Did Wordle keep you busy this year? Some words are more challenging than others. INBOX -- the Wordle answer on April 19 -- was this year's most difficult Wordle puzzle in the US, according to the language learning platform Preply, which connects learners with tutors.
Preply identified the trickiest word by analyzing Google search interest for "Wordle hint" across every puzzle from January to November. It selected the toughest puzzles by examining which ones "produced the largest relative spikes nationally and within each US state."
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Preply listed nine other words that ranked as the hardest in 2025. (It looks like Aug. 13-14 was a particularly stressful period for puzzlers.) Here's a look at the top 10.
- INBOX (April 19)
- EDIFY (June 6)
- KEFIR (Aug. 13)
- KNELL (Aug. 14)
- LORIS (July 18)
- QUOTA (March 30)
- HAZEL (April 7)
- IDIOM (May 30)
- IMBUE (Aug. 8)
- GIZMO (Nov. 11)
EDIFY -- which means to instruct or improve -- and KEFIR -- a fermented milk drink -- may have led to a lot of Google searches.
But not all Wordles were brain-busters. Preply found the easiest puzzles to solve in 2025 were CHAIR (Sept. 11), BLUNT (Sept. 24) and SPORT (May 27).
Spotify Wrapped for Wordle, kind of
You're familiar with Spotify Wrapped, the music service's annual roundup of each user's year in Spotify songs. There's a similar yearly recap for YouTube videos. Now, The New York Times is getting in on the trend with a year-end recap for players of Wordle and its other games, like Connections.
For Wordle, the Times' Year in Games roundup shows how many days you solved a puzzle, what time of day you did most of your solving, which Wordle you solved the fastest, how many guesses it took you on average and your most common starter word.
For Connections, it shows how many times you solved it without any mistakes, what the year's trickiest puzzle was (hint: that one with all the symbols) and which color category you usually solved first.
For Spelling Bee, it shows how many words you found all year, what your longest found word was, how many times you used all seven letters to find a pangram and how many times you reached Genius level.
For Strands, it shows how many times you solved it without any hints and what your longest streak was.
The roundup also shows what your most-played game was this year. (Connections for the win!) As with other similar roundups, you're able to share your result summary if you want.
For more coverage on puzzles, you can check out CNET's daily answers and hints for Wordle, The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands. And you can view our guide to the most popular letters to make your starter word as strong as possible.