A new study has revealed that ‘Parer’ has been the hardest word, in the NYTimes game Wordle, to guess this year.
Research conducted by online gaming site im-a-puzzle.com utilized and examined data collected by a twitter API called WordleStats that has been analyzing players Wordle tweets since the start of 2022. Combing through the data reveals the words that had the highest percentage failure rate of players who posted their scores on twitter. Wordle is still one of the most popular online games with players all over the globe playing daily, competing with friends and family to get the longest streak and the least guesses, so it’s no surprise that some of these words may have broken some streaks and broken some phones!
#1 – PARER (Wordle 454)
With 48% of players failing within the six guesses provided, it is the word with the highest failure rate. This word stumped players, with many taking to Twitter to convey their heartbreak about their lost streaks to the Wordle community. It’s fair to say that this word will be infamous within the world of puzzles for quite a while.
#2 – FOYER (Wordle 304)
This Wordle was tweeted in the masses as thousands of streaks suddenly came to an end. 26% of players failed to guess this word making foyer a formidable word in the Wordle history books.
#3 – CATCH (Wordle 483)
This word may appear easy however 23% of players failed to guess it correctly. This word and the next are very similar and caught many players out due to the vast number of words that contain similar letters, especially if you had ATCH on the fifth go.
#4 – WATCH (Wordle 265)
Watch was tweeted about over 200,000 times with 20% of players failing to guess and subsequently ending their streak. It also doesn’t help that W is one of the least used letters in the English language, taking up only 1.2% of common English vocabulary.
#5 – MUMMY (Wordle 491)
18% of players failed on this word, is this proof of the mummy’s curse? Although being a relatively common word, the triple M makes this word particularly cruel for players. 37% of players needed all 6 guesses to save their precious streaks.
#6 – CATER (Wordle 270)
One thing is certain NYTimes definitely don’t cater to their players with some of the words on this list. With 15% of players failing to guess this word it finds it way into the top 10. This one may have confused many players as there are many words ending in TER which may have caused players to guess and hope for the best.
#7 – COYLY (Wordle 409)
This word led to 15% of players failing to guess correctly. Y is again one of the least used letters in the English language and it appears not once but twice in this word which may have caught many players out! 35% of players had close calls taking the full six guesses to salvage their streaks and avoid the shame of sharing their X/6 score to their socials.
#8 – TRITE (Wordle 396)
Trite refers to something such as an idea or statement that has been told too many times or is boring, much like that one friends messages in the group chat who always seems to guess it in 3 or under. This word was guessed incorrectly by 15% of players, with a further 23% only guessing correctly on their sixth guess.
#9 – FOUND (Wordle 282)
14% of players didn’t guess this word correctly. Probably one of the most common words on this list the issue lies with 8 different words ending in OUND, however with only 6 guesses players who didn’t get the F early would struggle towards the end and be playing Wordle Russian Roulette, with their streak at stake.
#10 – TACIT (Wordle 246)
Tacit means to be understood or implied without being stated, much like the silent understanding between friends who all failed to guess this word as none of them post their score on twitter today. This word stumped 10% of players, with 30% of players saving their streaks on their sixth guess.
A spokesperson for im-a-puzzle.com commented “Wordle took the world by storm when it was first released and remains as one of the most popular online games, played daily by thousands of people. This research discovers some interesting words that many probably wouldn’t have assumed would be the hardest Wordle words, such as CATCH or WATCH. But then on the other hand NYTimes include more obscure words to catch players out, double letters seem to cause many issues for players with half of this list containing double or triple-letter words. Although players hate losing their streaks its these more complex and rare words that challenge players and make the game so addictive as well as give players a sense of achievement and often relief when they guess a word correctly.”
The study was conducted by im-a-puzzle.com, where users can play thousands of online jigsaw puzzles for free, with picture puzzles and games of all types – from animals to bridges to landscapes and more.
