Wordle puzzle
Wordle puzzle

Thursday's Wordle puzzle hands players a word they use almost daily, but a repeated vowel and a common letter pattern may slow down even seasoned solvers.

The New York Times' daily word game, puzzle No. 1951, went live at midnight local time Thursday. Players looking to protect a winning streak can work through the hints below before reaching the answer, which appears further down.

Spoiler-free hints for Wordle No. 1951

Players who want a nudge without giving the game away can start with these clues, listed from the most general to the most direct:

The word works as both a verb and a noun. It describes returning something to an earlier or original state. It is often tied to electronics, passwords, timers and troubleshooting. The word contains two vowels, and one of them appears twice. It starts with R and ends with T.

Players who solved Wednesday's puzzle may notice that Thursday's answer shares several letters with recent solutions, which could help guide early guesses.

Today's Wordle answer

Players who want to keep trying should stop reading here.

The Wordle answer for Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, is RESET.

The word means to set something back to zero, return a device or system to its default settings or start a process over from the beginning. It is commonly used in technology, sports and everyday conversation, as in pressing a reset button on a router or a team resetting after a difficult loss.

Why Thursday's puzzle may be tricky

On paper, RESET looks simple. All five letters are among the most common in the English language, and the word is part of everyday vocabulary. That familiarity, however, is part of the challenge.

The biggest hurdle is the doubled E. Many Wordle players avoid guessing words with repeated letters early in a game because doing so wastes an opportunity to test new letters. That strategy usually pays off, but it can backfire on days like Thursday, when a repeated vowel is central to the answer.

Players may also run into a crowded field of similar words. Once a solver has confirmed letters such as R, E, S and T, several candidates can remain in play, including words like RESET, TERSE and similar combinations that share the same core letters in different positions. On days like this, a player who guesses one possibility at a time can quickly burn through attempts.

Difficulty estimates varied among puzzle sites Thursday. One gaming outlet, citing the New York Times' Wordle review, said the answer was taking players an average of 4.3 guesses out of six, which would place it in the moderately challenging range.

Tips for solving puzzles like Thursday's

Wordle veterans say a few habits can make a significant difference on days that feature repeated letters or common letter patterns.

Start with a strong opening word. Words that pack several high-frequency letters, particularly vowels along with common consonants such as R, S, T and L, help narrow the field quickly. Suggested starters for Thursday's game included TREND, SHEAR, RATES and STEER.

Don't rule out repeated letters. If a solver has found most of the letters but still cannot land on the answer, it may be time to consider whether one letter appears more than once. A yellow or green tile marks only a letter's presence, not how many times it appears.

Use elimination guesses. When several possible answers remain, it can pay to play a word designed to test multiple unconfirmed letters at once rather than guessing each candidate individually. Hard mode does not allow this approach, but standard mode does.

Pay attention to letter position. A yellow tile signals that a letter is in the word but in the wrong spot. Tracking where a letter cannot go is often just as useful as knowing where it belongs.

Take a break. Many players find that stepping away from a stubborn puzzle and returning later helps them see options they missed.

Recent Wordle answers

Players looking for patterns or catching up on missed puzzles can review the most recent solutions. Wednesday's answer, puzzle No. 1950, was PENNY. Tuesday's was WREST, Monday's was STINK, Sunday's was ADORN, Saturday's was GAFFE and Friday's was SHADY.

The New York Times generally does not repeat answers, which means many experienced players use lists of previous solutions to rule out words that have already appeared.

A year ago, on Oct. 22, 2025, the Wordle answer was STUNT.

About Wordle

Wordle challenges players to identify a hidden five-letter word in six attempts or fewer. After each guess, tiles change color to show how close the guess was. A green tile means the letter is in the word and in the correct position. A yellow tile means the letter is in the word but in a different spot. A gray tile means the letter does not appear in the answer at all.

The game was created by software engineer Josh Wardle in 2021 and is now part of The New York Times Games lineup. The Times purchased the game in early 2022 after it became a social media phenomenon, with players sharing colorful grids of their results without revealing the answer.

Since then, Wordle has become one of the most played word games in the world and a cornerstone of the Times' games subscription business, which also includes Connections, Strands, Spelling Bee and the Mini Crossword.

The game remains free to play on the Times' website and through the NYT Games app. A new puzzle is released each day at midnight in the player's local time zone, meaning players in different parts of the world may be working on different puzzles at the same time.

Protecting a streak

For many players, the appeal of Wordle lies as much in maintaining a winning streak as in solving any single puzzle. A missed day or a failed attempt resets a player's streak to zero, a fitting twist given Thursday's answer.

Players who solved Thursday's puzzle can share their results through the game's built-in sharing feature, which posts a spoiler-free grid of colored squares. Those who struggled can take some comfort that a new puzzle, No. 1952, will be available at midnight Friday local time, offering a fresh chance to start over.