By FiveLetterWords · Guide updated . The puzzle date is shown separately.

This page always keeps Wordle #168 for December 4, 2021. Check that number against your game before opening a hint. The answer remains below a separate reveal.

Wordle changes at midnight in your local time zone. For the current local puzzle, use today’s hints. This dated page keeps the same puzzle when the day changes.

Our independent hints use the verified puzzle answer. Play the official game at The New York Times.

Hints for Wordle #168

What kind of word

Wiktionary lists it as a verb.

What it means

“To rejoice; to be very happy, especially in triumph; to triumph (over).”

Source: Wiktionary contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected and lightly formatted from Wiktionary; long entries may be shortened.

The middle letter

The middle letter is U.

How it starts

Begins with E.

Where the vowels sit

The vowels are the first and third letters.

Reveal the answer and explanation

The answer to Wordle #168 was

EXULT: To rejoice; to be very happy, especially in triumph; to triumph (over).

Source: Wiktionary contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected and lightly formatted from Wiktionary; long entries may be shortened.

Word difficulty: Brutal

Why it may be difficult: extremely rare in general English, uncommon letters.

The word rating describes familiarity and letter features. The solver score below measures how a fixed strategy handles the puzzle; an unusual word can still be easy for that strategy.

Compare past puzzle difficulty →

How difficult was it for the solver?

Solver pressure: 17/100 (easier for the solver). This is a percentile among past puzzles under the same strategy: 0 is easiest and 100 is hardest for the solver.

130 Possible answers after CRANE
11 Possible answers after SLATE
59 Possible answers after ADIEU
3 Guesses in the solver replay

This compares past puzzles under the same solver settings; it does not measure how players performed. Compare more puzzles →

Wordle #168, measured

This section compares EXULT's solver-difficulty percentile, first-guess results for ten familiar openers, and opt-in player reports. Each number identifies its dataset.

Solver difficulty, as a percentile

17/100

This score is a percentile, not an opinion. Under the site's fixed solver settings, EXULT measured harder for the solver than about 17% of all 1,952 recorded answers to date. Its rating is easier for the solver. CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU leave about 66.7 possible answers.

Solver pressure ranks the answer within the pool; it does not measure player performance. The opener table compares first-guess results, and the contributed ratings report player results.

CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU benchmark

SALET left the fewest candidates: its first-guess feedback left 5 of the 2,384 words in the site's working answer pool. At the other end, CRANE left 130 candidates, about 26 times as many. The vowel-heavy probes ADIEU and AUDIO revealed comparatively little here. Vowel coverage helps only when the answer's vowels are still in doubt.

First-guess feedback each opener would have received against EXULT, and how many answer-pool words would still match it
OpenerFirst-guess feedbackAnswers still possible
SALET SALET 5
SLATE SLATE 11
TARSE TARSE 43
STARE STARE 56
ADIEU ADIEU 59
TRACE TRACE 59
AUDIO AUDIO 111
ARISE ARISE 124
RAISE RAISE 124
CRANE CRANE 130

“Answers still possible” counts the words in the site's 2,384-word working answer pool whose feedback would match that opener exactly. This is pattern arithmetic, not a simulation. A smaller number means the opener left fewer possible answers after the first guess. It does not describe later turns.

Contributed player ratings

Not enough contributed games to publish player figures for this puzzle. Per-puzzle numbers appear only after at least 10 opt-in games arrive. See how the Observatory collects and publishes player data →

What did you get?

Tap your result to compare it with contributed games. Your choice stays in this browser and is not sent anywhere.

1 Suppressed
2 Suppressed
3 12
4 10
5 Suppressed
6 Suppressed
X Suppressed

The bars pool all 40 contributed games across every completed puzzle. The Observatory does not publish per-puzzle guess distributions below its sample threshold, so this is the broadest available comparison. “Suppressed” marks a low-count cell.

Solver replay

One route our solver takes from its usual opening word to EXULT.

The solver reaches the answer in 3 guesses.

Common questions

What was the Wordle answer for December 4, 2021?
The Wordle answer for December 4, 2021 (puzzle #168) was EXULT.
What does EXULT mean?
EXULT: To rejoice; to be very happy, especially in triumph; to triumph (over).
Why was Wordle #168 tricky?
EXULT is rated brutal for estimated word difficulty. Why it may be difficult: extremely rare in general English, uncommon letters.

Keep solving and playing