Early strategy rewards guessing five different letters, so players build a habit of avoiding repeats. That habit is right on turn one and wrong by turn three, and it quietly loses games.

A confirmed letter can appear twice. Once you've placed one E, the answer may still need a second: SHEEP, GEESE, THESE. Refuse to reuse letters on principle and you'll never try the word that's actually there.

When to suspect a double

• You already know three or four positions.
• Few words with all-different letters fit the gap.
• A common double matches the shape of what's left.

The doubles that actually appear

In practice you'll meet LL, EE, SS, OO, TT, RR, PP, and FF far more than any others. Doubled vowels past EE and OO are rare, so weight your guesses toward doubled consonants.

Hard mode makes it unavoidable

Once a letter turns green you have to keep it. When the pattern is something like S_EE_, a repeated letter is often the only legal move that makes progress, so players who practice spotting doubles hold a real edge.