Today's 'Wordle' #769 Clues, Hints and Answer for Friday, July 28 ...

Even the best Wordle players could do with a hint when the addictive puzzle game offers up an impressive challenge, so Newsweek is here with some help to ensure you can overcome Friday's puzzle.

After Wordle was released to the public in October 2021, it quickly became a viral sensation, with many players taking to social media each day to share their scores.

The popular game's premise is simple enough; players have to follow a color system to work out a five-letter word within six guesses. Green tiles show letters that are in the word and in the correct position. A yellow tile means the letter is in the word but in the wrong place. A gray tile means that the letter is not in the word at all.

Previously speaking to Newsweek, Erhan Aslan, who teaches applied linguistics at the University of Reading in the U.K., offered some advice for Wordle players to ensure they employ the best strategy for solving the puzzle.

"One thing that I think is important in this game is the starting word chosen. Starting off with words that include commonly used vowels, for example, e and a, consonants such as r and t, and sound sequences might be helpful," he said.

"Choosing a word that starts with q, z, j, or x, for instance, may not be the best choice. As you get more feedback after a few guesses, users need to draw on some knowledge of phonics to narrow down or eliminate some words that they might be thinking," Aslan added.

Today's answer will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll down carefully if you want to work it out on your own. Here are some clues that might help you along the way.

Hint #1: There are no repeated letters in today's Wordle answer.

Hint #2: Friday's answer contains two different vowels.

Hint #3: You may want to use "water" as a starting word as it will give you two yellow tiles, including one of the needed vowels.

Hint #4: Today's answer begins with a vowel.

Hint #5: Merriam-Webster dictionary defines today's Wordle answer as: the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution.

The answer to today's puzzle is "ethos."

Hopefully, you were able to figure out the word within the six tries permitted. The next Wordle puzzle will be available at 7 p.m. ET, when the daily update occurs.

If you can't wait you can always try to crack some alternative word puzzles instead, such as Quordle or Typochondria.