What happens when Wordle runs out of words?

With only so many five-letter words in the English language, the editor of Wordle has addressed concerns about what happens when they've all been used up in the popular game.

For those that don't know, Wordle is a daily game where players have six chances of correctly guessing the five-letter word of the day.

It was released in October 2021 and soon went global in popularity - so much so that the game made by a Welsh software engineer called James Wardle was bought by New York Times.

A social media user recently asked what happens when all of the five-letter words are used up and in a recent New York Times Games TikTok video, Wordle editor Tracy Bennett responded.

The comment from thornside3 said: "Tracy I'm worried that there's only about 2,300 five-letter words. What are we going to do then? Please advise."

In the TikTok video, Tracy said: "Yes, there are only 2,300+ words left in the database.

"I am still adding words though. I'm adding about 30 words and there are other words that haven't been added that could be added.

"One possibility is we could recycle old words at some point, like when we get close to the end, we could throw everything back in the pot and mix it up.

"Another thing we could do is maybe allow plurals. Wouldn't that be interesting, or past tenses? So, there are some options."

If there are 2,300 words left to use, that still gives around six-and-a-half years of fresh words, so there's no need to panic just yet - but admittedly it won't last forever.

Social media users have been commenting on the video with their thoughts.

Jaina said: "'Added' would be an evil Wordle."

One user said: "I think Wordle ending because we've run out of words would be such an interesting cultural event."

Annik said: "I'll never get over Sally. NEVER."

Haley said: "Moving up to six letters would make it feel like we all graduated together lol."

Jomari said: "'FINAL' as the last word would make me cry."

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