The New York Times has published the Wordle answer for October 5, 2026: MOCHA. It's a five-letter word starting with M, and it contains no recurring letters.
If you're still staring at a half-filled grid, that's your spoiler. The rest of this is for people who want to know how the puzzle got here — and why the archive situation still annoys some players.
What the puzzle looks like today
MOCHA is a straightforward solve for anyone who starts with a word that covers common vowels and consonants. The lack of repeated letters helps: once you've placed the M, O, C, H, and A, you're done. No double letters to trip you up.
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The word itself is a coffee-and-chocolate hybrid, which feels like a small gift on a Monday. It's also the kind of answer that produces a lot of green squares on the second or third guess, depending on your opener.
Hard Mode and the difficulty question
There's a persistent belief that Wordle is getting harder. It isn't. The game runs on the same word list and the same rules as it always has. What changed is that more people play in Hard Mode, which forces you to reuse confirmed letters instead of burning through guesses with fresh starting words. If today's puzzle felt brutal, check your settings. Hard Mode is optional.
The archive, briefly
Wordle started as a gift from engineer Josh Wardle to his partner. The New York Times bought it, and at the paper's request, a popular fan-made archive was taken down. The NYT later rolled out its own archive for subscribers. That's still the setup: if you want to play old puzzles, you need a subscription. The free daily game remains free.
Reporting on today's answer and hints came from Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg.
Tomorrow's puzzle goes live at midnight local time. If you're avoiding spoilers, stay off social media until you've played.
