'Wordle' today: Answer, hints for May 23

Let's face it: Monday isn't everyone's favorite day of the week. But at least there's a new Wordle to make it a little brighter — so here's everything you need to keep that streak alive with today's Wordle, puzzle #338.

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 (scroll carefully to avoid the clearly marked spoilers). 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.

Some background: 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.

Are you haunted by the feeling that the Times is making Wordle harder? I'm afraid, my tinfoil-hatted friend, it isn't. If anything, it's easier, as the Times team has regularly been cutting 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 22.

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

We have plenty of ideas that can help if your go-to starter isn't cutting it any more. If you want to load up on the absolute top most common letters in English, ETAOIN are the ones to look for; try something with several of those letter plus at least two vowels, like PIANO, TONER, or NAIVE.

Explore the Wordle archive

Time travel is real! The whole archive of past Wordle puzzles is available to play right now if you want to get some extra practice in.

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 both be correct. This is due to changes the New York Times made after acquiring the game. As we've reported already, as recently as two weeks ago 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…

Today's word is also the name of a popular app.

Today’s 5-letter word starts with…

The letter H!

What's the answer to Wordle #338 on May 23?

Today’s answer is…

HINGE.

Check back for more hints and tips tomorrow!

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