Even during the weekend, keeping a routine can be quite helpful. So don’t forget about the important daily activities in your schedules, such as working out the Wordle answer for today, 20th July 2024.

For the uninitiated, the aim of Wordle is to work out a daily five-letter word within six guesses. The fewer the guesses, the better – and if you fail to guess it at all, you’ll break your streak.

The latter is why working out today’s Wordle answer is such a priority, as players pride themselves on keeping their streak going. So why gamble on a risky final guess when you can learn a few clues and, failing that, get the definitive answer? This page can help with that.

Once you have today’s word, learn more about Wordle and how the New York Times became interested in games in this interview with Jonathan Knight, Head of Games for the NYTimes. In keeping with the word theme, we’ve also discussed why The NYTimes Mini Crossword is a reliable joy.

Clues for today’s Wordle answer

Instead of going straight to the answer, you might only need a few hints to get you over the line:

• There are no repeating letters in this word.
• The word has only one vowel in it.
• Today’s word starts with ‘S’.
• This word refers to the structures used to traverse the Limgrave Tunnels in Elden Ring.

Still not sure? Read on for the answer.

Wordle answer for word 1127 on 20th July 2024

Even with the above clues, still not sure and want to keep that streak going?

The Wordle answer today is SHAFT.

I wish I had a more exciting story to tell regarding how I figured out the answer for today’s puzzle. My first guess was ‘TRICK’ and, when trying to find an inspiration for my next word, I looked at my keyboard and saw the ‘ENTER’ word. It was not the final answer nor it gave me extra letters to work with. Following the same strategy, I saw the word ‘SHIFT’ and little did I know how close I was when I decided to try this one. After changing the only wrong letter, I got the final answer.

Now you have the answer, do not spoil it for others! Remember, you can share your results spoiler-free in the form of a grid.

Of course, no one has to know you came to this page to work it out. Maybe put in two or three fake guesses first to throw them off the scent, perhaps?

Today’s Wordle etymology

The sense of a narrow passage into the earth related to ‘SHAFT’ appears in the early 15th century. There is more than one theory explaining from where the word might have come, from Low German to Proto Germanic. Now, ‘SHAFT’ in the sense of a beam of light comes earlier, in the 13th century.

In Old English we find the word ‘SCEAFT’ from which the Middle English term ‘SHAFTE’ comes from. The word ‘SHAFT’ meaning a long rod has probably come from them.

Wordle past answers for this week

And now for our ‘Previously on Wordle’ segment! (I know ‘in’ works better, but let me have this…) Last week has seen the following words make appearance in Wordle so far:

• FRIDAY 19th July – REFER
• THURSDAY 18th July – NERDY
• WEDNESDAY 17th July – QUITE
• TUESDAY 16th July – DECOY
• MONDAY 15th July – SWOON

If you’d like to know all of the words which has graced Wordle in times gone by, check out our past Wordle answers archive.

What to play after Wordle

With your daily Wordle completed, the question is – what shall you play now?

You can, of course, try out the other word-based games offered by the New York Times, like Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword and Letter Boxed. You can also take a crack at Connections, the daily Sudokus and Tiles – a rather additive motif matching game.

There’s also a range of games which have put a twist on the Wordle formula. Squaredle challenges you to find a series of words by connecting letters in a four by four grid. Meanwhile Dordle, Quorodly, Octordly and Sedecordle all keep to the standard Wordle, while increasing the number of words you have to find. The challenge comes in how your guesses count for all of the words, so you need to decide whether you’re going to focus on a specific word or try to solve multiple words at the same time. Thankfully, the number of guesses you’re given increases alongside the amount of words you’re expected to solve.

If you want a break from spelling though, try GeoGuessr. Here you’ll be given a picture of somewhere, anywhere, in the world and have to place a marker on where you think that location is. There’s even an Old School RuneScape version.

Hope you enjoyed playing Wordle today!