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Today’s Wordle hints and answer: February 6, 2026, solution #1,693

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Wordle #1,693 is here. We'll give you some hints and the answer…

Wordle displayed on a smartphone
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
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Most people find uncovering today's Wordle answer to be a little tricky. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,693 in 4.2 moves in easy mode, or 4.1 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, #1,692, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

Wordle today: Quick menu

Wordle is open on a phone held in a hand. TRAIN and GRIND have been played, with the RIN in GRIND all green.

(Image credit: Mike Kemp / Getty Images)

1. Today's hints

2. Start letter

3. Today's answer

4. Yesterday's 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.
  • It contains two of the five 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 calling for order.

What does today's Wordle start with?

The answer to Wordle #1,693 starts with G, 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…

An image indicating spoilers are ahead.

Today's Wordle answer

The game Wordle displayed on two smartphones

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,693?

Drumroll, please — it's GAVEL.

Hello Wordlers. Although today's puzzle contains three of the six most common Wordle letters, it's an usual word, making it a little tricky to guess. It doesn't help that 'V' is the fifth rarest character in the game, either.

I began, as usual, with ORATE. Today, it turned both 'A' and 'E' yellow, leaving a massive 126 possible answers, according to WordleBot.

The Bot's best Wordle start words were a big improvement. TABLE leaves 19 answers, while LANCE lowers that to 11. If you opened with PANEL, just seven options would be left over.

Wordle #1,693

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

I aim to play a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N', and 'C' on my second turn, and I could try three today with ALIEN.

It was a strong move, turning 'E' green, 'L' yellow, and ruling out 'A' in a second spot. I was down to just 15 options, according to WordleBot*.

I tried LACEY next, and it turned 'A' green, meaning the answer had to be ?ALE?, ?A?EL or ?ALEL.

I opted for BAGEL, which not only turned 'L' green, but gave me a yellow 'G'. The answer was GA?EL.

Only one letter could fill that gap. I typed in GAVEL for a five-turn win.

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

* These were: BAGEL, EASEL, GAVEL, HAZEL, BABEL, BALED, PALED, LABEL, LAPEL, LAMED, LAVED, LAZED, CAMEL, LACEY and LACED.

Yesterday's Wordle answer

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are clues and the solution to the previous puzzle.

  • It contains one of the five vowels.*
  • There is one repeated character (the vowel).
  • It contains just one of the five most common Wordle letters.

The answer to Wordle #1,692 starts with S, 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…

An image indicating spoilers are ahead.

The Wordle answer for game #1,692 was... SWOOP.

Hello Wordlers. A tricky one today, featuring just two of the ten most common Wordle letters (though the 'O' does crop up twice).

Speaking of 'O', it's the only letter which turned yellow with my usual opener of ORATE. That left a massive 193 possible answers, according to WordleBot.

The Bot's best Wordle start words were far better. LAPSE leaves 34 options, while SPILT lowers that to 20. If you opened with SPOIL, only six possibilities would still be viable.

Wordle #1,692

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

I like to play a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N', and 'C' on my second turn, and I could optimize that strategy today with SONIC.

It was highly effective, turning 'S' green and ruling out 'O' in a second spot. Just nine options were left, according to WordleBot*.

The only way I could see to play 'L' (the final letter from my hit list) was with a double letter, so I reluctantly played SPOOL.

It was surprisingly effective, turning both 'O's green, and proving 'P' had to sit in the fifth slot. In other words, the answer had to be S?OOP.

With 'T', 'N' and 'C' already ruled out, the answer was obvious. I typed in SWOOP for a four-turn win.

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

* These were: SHOWY, SMOKY, SPOOF, SPORK, SHOOK, SWOOP, SPOOL, SLOOP and SLOSH.

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 #1,692: SWOOP
  • Wordle #1,691: CHIDE
  • Wordle #1,690: WEIGH
  • Wordle #1,689: CIGAR
  • Wordle #1,688: SPINY
  • Wordle #1,687: ALLOT
  • Wordle #1,686: JUMBO
  • Wordle #1,685: FLAKY
  • Wordle #1,684: CRUEL
  • Wordle #1,683: DUSKY
  • Wordle #1,682: FREAK
  • Wordle #1,681: STRUT
  • Wordle #1,680: CLIFF
  • Wordle #1,679: BARON
  • Wordle #1,678: CLINK
  • Wordle #1,677: CUBIC
  • Wordle #1,676: SULLY
  • Wordle #1,675: WAXEN
  • Wordle #1,674: SUMAC
  • Wordle #1,673: FIERY
  • Wordle #1,672: RACER

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.

Pips is the Times' newest game, which involves arranging dominoes in a particular order. Here's today's Pips hints and answers if you need help completing the puzzles.

NYT Pips hints and answer

We also have a daily guide to today's NYT Connections hints and answer, so head on over there if you're having trouble.

NYT Connections hints and answer

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.

Alan Martin
Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.

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