NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1425, Wednesday, May 14

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May 14, 2025 - 00:34

NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1425, Wednesday, May 14

Looking for a different day?

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 Tuesday'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 #1425) - 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 #1425) - clue #2 - first letter

What letter does today's Wordle begin with?

• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is B.

B is a very, very common starting letter in Wordle. In fact, it's the third most common overall, behind only S and C.

Wordle hints (game #1425) - clue #3 - repeated letters

Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?

• There are 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 #1425) - clue #4 - ending letter

What letter does today's Wordle end with?

• The last letter in today's Wordle is O.

O is a middling ending letter. It ranks 12th in this regard, and finishes 58 Wordle answers in total.

Wordle hints (game #1425) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1425.

Today's Wordle answer is a musical instrument.

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 #1425)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1425 on a green background — (Image credit: New York Times)

NYT average score: 4.3
My score: 4
WordleBot's score: 3
My skill score: 96
My luck score: 49
My start word performance: DIMLY (842 remaining answers)
WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (81)
Tomorrow's start word: DUSTY

Today's Wordle answer (game #1425) is… BONGO.

There's a lovely onomatopoeic feel to BONGO, isn't there? Go on, say it: BON-GO! BON-GO! Okay, just me then.

We can all agree that it's a tough Wordle answer, though. WordleBot says it currently has an average score of 4.3, and it contains my most hated of all Wordle formats, the repeated O.

Or rather, it almost does because the ones I really don't like are the OO words; here, the Os are separated and the options are fewer.

There were still plenty of them after my opening guess, DIMLY, which drew a blank and left 842 possible solutions. That's by some distance the most words I've had to contend with on the second guess for some time.

I did what I always do now in situations where I don't have any letters uncovered and neither E or R played yet, and chose an ER word, in this case SANER. That was incredibly lucky, giving me a green N in the middle and leaving only eight solutions.

I only found four of them, though, and BONGO wasn't among them. Instead, they all ended either NCH: CONCH, BUNCH, HUNCH and PUNCH. Like BONGO, the others I missed all had that O at the end: GONZO, JUNTO and FUNGO. But really, are the latter two realistic answers? I doubt it.

BONGO was, obviously, but for now I was blind to it. I played BUMPH as a way to narrow down the quartet on my shortlist, and when the B turned green but the H was ruled out, it removed all of my choices. I looked again and this time found BONGO, giving me a satisfactory four.

How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1424)

In a different time zone where it's still Tuesday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1424, too.

Wordle yesterday had vowels in three 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 A.

A is a reasonably common starting letter in Wordle: 140 games begin with this letter. It ranks 6th among starting letters, behind S, C, B, T and P.

There were 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 #1424.

Yesterday's Wordle answer means having knowledge of something.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1424)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1424 on a green background — (Image credit: New York Times)

NYT average score: 3.9
My score: 3
WordleBot's score: 3
My skill score: 99
My luck score: 61
My start word performance: SHONE (193 remaining answers)
WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (7)
Tomorrow's start word: DIMLY

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1424) was… AWARE.

This was about as straightforward as Wordle gets. My first guess, SHONE, left 193 words, but my second, TRAIL, cut that to just a single solution and I duly solved it in three.

Job done, then. But it once again highlights the importance of that second guess.

When I used to play STARE as my start word every day I would have a coterie of second words that I would employ depending on which letters had turned yellow or green. If I got a yellow R but nothing else, for instance, I would play CRONY. If no yellows or greens then it would be CLOUD (or sometimes COULD).

With random start words you can't plan ahead in that way, so instead I tend to just play common letters, but also with a focus on the start or end of the word.

Yesterday, I had a green E to add too, so was able to leave that out and play TRAIL. These were the five most common letters left, mostly in their most common positions, and it worked wonderfully, giving me a green A and yellow R.

I expected to have a couple of options left, but quickly realized there was only one, AWARE, and played that for my three.

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 #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
Wordle #1402, Monday 21 April: SPATE
Wordle #1401, Sunday 20 April: PATCH
Wordle #1400, Saturday 19 April: INBOX
Wordle #1399, Friday 18 April: DIRGE
Wordle #1398, Thursday 17 April: STOOD
Wordle #1397, Wednesday 16 April: MORAL
Wordle #1396, Tuesday 15 April: ASHEN
Wordle #1395, Monday 14 April: CREST
Wordle #1394, Sunday 13 April: LAUGH
Wordle #1393, Saturday 12 April: NURSE
Wordle #1392, Friday 11 April: ARROW
Wordle #1391, Thursday 10 April: TURBO
Wordle #1390, Wednesday 9 April: WHEAT
Wordle #1389, Tuesday 8 April: SPARE
Wordle #1388, Monday 7 April: HAZEL
Wordle #1387, Sunday 6 April: VILLA
Wordle #1386, Saturday 5 April: FOAMY
Wordle #1385, Friday 4 April: KRILL
Wordle #1384, Thursday 3 April: SHEAR
Wordle #1383, Wednesday 2 April: CURSE
Wordle #1382, Tuesday 1 April: JEWEL
Wordle #1381, Monday 31 March: BOOTY
Wordle #1380, Sunday 30 March: QUOTA
Wordle #1379, Saturday 29 March: SORRY
Wordle #1378, Friday 28 March: VERSE
Wordle #1377, Thursday 27 March: SHEET
Wordle #1376, Wednesday 26 March: ELBOW
Wordle #1375, Tuesday 25 March: SHELF
Wordle #1374, Monday 24 March: ANGLE

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.

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' 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.

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.

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.