Wordle Bans Some Offensive Words After The New York Times Takeover

Now that The New York Times has acquired Wordle, some changes have been made to the hit word-guessing game. The most obvious tweak to the viral sensation is that some offensive language has been banned as guess words, which includes the usual salty language and gender-specific slurs. If you attempt to use those words, you’ll be greeted by Wordle’s “not in word list” message.

The move makes sense for a publication such as The New York Times, as Wordle’s lack of profanity lines up with the company’s other popular word game, Spelling Bee.

“Offensive words will always be omitted from consideration,” a New York Times representative explained Polygon. “As we have just started Wordle’s transition to The Times website, we are still in the process of removing those words from the gameplay.”

As you may have noticed, there’s an emphasis on some words still being available as a guess for now, but if you’re really in the mood for a version of Wordle that rewards you for creative cussing, you can always check out Lewdle.

Wordle has been one of the biggest games of 2022 so far, as its formula of guessing a daily five-letter word has made it the perfect topic for water-cooler talk. Created and operated by Josh Wardle, the game has some great strategies–such as the best starting word and the worst starting word–although you might be bummed out by having possibly lost your Wordle streak since the game moved over to The New York Times servers. Nothing worth swearing about though, as there is a solution to avoid losing your winning streak.