Wordle obscurity: Jul 5–Jul 11, 2026

Class is back in session, my fellow logophiles! This week, I have been reviewing last week's Wordle words and their Google Trends obscurity spikes, because I enjoy thinking about how Wordle players, after struggling with a particularly difficult challenge, go search for the word in Google to see what it means. It is always fascinating to observe the exact moment a daily word play session transforms into a collective research project. As we analyze the latest batch of puzzles, we can see how a single daily game can trigger a massive scramble for definitions when a particularly tricky jumble of letters lands on the board.

About this chart. Each line is one Wordle answer’s search interest in the United States over the past seven days (Google Trends “Interest over time”). Values are on Google’s 0–100 scale, so you can compare how often people searched each word relative to the others this week.

How the Spike % is calculated. For each word we take the quietest day in that window (the lowest point on its line) as its usual level for the week, and the busiest day (the highest point) as the peak. The spike is the percentage increase from that low to that high: (peak − low) ÷ max(low, 1) × 100. If the week’s low is zero, we divide by 1 instead of 0 so the spike still measures how much interest rose from the floor to the peak. A larger spike means searches jumped more sharply when that word was the daily answer.

This week’s words

Obscurity winner

Our undisputed champion of obscurity this week is SWAMI, which achieved a spectacular 9900% spike in search interest. On typical days, this word barely registers a baseline of 1 on the Google Trends index, but it soared to the maximum value of 100 on the day it appeared in the grid. We also saw a notable runner-up in TODDY, which brewed up a respectable 3300% spike of its own, proving that warm, sugary spirits can still puzzle a modern audience.

As an analytical aside, it is worth examining how our spike percentage formula rewards relative change from a low baseline. Consider the contrast between SWAMI and DEMON. SWAMI had the largest raw chart swing (H-L of 99) and a massive 9900% spike because its baseline was practically non-existent. Meanwhile, DEMON had a modest 33% spike despite a raw chart swing of 12. Why? Because DEMON is a common word with a steady background search interest (a baseline of 36), whereas SWAMI is a more specialized term rarely searched until a word game challenge thrusts it into the spotlight. This demonstrates how our metric highlights words that truly catch players off guard.

Speaking of word structures, did you notice that AMEND can be rearranged into several other common words? It belongs to a lovely anagram group that includes named and maned, turning our daily grid into a secondary anagram challenge for those who like to scramble letters for fun.

Whether you solved every grid with ease or found yourself stumped, I hope you enjoyed the journey. Engaging with these puzzles is a delightful way to keep our minds sharp. If you would like to explore the data yourself, you can view the full comparison below.

View these words on Google Trends (US, last 7 days)

The top 5 most obscure words used in Wordle, since I started doing this March 1, 2026, are still OVATE (+110000%), PIZZA (+103300%), CAROM (+70000%), DOWDY (+36700%), ELFIN (+35900%).

Word game sentence

While sipping warm toddies by the historic canal, the peaceful swami watched an avian flock soar overhead, hoping to amend his past mistakes and sling his inner demons aside.

This sentence blends the peaceful imagery of birdwatching and canal-side relaxation with the internal struggle of overcoming personal demons. Syntactically, it flows surprisingly well despite the disparate nature of the vocabulary, demonstrating how even a random jumble of weekly puzzle answers can be woven into a coherent narrative. It is a testament to the versatility of the English language and why playing these word games remains such an enriching daily challenge.

For Math Nerds