Wordle Words That Got Away: The Hardest Answers We Never Guessed

 We all start with such hope. You open your daily Wordle, type your confident starter—maybe “CRANE,” maybe “ADIEU,” maybe something bizarre like “FJORD” if you’re feeling spicy. The grid responds with yellow and green clues, and you begin the familiar descent into mild obsession.

But some days... some words… they don’t want to be found.

This is not a list of triumphs. This is a confession booth. This is our shared archive of near-misses, misfires, and complete lexical humiliation. These are the Wordle words we didn’t guess—and the reasons why they still haunt us.

🧱 “ULCER” (Wordle #247)

Why we didn’t guess it: Because who thinks of gastrointestinal conditions before coffee? Player quote: “I had ‘ALTER’ and thought I was done. Then the pain began.”

🔧 “EPOXY” (Wordle #250)

Why we didn’t guess it: It sounds fake. Like a villain’s name in a sci-fi B-movie. Player quote: “I thought I made that word up. Turns out Wordle made me up.”

🌀 “GNASH” (Wordle #293)

Why we didn’t guess it: Too biblical. Too bitey. Too much. Player quote: “I kept trying ‘CLASH,’ ‘FLASH,’ ‘SMASH’… the irony is I almost gnashed my teeth in frustration.”

🛠️ “PARER” (Wordle #280)

Why we didn’t guess it: Is that even a real word? Are we in a 1700s kitchen? Player quote: “I had ‘PAPER,’ then ‘PAYER,’ then despair.”

🧊 “VAPID” (Wordle #281)

Why we didn’t guess it: It’s a word you throw at TikTok influencers, not real life. Player quote: “I ran out of ideas. Which, ironically, is what ‘vapid’ means.”

🐍 “SNAKY” (Wordle #294)

Why we didn’t guess it: We tried ‘SNAKE,’ ‘SNACK,’ ‘SHAKY’… but not this cursed combo. Player quote: “The word felt personal. Like Wordle was watching my ex’s texts.”

🧬 “CYNIC” (Wordle #304)

Why we didn’t guess it: Too real. Too much truth. Player quote: “I am a cynic. I just didn’t know how to spell it at 7am.”

🥴 “DWELT” (Wordle #328)

Why we didn’t guess it: Because we’ve collectively agreed that “dwelled” is the superior past tense. Fight me. Player quote: “This word lives in my head rent-free. Unlike me.”

☠️ “FJORD” (Wordle #375)

Why we didn’t guess it: Too niche. Too geography class. Too many consonants. Player quote: “I knew it was ‘JORD,’ but what goes in front of that? A scream?”

📜 “DOWRY” (Wordle #383)

Why we didn’t guess it: Because we don’t live in 1830. Also: weird letter combo. Player quote: “I was four guesses deep and still typing ‘WORRY.’ Which felt accurate.”

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What Kind of Wordle Fail Are You?

Sometimes it's not about the word. It's about how you failed. Let’s categorize our collective suffering:

1. The “I Was So Close” Fail

You had four green letters and still typed “GRAZE” instead of “GRADE.” You stared into the abyss of your own near-genius and watched it blink back blankly.

“I just needed to switch the last letter. But instead, I switched realities.”

😵‍💫 2. The “Wrong Vibe” Fail

You went all “PLANT,” “LEAF,” “ROOT”… but the word was “NINJA.” It’s not that you were wrong. You were just on a different emotional frequency.

“My soul said ‘forest.’ Wordle said ‘assassin.’”

😐 3. The “I Forgot That Was a Word” Fail

Like… who uses “BLUFF” unironically? Or “EXULT”? Or “KNOLL”? It’s the vocabulary equivalent of being ghosted by the dictionary.

“I remember seeing that word in a Jane Austen novel. I chose to forget.”

📚 4. The “Too Clever, Too Dead” Fail

You went in with “ADIEU,” followed by “SIREN,” then “ECLAT”… and lost to “MOTEL.” You brought a thesaurus to a street fight.

“I played Scrabble. Wordle played Uno. I lost.”

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How to Emotionally Recover From a Wordle Loss

This is real advice. Trust me. I’m emotionally unavailable and grammatically fluent.

• Step 1: Say “epoxy” out loud until it becomes funny.
  It won’t help, but it’s therapeutic in a weird glue-scented way.

• Step 2: Accept that you are not the language.
  Language is bigger, weirder, and sometimes has silent consonants. Let go.

• Step 3: Open Absurdle and suffer somewhere else.
  If you’re going to lose, lose with drama.

• Step 4: Blame the New York Times.
  They own Wordle now. All rage is retroactively justifiable. Even yours.

To the ones we didn’t get: we see you. We almost knew you. We danced around your vowels, hugged your neighbors, and somehow missed the obvious. You made us humble. You made us human.

To the players reading this: may your greens be swift, your yellows few, and your starter word never betray you.

And to ‘EPOXY’—we will have our revenge.