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

This page always keeps Wordle #462 for September 24, 2022. 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 #462

What kind of word

Wiktionary lists it as a noun.

What it means

“A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.”

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

Fill the gap

“The _____ stopped the sheep from escaping from their field.”

Source: Wiktionary contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentence selected from Wiktionary, with the answer removed.

Where the vowels sit

The vowels are the third and fifth letters.

How it starts

Begins with G.

Reveal the answer and explanation

The answer to Wordle #462 was

GRATE: A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.

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

Word difficulty: Easy

Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.

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: 33/100 (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.

13 Possible answers after CRANE
6 Possible answers after SLATE
190 Possible answers after ADIEU
6 Words in the GRA_E family
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 #462, measured

This section compares GRATE'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

33/100

This score is a percentile, not an opinion. Under the site's fixed solver settings, GRATE measured harder for the solver than about 33% of all 1,952 recorded answers to date. Its rating is easier for the solver. CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU leave about 69.7 possible answers; it sits in a 6-word GRA_E family.

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

TRACE left the fewest candidates: its first-guess feedback left 2 of the 2,384 words in the site's working answer pool. At the other end, AUDIO left 443 candidates, about 222 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 GRATE, and how many answer-pool words would still match it
OpenerFirst-guess feedbackAnswers still possible
TRACE TRACE 2
TARSE TARSE 3
STARE STARE 5
SLATE SLATE 6
CRANE CRANE 13
ARISE ARISE 18
SALET SALET 20
RAISE RAISE 26
ADIEU ADIEU 190
AUDIO AUDIO 443

“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 GRATE.

The solver reaches the answer in 3 guesses.

Common questions

What was the Wordle answer for September 24, 2022?
The Wordle answer for September 24, 2022 (puzzle #462) was GRATE.
What does GRATE mean?
GRATE: A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.
Why was Wordle #462 tricky?
GRATE is rated easy for estimated word difficulty. Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.

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