6 letter Wordle strategy
Multi-board play is a budgeting problem. This guide covers how the 6-letter edition changes that budget and where its traps are.
Count your spare guesses
Subtract unsolved boards from guesses left. That number is your margin. A guess that solves a board keeps the margin; a guess that solves nothing lowers it by one.
The starting margin is small at every size:
- 1 board: 6 guesses, 5 spare.
- 4 boards: 9 guesses, 5 spare.
- 16 boards: 21 guesses, 5 spare.
- 32 boards: 37 guesses, 5 spare.
- 64 boards: 70 guesses, 6 spare.
- 128 boards: 135 guesses, 7 spare.
What six letters changes
Each guess shows you six letters, so the keyboard fills in quickly and boards become readable sooner. Most players find the 6-letter edition a little kinder than the classic game once they adjust, but the words are longer and need more care to spell.
Word families
Six-letter answers are less crowded than short words, but endings repeat: BATTER, BETTER, BITTER, BUTTER, LETTER, LITTER; or BATTLE, BOTTLE, CATTLE, KETTLE, SETTLE. The ending turns green early and the opening letters stay open.
When an ending is fixed, the remaining letters are usually consonants near the front. A test word that carries two or three of those consonants can settle a board in one turn, where guessing answers one at a time could take four.
When to stop opening
Two openers with 12 different letters put clues on almost every board. After that, find a board whose answer is certain and enter it: you solve that board and add a row of clues to all the others.
At zero margin, every remaining guess has to solve a board for a full clear.
A scanning routine
Go through the boards in the same order each time and hide solved boards once the grid starts to thin out. Clear what is certain first, then return to the boards with few clues. The answers you entered in between may have settled them.