Daily assistance for Wordle puzzle on Thursday, 8th May 2025 (Solution included)
Hey there,Wordle fans! Learn the answer for May 8, 2025, and get some clues and strategies along the way. Today's Wordle is medium difficult; I managed to get it in four. Be warned, there could be spoilers below for May 8, Wordle #1,419! Keep scrolling for hints (and then the answer) to today's Wordle game.
How to play Wordle
Play Wordle right here on the New York Times website[1]. A fresh puzzle comes out every day at midnight, your time.
Kick things off by guessing a five-letter word[6]. The letters in the word will turn green if they are correct, yellow if you have the right letter but in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn't present in the day's secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here[2], and my strategy guide here[7] for advanced tips. (We have additional details at the bottom of this post after the hints and answers.)
Ready for the hints? Let's dive in!
Does today's Wordle have any unusual letters?
We'll call common letters as those that appear in the ETAOIN SHRDLU phrase[8]. (Just memorize that or memorialize Edwin Shirdloo, as if he were a pal!)
There are three common letters from our mnemonic today. Two are quite common, one is somewhat common, and one isn't so common.
Can you give me a hint for today's Wordle?
Soft, as a feather pillow.
Does today's Wordle have any double or repeated letters?
There are no identical letters today.
How many vowels are in today's Wordle?
There are exactly two vowels today.
What letter does today's Wordle start with?
Today's word begins with B.
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
Today's word ends with Y.
What is the solution to today's Wordle?
Ready to learn the answer to today's Wordle? The solution is BALMY.
How I solved today's Wordle
I started with COAST and QUIZ, followed by LOYAL. BALMY was one solution possibility.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Yesterday's Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was "may also be alpha"[9]. The solution contained two common letters and two somewhat common letters.
The answer to yesterday's Wordle was MACHO.
A primer on Wordle basics
The goal in Wordle is to guess the secret word of the day. When you first open the game, you will see an empty grid of letters[10]. It's now your turn: type in any five-letter word.
You can use the colors that appear to gather clues concerning the word: Green indicates that you hit the nail on the head with both the letter and its placement. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)
- Yellow indicates that the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the place you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A, and T will all be yellow.)
- Gray signifies that the letter isn’t part of the day's solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY, and everything shows up as gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)
Use all the guesses you have, and try to locate the secret word before time runs out. You have six guesses, and that's it.
The best starters for Wordle
What should you play for the first guess? Words with common letters work best as starters since they enhance your chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And, even if you receive all grays when guessing common letters, that is still valuable information to help you narrow down options.) The New York Times' Wordle analysis bot advises starting with words like:
- CRANE
- TRACE
- SLANT
- CRATE
- CARTE
Meanwhile, an MIT analysis[11] recommends starting with one of the following words to eliminate the most possibilities in the first round:
- SALET
- REAST
- TRACE
- CRATE
- SLATE
Other strong choices include ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO focus more on vowels, while it might be better to start with a focus on consonants, like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose a strategy, and watch it play out.
How to win at Wordle
Take a peek at our Wordle strategy guides if you're a serious Wordle player[12]. This one explains how to make use of consonants, whereas this one focuses on a strategy based on common letters. In our advanced guide, we outline a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.
The primary difference between Wordle winners and Wordle losers lies in that winners use their guesses to gather information about the letters included in the word. If you determine that the word must end in -OUND, don't use up four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; instead, mix those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you'll know the solution.
One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of around 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are tricky words that wouldn't have made the original list, and sometimes they are on-theme. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving.
Wordle alternatives
If you can't get enough of games like Wordle, these highest-rated alternatives are sure to deliver:
- Wheeldle, which lets you play multiple puzzles one after the other
- Dordle and Quordle, which challenge you to tackle two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles simultaneously, using the same guesses. There's also Octordle, with eight games, and Sedecordle, with 16.
- Waffle, where you solve a grid of scrambled five-letter words
- Absurdle, where the solution changes after your first guess, but it must adhere to its previous feedback. You must trick the game into a corner until it is left with only one possible word; then you guess it, and win!
- Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other humans with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; the last one standing wins.
- Antiwordle, in which you instead aim not to guess the day's solution[13]. You must reuse any letters you guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.
Over to you now – practice your guessing and go win today's Wordle!
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html[2] https://www.nytimes.com/article/wordle-tips-guide.html[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wordle_answers[4] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balmy[5] https://www.etymonline.com/word/balmy[6] https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/how-to-play-wordle[7] https://www.nytimes.com/article/advanced-strategies-for-wordle.html[8] https://www.etymonline.com/word/typesetter[9] https://www.latinforwordle.com/[10] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/games/wordle-playable.html[11] https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computational-thinking/walkthroughs-and-tricks/wordle-strategy/a/the-best-starters-for-wordle[12] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/04/games/wordle-tips-tricks-faqs.html[13] https://www.wired.com/story/antiwordle-wordle-alternatives/
Enrichment Data:- "'Wordle,' the surprise internet sensation" (https://www.brookings.edu/research/wordle-the-surprise-internet-sensation/)- "Wordle, explained" (https://www.vox.com/2214876/wordle-explained-ifferent- Games-online-sudoku-mastermind-cross-your-words-2021)- "Why you should play Wordle every day" (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/smarterliving/wordle-benefits.html)
The solution for Wordle on May 8, 2025, was BALMY. The game got so popular that a whole new genre of word games boomed as a result. With options like Quordle, Absurdle, and even Antiwordle, players could enjoy a variety of ways to guess words. By considering the clues and your Wordle strategies, you could have a great chance at getting that elusive correct answer!
Wordle, the popular online game where you guess a five-letter word, is not only a form of entertainment but also a way to improve critical thinking skills. On May 8, 2025, the answer was BALMY. Many other word games have emerged, such as Quordle, Absurdle, and Antiwordle, to satisfy player's interests, offering a fresh take on the traditional word guessing game format. Whether you're a fan of books, social media, or simply looking for something new to engage your mind, Wordle and its alternatives are a great way to engage in entertaining mental exercise.
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