128ordle Hints

The interactive calculator requires JavaScript. You can also subtract unsolved boards from guesses left; see the worked example below.

Start with the situation you are in

These are spoiler-free decision aids for any visible-feedback puzzle, not clues extracted from today’s answers. Use the calculator to compare guesses left with unsolved boards, then choose the advice below that matches your grid.

Many boards have very little feedback

Read the letters your guesses have already tested. Choose a word that tests useful untried letters across several boards, but check your spare-turn budget first. Do not commit to a fixed five- or ten-word opening: each guess that solves nothing spends a turn you may need for a correct answer later.

One ending has several possible answers

Suppose a board could be CATCH, HATCH, or WATCH. Rechecking the shared ATCH ending will not separate all three possibilities. Compare the changing letters and see whether an answer you know on another board can test them. If you spend a turn on a probe, it must distinguish candidates well enough to justify the cost. These words are an invented example, not today’s hints.

A letter is both yellow and grey

Repeated letters are counted separately. With APPLE as the example answer, ALLEY gives green A, yellow L, grey L, yellow E, and grey Y. There is one L to place, not two. Keep words with one L in consideration, and interpret the feedback separately on each board.

You keep staring at the same board

Hide solved boards and move to a board with a word you can justify from all its feedback. After entering that answer, revisit the difficult board: the same guess may have supplied its missing clue. A green-heavy board is not automatically easy if many words share that pattern.

You have no spare turns

When guesses left equals unsolved boards, every remaining guess must solve a board for a full clear. Prefer an answer supported by all its clues. If fewer guesses remain than unsolved boards, a full clear is no longer possible in these distinct-answer puzzles; you can still aim to solve as many boards as possible.

How the budget works

Subtract unsolved boards from guesses left. For example, 15 guesses and 12 boards leaves three spare turns. A correct answer reduces both counts by one; a guess that solves nothing reduces only guesses left. The standard 128-board run starts with 135 guesses, so its initial margin is seven. The margin measures room for probes and mistakes, not the probability of winning.