Today's Wordle hints and answer — solution #1,490, July 18

Most find uncovering today's Wordle answer a little tough. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,490 in 4.1 moves in easy mode, or 4.0 if playing by hard rules.

Each day, we will update this article with Wordle hints and tips to help you find today's answer. And if the hints aren't enough, we'll even give you the answer, in case you're really stuck or just haven't had time to complete today's puzzle. Plus, we are also including an analysis of yesterday's puzzle, #1,489, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,490, Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!

Today's Wordle answer — hints to help you solve it

Our first tip is that you should use one of the best Wordle start words for every game you play. But if you want some more specific clues to today's Wordle answer, then here you go:

• It contains two of the five vowels.*
• There are no repeated characters.
• All five characters feature among the eight most common Wordle letters.

* By vowel, we mean A, E, I, O, U. There are other letters that are sometimes considered to be vowels, depending on how they are used.

Those hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Wordle answer. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then skip down further for that.

Alright then, here's a larger hint: Today's Wordle answer is a primate.

What does today's Wordle start with?

The answer to Wordle #1,490 starts with L, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.

OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…

Today's Wordle answer

So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,490?

Drumroll, please — it's LORIS.

Hello Wordlers. Despite all five characters featuring among the eight most common Wordle letters, today's puzzle is a little vexing. LORIS just isn't a word that comes up all that often, unless you happen to work in a zoo.

Still, my opening guess of ORATE turned both 'O' and 'R' yellow, which was a decent start. It still left 63 possible answers though, according to WordleBot.

Naturally, the Bot's best Wordle start words were far better. LANCE, for example, leaves 22 answers, while SLANT lowers that to 12. If you started with LEAST or SPLIT, only three options would be left in play.

I find playing a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N', and 'C' on my second go pretty effective. CORNY was the best I could think of today, and it flipped both my yellow letters green, leaving just five options, according to WordleBot*.

I tried WORLD next, which turned 'L' yellow.

Only one option was left, but it took me a while to think of it. Eventually it came to me, and I typed in LORIS for a four-turn win.

Hopefully you did well today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.

* These were: FORGO, FORUM, MORPH, WORLD and LORIS.

Yesterday's Wordle answer

Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,489 was MODAL.

Hello Wordlers. A tricky one today, as MODAL isn't the kind of word that comes up every day. It does help, however, that 'O', 'A' and 'L' are in the top six most common Wordle letters.

My usual start word of ORATE turned the first two yellow, leaving 73 possible answers, according to WordleBot.

The Bot's best Wordle start words were a big improvement, especially those containing 'L'. TRAIL leaves 40 answers, while TRADE lowers that to 29. If you started with DEALT, only six options would remain viable.

I like to play a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N', and 'C' on my second turn, and that was easy to do today with SALON. While 'A' and 'O' stayed yellow in different slots, I gained an additional confirmed character in 'L'. Just 16 options remained, according to WordleBot*.

I took a chance with a double letter next, playing LOCAL. It was wrong, but all three yellow letters flipped green, leaving just the right answer.

It took me a while to get it, but I got there in the end, typing in MODAL for a four-turn win.

Hopefully you kept your streak going today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.

* These were: ALOUD, VIOLA, AIOLI, AHOLD, ALOHA, FOCAL, VOCAL, VOILA, DOULA, AFOUL, ABOIL, LOCAL, LOYAL, CLOAK, MODAL and GLOAM.

Previous Wordle answers

If you're looking for a list of older Wordle answers, we can also help. Here's a list going back 20 games.

• Wordle #1,489: MODAL
• Wordle #1,488: NERVY
• Wordle #1,487: FOIST
• Wordle #1,486: UNDID
• Wordle #1,485: GNOME
• Wordle #1,484: EXILE
• Wordle #1,483: BRAND
• Wordle #1,482: JUMPY
• Wordle #1,481: NOVEL
• Wordle #1,480: DREAD
• Wordle #1,479: STILT
• Wordle #1,478: ATRIA
• Wordle #1,477: BALER
• Wordle #1,476: CURVE
• Wordle #1,475: POPPY
• Wordle #1,474: INCUR
• Wordle #1,473: MOLDY
• Wordle #1,472: BLINK
• Wordle #1,471: WITTY
• Wordle #1,470: STUMP
• Wordle #1,469: PLAIN

Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle

The best tip I can give is to use one of the best Wordle start words. I can't stress this enough — it makes a massive difference.

Without one, you'll be scrabbling around in the dark trying (and possibly failing) to find the right five letters (or possibly fewer) out of the 26 possibles. But clever people (not me) have done the math and identified the best start words based on both frequency in English and frequency among Wordle answers. So use them!

Secondly, think about combinations, especially at the start and end. Some options are far more common than others — for instance, SH, ST, CR and CH all feature frequently.

Vowels obviously need consideration too: not all Wordle answers will contain more than one, but plenty do, and some even have three. A good Wordle start word should have used a couple, but if they don't feature you might well want to try another one or two on your next go. Plus, remember the Y — this sometimes acts as a surrogate vowel, and is easy to forget. It also appears at the end of plenty of words.

Finally, try out possibilities. So long as you don't press 'Enter' you can try possible answers to see how they look on screen. Put in likely letters plus any you know are definitely in the word, then mentally change one to the other available options. This technique has worked for me multiple times, and it's particularly helpful when the word in question is not an obvious one (like FJORD or ISLET).

But if you're still struggling with Wordle, check out how Tom's Guide's Wordle experts have honed their strategy after playing every Wordle so far and losing only once.

We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer to look for patterns and have some further advice for you there. And if you're new to the game you should also take a look at our What is Wordle? guide.

What else should I know about Wordle?

Wordle officially launched in October 2021, but actually started in June of that year and celebrated its first birthday on June 19, 2022. (You can read my thoughts on the 5 things Wordle needs to improve if it's to keep us playing for its third year.)

However, it only grew in popularity towards the end of the year, then went viral in January as the world woke up to its charms. In fact, it proved so successful that The New York Times bought Wordle for a seven-figure sum in early February and the game is now part of NYT Games.

It's played via the NYT Games website here, and is entirely free. Both the NYT and the game's creator, Josh Wardle, have stated that it will remain free. Some people think that Wordle has got harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn't.

Wordle is a simple game in which your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you're told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place.

If a letter is in the correct place, it turns green. If it's in the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the word at all, it turns gray.

There's just one puzzle a day, and everyone completes the same one. It resets at midnight each day. You'll find more information about the game in our What is Wordle? article.

NYT Strands answer

If you've solved Wordle and need help with other games from the New York Times, we suggest you check out our guide on today's NYT Strands answer, which will give you an overview of how the game works and how to solve the puzzle.

Wordle Alternatives

If you're eager for another game to pass the time while you wait, we've put together a list of the best Wordle alternatives. We also have a page on today's Quordle answers, because it's our favorite.

Other Wordle alternatives to try are the ultra-stressful (but very good) Squabble and the soccer-themed, Who Are Ya?. We also like the geography-based Wordle clone Worldle, the Star Wars-themed SWordle and the math-based Mathler.

There are certainly plenty of options once you've finished Wordle for the day!

Meanwhile, if you need help with other games from the New York Times, we also have a guide on how to play NYT Connections, if you're interested in giving that one a try.