Today’s NYT Wordle for Thursday, July 16, 2026, is puzzle #1853, and the answer may be less familiar than many recent solutions. Players who recognise the subject area may solve it quickly, while others may need to rely more heavily on the progressive clues below.
Start with the first hint and move down only when you need more help. You can play the official daily puzzle on the New York Times Wordle page.
Wordle hints for July 16
- Hint 1: Today’s answer is a noun.
- Hint 2: It describes a natural feature of the landscape.
- Hint 3: It is commonly associated with dry or desert regions.
- Hint 4: One letter appears more than once.
- Hint 5: The answer begins with the letter B.
Final clue: Think of an isolated hill with steep sides and a relatively flat top.
A useful solving strategy
Do not rely only on everyday vocabulary. Wordle occasionally uses geographical, scientific or historical terms, so identifying the subject behind the clue can be just as useful as confirming individual letters.
If a letter has already appeared as green or yellow, consider whether it could appear again. Repeated letters are easy to overlook because many opening guesses are designed to test five different characters.
Try the Wordle practice game
Enter a five-letter word below. Green tiles show a correct letter in the correct position, yellow tiles show a correct letter in the wrong position, and gray tiles mark letters that are not in the answer.
How difficult is Wordle #1853?
Today’s puzzle is slightly harder than average because the answer is more common in geography than in everyday conversation. Players familiar with landforms may recognise it quickly, while others may need an extra guess after narrowing the theme.
The repeated letter also adds difficulty. Solvers often identify one instance of a letter and then incorrectly assume it cannot appear elsewhere in the answer.
Did you know?
Wordle answers are not limited to everyday household vocabulary. The game occasionally uses words connected with geography, science, history and specialist subjects.
When a clue points clearly toward one topic, shifting from general vocabulary to that subject area can reduce the number of possible answers quickly.
Today’s Wordle answer
Click to reveal the answer for Wordle #1853
Today’s Wordle answer is BUTTE.
A butte is an isolated hill with steep sides and a relatively flat top. These landforms are especially common in dry and semi-arid regions.
The answer begins with B and ends with E. It contains two vowels, U and E.
The letter T appears twice, in the third and fourth positions. That repeated consonant may have delayed players who assumed every letter would be unique.
The complete spelling is B-U-T-T-E.
The term comes from a French word meaning a small hill. A butte is generally smaller and has a narrower summit than a mesa.
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