The team at language learning app Busuu have shared tips on the best ways to guess Wordle’s daily five-letter challenge and have highlighted how it’s beneficial for language learners.
Wordle, which has now been bought by The New York Times, has taken over social media and brought out the competitive streak in users who come back daily to try to guess a five-letter word.
For those unfamiliar with Wordle, here’s how the game works:
Players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word and after each guess, letters will turn either grey, yellow or green. Grey indicates an incorrect letter, yellow indicates a correct letter in the wrong place and green indicates the correct letter in the correct place.
Busuu ’s language experts have highlighted tips to help players solve the puzzle in as few attempts as possible.
The language experts highlight that in English, T, N, S, R, H, L, D and C are the most common consonants and E is the most common of the vowels.
That’s why they advise players to start with vowel heavy words like “irate” or “retia” before moving onto words that cover most consonants like “stand” and “shirt”.
It’s also recommended that players keep in mind common prefixes that come at the beginning of words such as “re-”, “co-” and “in-” as well as common suffixes at the end of words like “‘nd” and “al”.
This way, players will be able to eliminate a large selection of letters.
Federico Espinosa, Director of Learning Design at Busuu , said: “To become a Wordle master, it’s important to identify the most common letter combinations.
“Spotting these sorts of patterns will help you familiarise yourself with the English language – both inside and outside of Wordle!”
For those looking to learn a new language, experts recommend integrating Wordle into their language learning routine.
Federico Espinosa said: “The beauty of Wordle is that it takes no more than 10 minutes a day – and when it comes to learning a language, it’s better to study little and often. It’s perfect for building a daily habit.
“Plus, you’re guessing common words that you’ll find in everyday language – meaning you’ll pick up vocabulary that you can use in real-life situations.”
E remains as the most popular vowel in English, Spanish and French, but there are different tips for each language.
For example in Spanish, E and R are the most popular letters to start with and some consonants like C, R, L, and N can be used more than once in a word.
Users hoping to play in French should bear in mind common prefixes like “ir-” and “ex-” and common suffixes like “-é” and “et”.
