【illustrated eroticism】

Happy Friday, Wordlers! It's a new day and there's a new Wordlefor you to get into. We're here to help you get closer to today's answer.

You can scroll to the bottom of this post to find the Wordle answer served straight up, but if you want to try and work it out yourself first, you'll find a few clues as well as our best Wordle tips, strategies, and info as you scroll down.

Wordle, created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner and later bought by the New York Times, has become a daily habit for thousands of people, and inspired countless clones and variationson the daily guessing-game format.

Try the battle royale-style Squabble, the maddeningly fun music game Heardle, the several-at-once variants like Dordleand Quordleand so on (and put them all together to beat the 31-word Grand Slam) — or find new strategies with less of the stress by watching people play on TikTok.

Not the day you're after? Here's the Wordleanswer for April 14.
Need more Wordle?Here's the April 16 answer .

What's the best Wordle starting word?

Generally speaking, it helps to lock in or rule out at least two of the vowels, as well as a couple of the more common letters, like T, S, R, and N. We've got plenty of ideasand strategies for you to find what word works best.

Explore the Wordle archive

A single Wordlea day not enough? You can also play the whole archive of past Wordles. It's good for practice, too — and you'll know which words won't be the answer again any time soon!

Is Wordle getting harder?

No, it's not getting harder. In fact, you've been playing it on easy mode — here's how to switch on Hard Mode.

Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?

Some people occasionally find there are two different possible Wordleanswers on the same day. Here's why.

Here's a hint for today's Wordle answer:

It has two different vowels, separated by a common letter.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

Not today!

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's word starts with S.

What's the answer to Wordle today?

OK, OK, here it is.

Ready?

It is...

SHAME.

Merriam-Webster describes shame as a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety, or the susceptibility to such emotion.

Didn't get there today? No shame in it. There's always tomorrow. See you back here for more answers, clues and tips.

Reporting by Caitlin Welsh and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.