Hardest Wordle words 2022: Puzzles with highest failure rate this year revealed - see the top streak enders

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Wordle’s hardest words of 2022 have been revealed - see which puzzles ended the most streaks this year

A new study has revealed the top 10 trickiest Wordle puzzles this year, ending more streaks than any other words. The research found ‘parer’ took the top spot as the hardest, ‘foyer’ came in second, ending over 30,000 streaks and, perhaps surprisingly, ‘catch’ was third.

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Research conducted by online gaming site im-a-puzzle.com examined data collected by a twitter API called WordleStats, analysing players’ Wordle tweets since the start of 2022. Combing through the data revealed the words with the highest percentage failure rate of players who posted their scores on twitter.

The New York Times online game is still one of the most popular around with players across the globe checking in daily, competing with friends and family to get the longest streak in the fewest guesses. So the words bringing winning streaks to an end can be a particular bugbear.

A spokesperson for im-a-puzzle.com said: “Wordle took the world by storm when it was first released and remains one of the most popular online games, played daily by thousands of people. This research discovers some interesting words that many probably wouldn’t have assumed would be the hardest Wordle words, such as CATCH or WATCH.

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“But then on the other hand NYTimes include more obscure words to catch players out, double letters seem to cause many issues for players with half of this list containing double or triple-letter words. Although players hate losing their streaks, it’s these more complex and rare words that challenge players and make the game so addictive as well as give players a sense of achievement and often relief when they guess a word correctly.”

For those unfamiliar with the game, you have six tries to guess that day’s mystery five-letter word and each attempt must be in the valid word list. After every guess, each letter is highlighted green, yellow or grey - green means the letter is correct and in the correct position, yellow means the letter is in that day’s word but in a different position, and grey is used when the letter does not appear in that day’s word at all.

If you get the right answer in six goes or less you start your winning streak. Each day you guess the word correctly you add to that streak but get a word wrong and you return to zero. Below are the top 10 Wordle words catching people out in 2022.

Top 10 hardest Wordle words 2022

Wordle’s hardest words of 2022 have been revealed - see which puzzles ended the most streaks this year Wordle’s hardest words of 2022 have been revealed - see which puzzles ended the most streaks this year
Wordle’s hardest words of 2022 have been revealed - see which puzzles ended the most streaks this year | AFP via Getty Images

1. PARER (Wordle 454)

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With 48% of players failing within the six guesses provided, it is the word with the highest failure rate. This word stumped players, with many taking to Twitter to convey their heartbreak about their lost streaks to the Wordle community. It’s fair to say that this word will be infamous within the world of puzzles for quite a while.

2. FOYER (Wordle 304)

This Wordle was tweeted in the masses as thousands of streaks suddenly came to an end. A massive 26% of players failed to guess this word making foyer a formidable word in the Wordle history books.

3. CATCH (Wordle 483)

This word may appear easy, however 23% of players failed to guess it correctly. This word and the next are very similar and caught many players out due to the vast number of words that contain similar letters, especially if you had ATCH on the fifth go.

4. WATCH (Wordle 265)

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Watch was tweeted about more than 200,000 times with 20% of players failing to guess correctly and subsequently ending their streak. It also doesn’t help that W is one of the least used letters in the English language, taking up only 1.2% of common English vocabulary.

5. MUMMY (Wordle 491)

Data revealed 18% of players failed on this word - could it be proof of the mummy’s curse? Perhaps not, but although a relatively common word, the triple M does make this word particularly cruel for players. Out of those who did get it right, 37% of players needed all six guesses to save their precious streaks.

6. CATER (Wordle 270)

One thing is certain, NYTimes definitely doesn’t cater to their players with some of the words on this list. With 15% of players failing to guess this word it finds its way into the top 10. This one may have confused so many players as there are lots of words ending in TER, perhaps meaning players had to guess and hope for the best.

7. COYLY (Wordle 409)

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This word led to 15% of players failing to guess correctly. Y is again one of the least used letters in the English language and it appears not once but twice in this word which may have caught many players out. The research showed an additional 35% of players had close calls with this one, taking the full six guesses to avoid the shame of sharing their X/6 score to their socials.

8. TRITE (Wordle 396)

Trite refers to something such as an idea or statement that has been told too many times or is boring, much like that one friend’s messages in the group chat who always seems to guess today’s Wordle in three or under. This word was guessed incorrectly by 15% of players, with a further 23% only just salvaging their streaks, guessing correctly on their sixth attempt.

9. FOUND (Wordle 282)

No less than 14% of players didn’t guess this word correctly. Probably one of the most common words on this list, the issue lies with eight different words ending in OUND, and with only six guesses, players who didn’t go for F early on would find themselves playing Wordle Russian Roulette, with their streak at stake.

10. TACIT (Wordle 246)

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Tacit means to be understood or implied without being stated, much like the silent understanding between friends who all failed to guess this word as none of them posting their score to Twitter that day. This word stumped 10% of players, with 30% of players saving their streaks on their sixth guess.

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