Repeated Letters in Wordle: How They Work
Repeated letters are the trickiest part of Wordle. Words such as LEVEL, GEESE, ALLOW and SASSY use the same letter more than once, and the game’s colour rules for repeats are easy to misread. Here is how they work.
The rules
- The answer has one copy, you guess two: one copy is coloured green or yellow, and the other is grey. The grey tile does not mean the letter is missing; it means there is no second copy.
- The answer has two copies, you guess one: your copy is green or yellow, and nothing warns you that there is another. This is why repeated letters are easy to miss.
- The answer has two copies, you guess two: both copies are coloured.
An example
Suppose the answer is ALLOW and you guess LOLLY. The first L is yellow (L is in the word, but not first), the O is yellow, the middle L is green, and the fourth L is grey because ALLOW has only two L’s. The Y is grey. So from this guess you know: there are exactly two L’s, one of them is in the third position, and there is an O somewhere other than second.
Entering repeats in our solver
- Put green letters into their green boxes, as usual.
- Put yellow letters into the yellow box for the position where you played them.
- If a copy of a green or yellow letter came back grey, type that letter in the grey field too. The solver then only shows words with exactly as many copies as your green and yellow tiles.
You can also open Repeated letters in the solver and choose Must repeat a letter to see only words with a repeated letter, which is useful when you suspect a double but do not know which letter.
How common are repeated letters?
Out of 8,636 five-letter words in our list, the words with no repeating letters are the majority, but a large minority repeat at least one letter. Many of those have the repeat side by side; see our list of 5 letter words with double letters.
Tips
- Early in the game, guess words with five different letters. Repeats waste information.
- When only a few candidates are left and none of them fits, try a word that repeats your most likely letter.
- Common doubles in five-letter words include LL, EE, SS, OO and TT.
Frequently asked questions
Can Wordle answers have repeated letters?
Yes. Answers can repeat a letter, and some use the same letter three times, although that is rare.
Why did Wordle show one letter as yellow and the other as grey?
Because the answer has only one copy of that letter. The coloured tile tells you where it is (or is not), and the grey tile tells you there is no second copy.
