Meaning of the colours on Wordle explained for new players
William Smith
Updated on April 03, 2026
In October 2021, New York-based software engineer Josh Wardle launched Wordle. Little did he know, it would take over the world.
Most people have had a go at Wordle by now, but there are still some people who have been living under a rock and are yet to try the word game.
If that’s you, you’re probably a little confused about how the game works. Let’s start by explaining what the colours mean…
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Wordle colour meaning
When you guess a word, the letter tile will change colour to green, yellow or grey, which all mean different things.
- Green: The letter is right and in the correct position in the word.
- Yellow: The letter is correct but is in the wrong position.
- Grey: The letter is wrong and isn’t in the word at all.
How to play Wordle
The aim of the game is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts or fewer.
One puzzle gets released every day and everybody around the world is competing to guess the same word in the least number of tries.
To play, you need to guess words and use the colours to help you work out what the answer is.
It’s really important that you choose a good starting word to give you the best chance of guessing the word in six tries.
The best starting words are ones with lots of vowels or common letters. Find a full list of the best beginning words here.
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New York Times buys Wordle
Wordle was launched in October 2021 by a New-York-based software engineer called Josh Wardle.
However, after the game went viral, he sold it to the New York Times earlier this month for a staggering seven-figure sum.
In a Twitter statement, the software engineer said: “It has been incredible to watch the game bring so much joy to so many and I feel so grateful for the personal stories some of you have shared with me.”
“On the flip side, I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t been overwhelming. After all, I am just one person, and it is important to me that, as Wordle grows, it continues to provide a great experience to everyone,” he continued.
The newspaper giant has slightly tweaked the Wordle appearance and logo but apart from that, the free online word game remains exactly the same.
