Updated: 25 May 2026 · Reading time: 4 minutes
The whole game of Wordle® hinges on three colours: green, yellow, and grey. Most Kiwi players understand the basics — but the subtle rules around yellows and double letters trip up even experienced players.
The basic three colours
🟩 Green: right letter, right position
The easy one. A green tile means the letter is in the answer AND in exactly the right spot. Lock that letter into that position for the rest of the puzzle.
🟨 Yellow: right letter, wrong position
The letter IS in the answer, but in a different spot than where you put it. Move it. Try the letter in any of the other four positions (but NOT the one where it just turned yellow).
⬛ Grey: letter not in the word
The letter doesn’t appear in the answer at all. Don’t use it again. Treat it as permanently eliminated.
The edge case that trips up everyone: duplicate letters
What happens when your guess contains the same letter twice?
Example: You guess BOOKS, answer is BOATS
- B (position 1) — green ✓
- O (position 2) — green ✓
- O (position 3) — grey (the answer only has ONE O, already “used” by your position-2 O)
- K (position 4) — grey (no K)
- S (position 5) — green ✓
If the answer has ONE O and your guess has TWO Os, only one of them lights up. The other shows grey — even though “O” technically is in the answer.
The rule
The colour shown for each letter reflects whether THAT INSTANCE of the letter appears in the answer. Each letter in the answer can only “validate” one tile in your guess.
How to use this strategically
Once you understand the duplicate-letter rule, you can spot something important: a grey letter you’ve already played as green/yellow elsewhere doesn’t necessarily mean the letter is gone.
If you got a green O on guess 1 and a grey O on guess 3, that just means “the answer doesn’t have a SECOND O”. The first O is still in the answer at its green position.
Reading patterns
🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛
Three letters need to move to the right side. Usually the answer’s first three letters are common starters (S, T, B, C, P).
🟩⬛⬛⬛🟩
The answer starts and ends with letters you’ve tested. Try a guess with three new letters in positions 2, 3, 4.
⬛⬛🟩🟨🟩
This often suggests a double letter. You’ve got two confirmed positions, and the yellow at position 4 might belong at position 1 or 2 — possibly doubled.
Three exercises
Exercise 1: You guess STARE. Result: S yellow, T grey, A yellow, R green, E grey. What do you know?
Answer: The answer contains S and A (not in positions 1 or 3). R is in position 4. T and E are NOT in the answer.
Exercise 2: You guess TOOTH. The answer is OTTER. What colours?
Answer: T (1) yellow, O (2) yellow, O (3) grey (answer only has one O), T (4) green, H (5) grey.
Exercise 3: You guess APPLE on guess 2. Earlier CRANE showed E yellow at position 5. What’s wrong?
Answer: E is in the answer but not in position 5. APPLE puts E in position 5 — same forbidden spot.
The takeaway
The single most important rule:
A grey tile means “this specific position-letter combo doesn’t work in this guess.” It does NOT always mean the letter is entirely absent from the answer.
For more strategy, see our best starting words article and our 3-guess strategy guide. When you’re stuck, our Wordle® Hint Solver takes your green, yellow, and grey letters and shows you the remaining possibilities — including the double-letter cases that trip up most solvers.
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