'Wordle' today: Answer, hints for May 18

If 3 is a magic number, Wordle #333 must be the most magical puzzle yet, right? If you haven't found today's answer yet, we're not spoiling it... yet. But you can find it down the bottom of this post. If you just want a few clues to help you get the answer, keep reading for some background, tips and strategies we've reported on here at Mashable.

Missed the start of the phenomenon? Wordle was originally created by former Reddit engineer Josh Wardle and went super-viral in late 2021, becoming a daily habit for thousands of players around the globe. The game was bought by the New York Times earlier this year for a very big number of dollars, and is now run by the paper's puzzles and games team.

Some folks have wondered if Wordle is getting harder — it isn't. If anything, it's easier, as the Times has regularly been cutting more obscure words from the original list. But you can always switch Wordle to Hard Mode for an extra challenge.

Not the day you're after? Here's the Wordle answer for May 17.

What's a Heardle? A Dordle?? A Quordle?!

Wordle's clean, addictive format has inspired plenty of knock-offs, but also an endless stream of fun clones and variations, such as the battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and combo styles like Dordle and Quordle that have you trying to guess multiple words at once. 

Best Wordle starting word?

We have plenty of ideas that can help if you want to change up your starter. If you just want to start with the absolute top most common letters in English, ETAOIN is the pool you want to pull from.

Explore the Wordle archive

Fun fact: The whole archive of past Wordle puzzles is available to play right now. Use it to train up, or just keep your brain busy.

Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?

Half the fun of Wordle is that everyone gets the same word to guess every day — but occasionally two different answers can be correct. This is due to changes the New York Times made after acquiring the game. As we've reported already, just last week a word was swapped out because it was unexpectedly topical. Make sure you refresh your browser before you play each day.

And now, a subtle hint for today’s Wordle…

There are no double letters, and it's a verb.

Today’s 5-letter word starts with…

The letter S!

What's the answer to Wordle #333 on May 18?

Today’s answer is…

SCOUR.

Check back for more hints and tips tomorrow!

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

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