Wordle got you again? 10 brutal words that made us question everything before breakfast

You remember the Wordle craze. In the fog of the COVID years, a five-letter puzzle took over our lives, and it came with one brutal rule: crack the word before your sixth try, or don't bother coming back.

For some, it was pure competition. For others, it was closer to ritual. I still remember the midnight huddles with my cousins, when the new word dropped and the room fell silent. Phones glowed. Thumbs hovered. For the next few minutes, the only soundtrack was a chorus of sighs, grunts, and the occasional muttered curse. And heaven help the person who stared at a repeated letter. The irritation was endless.

But one word didn't just break us. It seemed to break the entire world.

Viola.

You had to be there. Timelines filled with collective meltdown, the digital equivalent of a stadium groaning in unison. And then came the most telling part: people frantically googling the meaning, just in case, by some slim chance, we were all being played. Nevertheless, people still continue to play it, because clearly the Englisjh dictionary is infinite.

For the unversed, here's what Wordle is:

Players have six attempts to guess a hidden five-letter word. After each guess, the game provides feedback by highlighting letters:

• Green means the letter is correct and in the right spot.

• Yellow means the letter is in the word but in a different position.

• Gray means the letter is not in the word at all.

So, in the spirit of shared trauma and streak losses, here’s a list of the most dreaded Wordle words ever. Did any of these ruin your morning?

We did a little research and found what really left people hassled, with stats from Word Raiders and Tom’s Guide.

PARER (Wordle #454)

Introduced as the Wordle solution on September 16, 2022, PARER proved to be one of the game’s trickiest words. With a 48% failure rate, nearly half of all players were unable to guess it correctly—making it one of the most frustrating entries to date. In fact, it broke over 60% of active Wordle streaks that day.

The word follows a rare “P_ _ ER” structure, of which there are just 10 possible solutions. Even if players managed to narrow it down to “P_RER,” the more familiar word “PURER” often misled them, leaving PARER as an unexpected curveball.

FOYER (Wordle #304)

(Bragging rights, I cracked this one!)

On April 19, 2022, FOYER stumped tens of thousands of Wordle players. The word had a 26% failure rate, meaning more than 1 in 4 couldn’t crack it within six tries. In fact, it ended the Wordle streaks of over 30,000 users on that day alone.

Part of the challenge lies in the “F _ _ ER” structure, which still leaves 10 valid options even when players narrow it down. To make things trickier, the unusual placement of the letter “Y” in the middle—shared by 29 other solutions—added another layer of difficulty.

JOKER (Wordle #675)

JOKER was the Wordle solution on April 25, 2023, and it proved to be a tough puzzle for many. With an average solve rate of 5.69 guesses, nearly 1 in 5 players (19%) failed to crack it within six attempts. A significant number needed all their chances, 26 per cent solved it in 5 tries, while 29 per cent only got it on their final guess.

Part of the challenge comes from the word’s structure. The pattern “_O_ER” appears in 25 other Wordle answers, making JOKER more of a lucky guess than a logical deduction for many players.

PIPER (Wordle #984)

PIPER proved tricky due to its repeated "P"—a detail that often tripped up even experienced players. Even after identifying the other letters, players were left with a long list of possible alternatives, including LIVER, RIVER, MILER, DIVER, RIPER, VIPER, WIPER, and PILER, making the final guess a frustrating toss-up.

JOLLY (Wordle # 1037)

For a word that is meant to signify amiability, this attempt was far from anything jolly. Not only did it contain a double letter, but it also started with the rarely used “J”—a letter that appears at the beginning of only 20 official Wordle solutions. Even players who reached “_OLLY” were faced with a minefield of options like HOLLY, FOLLY, GOLLY, LOLLY, and DOLLY. As a result, 29% of players couldn't solve it within six tries.

Going through Reddit, users have shared their ‘worst’ nightmares of words that have been used in Wordle, and might just be used in the future.

Here’s a list of words that send a shiver down Wordle players’ spines:

• ·Myrrh

• Taste, waste, paste (the endless guessing trap)

•   Nanny

• Jazzy

•  Kayak

• Riper

•  Hilly

Each one has either repeated letters, uncommon spellings, or too many confusing alternatives—making them nightmare fuel for streak chasers.

Any hacks?

Wordle hacks that actually help

1. Start with a strong opener
Your first word should contain several common letters, ideally a mix of vowels and consonants. Words such as CRANE, TRACE, CRATE and CARTE are among the options WordleBot currently rates highly. There is no single magic opener, so pick one you like and stick with it.

2. Don’t chase the answer too early
Your first few guesses are about gathering information. If you have only one or two letters, use your next guess to test several new letters rather than desperately trying to solve the word.

3. Treat green letters as fixed clues
A green letter is in the right place, so keep it there. Build your next guess around it rather than moving everything around and starting from scratch.

4. Move those yellow letters
Yellow means the letter belongs in the word, but not in that position. Try it somewhere else on your next guess. Just don't put it back in the same spot and hope Wordle has changed its mind.

5. Stop using grey letters
Once Wordle tells you a letter isn't in the answer, let it go. Reusing eliminated letters only burns valuable guesses.

6. Watch out for double letters
This is where Wordle can get particularly sneaky. An answer may contain the same letter twice, as in TEETH, FLUFF or VIVID. If you have tested most of the alphabet and something still doesn't fit, consider a repeated letter.

7. Think about common letter patterns
Once you have a few clues, look for familiar combinations such as -ING, -ED, -ER, -CH, -SH or -TION. Sometimes spotting the shape of a word is more useful than trying to think of the whole answer at once.

8. Don't waste a guess on a word you already know
If you have a strong answer but aren't completely sure, use your remaining guesses strategically. A word that tests several unused letters can give you information and potentially eliminate multiple possibilities.

9. Use Hard Mode only if you enjoy the pain
Hard Mode forces you to use revealed green and yellow letters in every subsequent guess. It can make the game more challenging, particularly when you encounter a word with repeated letters.

10. And yes, you can use WordleBot
If you want to know where you went wrong, The New York Times' WordleBot analyses your guesses and gives you a breakdown of your skill and luck. Think of it as a post-game debrief after Wordle has ruined your morning.