Today’s NYT Wordle for Monday, July 20, 2026, is puzzle #1857. The answer is a familiar English word, but its letter pattern may be trickier than its meaning.
Work through the hints below one at a time before revealing the solution. The clues become gradually more helpful without giving away the complete word too early.
Wordle hints for July 20
- Hint 1: Today’s answer is a noun.
- Hint 2: It refers to a person.
- Hint 3: This person is closely associated with water.
- Hint 4: They may compete in a sport or explore beneath the surface.
- Hint 5: Today’s answer begins with the letter D.
Final clue: Think of someone who enters the water from above or spends time working, competing or exploring underwater.
Solving tip: Today’s puzzle becomes easier once you focus on the type of person described by the word. The meaning may provide more help than guessing letter combinations at random.
Try the Wordle practice game
Enter any 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 identify letters that do not appear in today’s answer.
How difficult is Wordle #1857?
Wordle #1857 is moderately difficult. The solution is a common English word, but many popular opening guesses may not reveal its structure quickly.
The semantic clue is especially useful today. Once players begin thinking about a person associated with swimming, underwater work or competitive sport, the list of realistic five-letter answers becomes much shorter.
Players who rely only on common letter-frequency patterns may need an extra attempt. A balanced second guess that tests new consonants can be more valuable than repeatedly rearranging letters already used.
General Wordle tip: Do not focus only on the most common letters. Wordle often uses familiar words containing less common consonants, so combining letter testing with the definition can lead to a faster solve.
Today’s Wordle answer
Click to reveal the answer for Wordle #1857
Today’s Wordle answer is DIVER.
A diver is a person who dives or plunges into water. The word can refer to a competitive athlete, a swimmer or someone who explores, inspects or works beneath the surface.
The complete spelling is D-I-V-E-R.
The answer begins with D and ends with R. It contains the vowels I and E, while all five letters are different.
The consonant V appears in the third position. Because V is less common than many letters used in popular starter words, it may have been the hardest part of the answer to uncover.
A diver may jump from a platform or springboard in competition, use scuba equipment for underwater exploration, or perform professional work such as repairs, inspections, rescue operations and marine research.
The word can also describe certain aquatic birds that plunge beneath the water to catch fish or other prey.
Pronunciation: DIVER is pronounced “DYE-ver.”
Example sentence: The diver checked her breathing equipment carefully before entering the water.
Why the puzzle was tricky: DIVER is a familiar word, but its less common middle consonant may have delayed players whose opening guesses focused on more frequently used letters.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and review their statistics on the New York Times Wordle page.














