Wordle: New study reveals the ten words that have been the hardest to solve in the NYTimes game in 2022

A study conducted by online gaming site im-a-puzzle.com utilised and examined data collected by a Twitter API called WordleStats that has been analysing players’ Wordle tweets since the start of 2022. Combing through the data reveals the words that had the highest percentage failure rate of players who posted their scores on Twitter.

These are the hardest words of the year to solve, according to the data:

1 Parer – with 48 per cent of players failing within the six guesses provided, it is the word with the highest failure rate.

2 Foyer – this Wordle was tweeted in the masses as thousands of streaks suddenly came to an end. Twenty-six per cent of players failed to guess this word.

3 Catch – this word may appear easy, however 23 per cent of players failed to guess it correctly.

4 Watch – it was tweeted about more than 200,000 times, with 20 per cent of players failing to guess and subsequently ending their streak.

5 Mummy – eighteen per cent of players failed on this word. The triple M makes this word particularly cruel for players, and 37 per cent needed all six guesses to save their streaks.

6 Cater – with 15 per cent of players failing to guess this word, it finds it way into the top 10.

7 Coyly – this word led to 15 per cent 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.

8 Trite – it was guessed incorrectly by 15 per cent of players, with a further 23 per cent only guessing correctly on their sixth guess.

9 Found – fourteen per cent of players did not guess this word correctly. Probably one of the most common words on this list, the issue lies with eight different words ending in OUND.

10 Tacit – this word stumped 10 per cent of players, with 30 per cent saving their streaks on their sixth guess.

A spokesperson for im-a-puzzle.com said: “Wordle took the world by storm when it was first released and remains as 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’.

"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.”