The hardest part of Wordle is usually the end, not the start. You know four letters, several words still fit, and two guesses remain. Luck only decides the rest if you let it.

First, list the family before you type. If the board shows _ATCH, the candidates are BATCH, CATCH, HATCH, LATCH, MATCH, PATCH, and WATCH. Cross off every leading letter you've already ruled out. Often that settles it on its own.

Use a bank guess

In normal mode, don't test candidates one at a time. Play a single word that packs several of them together. With _ATCH unresolved, CLUMP tests C, L, M, and P in one move, and the colors that come back point straight at the answer.

When the mode won't let you

Hard mode usually blocks the bank guess, because you have to keep the letters you've locked in. There, lead with the most likely remaining letter and hold a fallback for the next turn.

None of this needs a bigger vocabulary. It needs ten seconds to list the options and count what's already gone. Do that and most endgames stop being a guess. Try it on today's puzzle.