When Is It OK to Cheat at Wordle?

Do you cheat at Wordle? That’s going to depend on your definition of cheating, of course. Peeking at somebody else’s screen when they’re solving is cheating. Googling “Wordle answer” is cheating. But what about some of the other grey areas?

We’ve already mentioned one way of solving Wordle more easily when you’re stumped: checking Google news or a word game-solving site for a hint. (For example, if Try Hard Games just published an article today about “5 letter words ending in G” there’s a good chance today’s Wordle ends in G.)

This strategy has gotten more popular. According to a spokesperson for another word game website, Unscramblerer, searches for “Wordle answer” have declined over the past year, while searches for “Wordle hint” have increased. Maybe it’s just that the little coloured squares don’t fill social media anymore, and so more of us want to play the game on our own than simply find out what word everybody is talking about today.

But is looking for a hint really that different from straight-up cheating? Personally I don’t search for hints, because I’m afraid that a hint might reveal too much. But in my own accounting of ethics, it’s always ok to ask another person in the room to help you solve a puzzle.

I learned to solve crosswords this way as a child, when my grandfather would read particularly perplexing clues out loud. These days, I’ll happily show my Wordle (or Spelling Bee) screen to my husband or kids, who will sometimes think of a word I haven’t. Cheating? Maybe.

Or what about this strategy? I’ll sometimes write down all the possible arrangements of letters, given the clues I’ve uncovered. Seeing them all written out in front of me (_AIZE, _AICE, _AINE) can help me work through the possibilities. But the game is digital, not pen-and-paper. Is part of the challenge to be able to do it all in your head?

Another way I’ve maybe-cheated at Wordle is by going to a site like scrabblewordfinder.org. I’m not asking it to tell me the answers, just to give me all the dictionary words that use certain letters. (You can enter up to two question marks for wildcards.) It’s still up to me to decide which of the words are likely to be valid in Wordle, and which ones fit with the clues I’ve already gotten about letter positioning. Cheating? Maybe. But it’s fair game to me.

So, what do you think? Is there a strict defining line between help, hints, and cheating? Or should we maybe reject the entire concept of “cheating” in a game where you’re not competing against anybody but yourself? I guess if nobody can give me a good answer to this question, I’ll just google it.