Today’s ‘Wordle’ #1,339 Clues, Hints and Answer for Monday, February 17

If you’re having trouble with Monday’s Wordle puzzle, we have a few helpful clues for you.

Wordle, created by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle in January 2021, quickly gained global popularity. The game skyrocketed from just 91 players in November 2021 to more than 2 million by January 2022. This surge of interest caught the attention of The New York Times, which acquired the game for an undisclosed seven-figure sum in early 2022.

How to Play Wordle

The goal is to find a hidden five-letter word in six attempts or fewer by guessing one letter at a time.

If a player gets a correct letter in its right place, it is shown in a green tile. If the letter is in the word but in the wrong position, it appears as a yellow letter.

“There is a reason that every word is five letters long and that you are allowed six attempts to guess it,” Wardle told Newsweek in 2022. “That might seem arbitrary but, with the prototype version, I tested different word lengths and experimented with the number of tries that players were allowed.”

He added: “Through that process of refinement, I figured out that five letters and six tries was the ideal sweet spot. It’s just limited enough to feel challenging and to make you think, but most of the time, people still manage to solve it. So, you feel a real sense of accomplishment.”

Part of the fun of Wordle is that each user may have their own strategy on how to guess the word and can even change it each day.

Some may like to start by guessing a five-letter word with as many vowels as possible straight away to help narrow down the options, whereas others may pick words with lots of commonly used consonants such as “T,” “R” or “S.”

Below, Newsweek has offered some clues on how to solve today’s game. If you are looking for today’s answer, it is further down in the article so proceed with caution.

This photo illustration shows a person playing online word game “Wordle” on a mobile phone in Washington, D.C., on January 11, 2022.

STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

Wordle #1,339 Tips and Clues for Monday, February 17

Hint #1: There are two vowels in the word, appearing as the third and fourth letters.

Hint #2: The remaining three consonants are commonly used ones.

Hint #3: Webster’s dictionary describes today’s word as “to lag behind,” “do poorly in relation to others” or to “extend over a surface in a loose or straggling manner.”

Hint #4: You can associate today’s word with snails.

Hint #5: If you guessed the “tails” you would have most of the correct letters, but not necessarily in the right places.