • 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 E.

E is the most common letter to end a Wordle answer by far. That’s one of the reasons why many of the best start words, including SLATE, CRANE, CRATE and STARE, all end with one.

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #836.

  • Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a period of time.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #836)

Wordle answer 836 on a yellow background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #836) was… WHILE.

This was a nice relief after four tricky Wordles in a row. I always prefer the game when it’s on the tougher side of things, but a respite is welcome before we hopefully have a few toughies later in the week.

WHILE has an average score of 3.7, according to WordleBot, which places it well below the 4.0 mark which generally marks the point at which games become a bit more difficult. 

However, a low score doesn’t in itself guarantee that everyone will have found it easy. It can be the case that some people found it very, very easy while others may have struggled – for instance a word like STONE, which had an average score of just 3.4, was particularly easy for people who (like me) began with STARE, but may not have been easy overall. Across all the games played the average will be low, but there may be some very low scores and some quite high ones.

I doubt that will be the case for WHILE, which is probably reasonably easy for most people without being super-easy for anyone. Not many of the best Wordle starting words will have helped; STALE left just 15 possibles and SLATE 26, but none of the top choice reduced the list to single figures. Much of that will be connected to the fact that W is an uncommon letter in Wordle (and in the alphabet in general). It’s ranked 21st overall, and though it’s the 13th most common starting letter in an answer, few people will play it early in the game. 

My starting word, STARE, left 106 possible answers, so I needed a good second guess. And I got it in the form of CHILD. The thinking behind that was that simply that lots of the words I’d identified contained those letters – for instance CLONE, CLIME, CHOKE, CHIDE, GLIDE, LEDGE, WHOLE, WHILE, PLUME and so on. There were far too many for me to find them all, but I had enough to see that those were good letters to include.

WordleBot said it was “a solid guess and a lucky one” – it awarded me 87/99 for skill but 91 for luck, and said it would have played LINGO. But it certainly was lucky, because it left just one remaining solution, whereas LINGO would have left five. Result!

I could see right away that the answer had to be WHILE, so played that next for a 3/6 – and beat WordleBot too.


Wordle answers: The past 50

I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than a year 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 #836, Tuesday 3 October: WHILE
  • Wordle #835, Monday 2 October: MERRY
  • Wordle #834, Sunday 1 October: BERET
  • Wordle #833, Saturday 30 September: DADDY
  • Wordle #832, Friday 29 September: AZURE
  • Wordle #831, Thursday 28 September: COACH
  • Wordle #830, Wednesday 27 September: SMILE
  • Wordle #829, Tuesday 26 September: LOYAL
  • Wordle #828, Monday 25 September: ROCKY
  • Wordle #827, Sunday 24 September: RIGHT
  • Wordle #826, Saturday 23 September: CAROL
  • Wordle #825, Friday 22 September: BRUSH
  • Wordle #824, Thursday 21 September: STONE
  • Wordle #823, Wednesday 20 September: SNARE
  • Wordle #822, Tuesday 19 September: CLOSE
  • Wordle #821, Monday 18 September: FRANK
  • Wordle #820, Sunday 17 September: MUSIC
  • Wordle #819, Saturday 16 September: ANGEL
  • Wordle #818, Friday 15 September: EXERT
  • Wordle #817, Thursday 14 September: RAYON
  • Wordle #816, Wednesday 13 September: CLEAR
  • Wordle #815, Tuesday 12 September: WHISK
  • Wordle #814, Monday 11 September: OLDER
  • Wordle #813, Sunday 10 September: QUOTE
  • Wordle #812, Saturday 9 September: LUCKY
  • Wordle #811, Friday 8 September: ROUSE
  • Wordle #810, Thursday 7 September: DWELL
  • Wordle #809, Wednesday 6 September: GNASH
  • Wordle #808, Tuesday 5 September: BIRCH
  • Wordle #807, Monday 4 September: GIDDY
  • Wordle #806, Sunday 3 September: AWAIT
  • Wordle #805, Saturday 2 September: ONION
  • Wordle #804, Friday 1 September: SPACE
  • Wordle #803, Thursday 31 August: BRIDE
  • Wordle #802, Wednesday 30 August: AUDIO
  • Wordle #801, Tuesday 29 August: CAPER
  • Wordle #800, Monday 28 August: WRITE
  • Wordle #799, Sunday 27 August: PEACE
  • Wordle #798, Saturday 26 August: CHOIR
  • Wordle #797, Friday 25 August: OCEAN
  • Wordle #796, Thursday 24 August: WORDY
  • Wordle #795, Wednesday 23 August: VERVE
  • Wordle #794, Tuesday 22 August: SPICE
  • Wordle #793, Monday 21 August: BEACH
  • Wordle #792, Sunday 20 August: QUEST
  • Wordle #791, Saturday 19 August: MAGMA
  • Wordle #790, Friday 18 August: EXACT
  • Wordle #789, Thursday 17 August: AMISS
  • Wordle #788, Wednesday 16 August: SCRUB
  • Wordle #787, Tuesday 15 August: INDEX
  • Wordle #786, Monday 14 August: SNAKY

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 2023.

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.

What is Wordle?

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’ Crossword 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.

What are the Wordle rules?

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.