Wait, what the hell is 'Wordle' hard mode?
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Are you a Wordle fanatic? Do bears do their ablutions in woodland areas? Why, yes!
Well, you've come to the right place.
If you eat, sleep, breathe all things Wordle related, then you might be interested to learn about something called "hard mode."
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Hard mode is not just what everyone thought Wordle became after the New York Times bought it, but is really a setting you can activate to alter your game experience.
So, have we been playing Wordle on easy mode this entire time? Technically yes, but hard mode might actually make the game easier for you to play in the long run.
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How to get 'hard mode'?
It's pretty straightforward, tbh. Next time you're about to play Wordle, tap the settings icon in the top right corner of the page. Simply toggle hard mode and you're off and away.
What does 'hard mode' do?
Good question. So, hard mode — in my opinion, at least — doesn't make Wordle harder. It just prevents you from making silly mistakes.
In short: it makes sure any revealed hints are used in subsequent guesses. If you enter a word that doesn't contain the hints you've gathered, you'll get a little pop up to inform you of the errors of your ways. And crucially, it prevents you from submitting that incorrect word. So, basically it means you don't waste a try guessing a word that doesn't contain a green or yellow letter.
Handy!
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.
Topics Wordle
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
