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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWordle colors score each guessed letter copy, not just whether a letter appears somewhere in your guess. Green means that copy is in the answer and in the right position; yellow means a copy is in the answer but in a different position; gray means that guessed copy is not counted as another match. That distinction matters most when a guess repeats a letter.
What do Wordle’s colors mean?
- Green: This letter copy is in the answer and is in the correct position.
- Yellow: A copy of this letter is in the answer, but this guessed copy is in the wrong position. Treat that position as ruled out for the yellow copy.
- Gray: This guessed copy is not matched to another copy in the answer. If the same letter is green or yellow elsewhere in the row, gray does not necessarily mean the answer contains no such letter.
The current Wordle rules guide explains the basic colors and notes that letters can appear more than once, so repeated copies can receive different feedback. TechRadar’s Wordle guide describes those standard rules and the game’s six-guess format.
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Why can one repeated letter be gray?
The answer may contain fewer copies of a letter than your guess. For example, if the answer has one R and your guess has two, only one guessed R can match it. If one R is in the correct position, that copy turns green and the extra R is gray. If neither is in the correct position, only one can turn yellow; the other is not counted as another match.
This is why “gray means absent” is only a safe shortcut when the row has no green or yellow copy of that letter. In a row with repeats, read all copies of the same letter together. The official Wordle: The Party Game instructions give this duplicate-letter example and caution that a green or yellow copy does not rule out another appearance of that letter. Wordle: The Party Game instructions (New York Times Company and Hasbro, copyright 2022) state: “Just because a letter is green or yellow doesn’t mean it won’t appear again.”
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How to read a row with repeated letters
- Keep every green in its position. It confirms both the letter and that slot.
- Record each yellow as present but misplaced. Do not put that copy back in the position where it turned yellow.
- Group repeated copies by letter. Compare gray tiles with the green and yellow copies of that same letter before deciding whether the letter is absent.
- Use colored copies to infer a minimum count. A colored copy confirms that at least one matching copy is in the answer. A gray duplicate can indicate that your guess used more copies than the answer, but do not use it to erase the confirmed letter.
- Build the next guess from the whole row. Keep confirmed positions, move misplaced letters, and account for the counts the feedback supports.
Does every guess have to use the clues?
In ordinary mode, you can make an exploratory guess without using every revealed clue. Hard Mode is different: it requires subsequent guesses to use revealed information. Treating all feedback carefully is useful in either mode, but it is not a mandatory rule for ordinary play. TechRadar’s Wordle guide distinguishes the standard game from Hard Mode.
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