Best Wordle Starting Words, Ranked by the Numbers

The short answer

Start with CRATE, SLATE or ARISE. All three leave fewer than 20 possible answers on average after the first guess. If you want a fixed second word as well, CRATE then SOLID narrows the 731 answers to about two, and pins down the exact word almost half the time.

How we ranked the words

A good first guess is one whose colour pattern tells you as much as possible about the answer. For every allowed guess, we worked out the green, yellow and grey pattern it would produce against each of the 731 answers in the Smotix list, then measured how evenly those patterns split the list. An even split means that whatever you see, only a few answers remain.

We report three numbers for each word: the information it gives in bits (higher is better), how many answers are left on average after it (lower is better), and the worst case, which is the largest group you could be left with. The full method is explained in our article on information theory in word games.

The rankings

The top of the list is very close: the first six words are within 0.02 bits of each other, so any of them is an excellent choice. The big gap is between these words and the popular vowel-first openers further down.

Why ADIEU and AUDIO are weak starts

Testing four vowels at once feels efficient, but most answers contain A or E anyway: in the Smotix list, E appears in 49% of answers and A in 41%. Learning that one of them is present tells you little. Meanwhile ADIEU and AUDIO leave the most useful consonants, R, T, L, S and C, untested.

The result is that ADIEU leaves about 38 answers on average and AUDIO about 61, two to three times as many as CRATE. Vowel openers give about one bit less information than the best words, which is why they leave roughly twice as many answers.

Average or worst case: pick for your goal

If you want the lowest average score, choose the word with the most bits, such as CRATE. If you mainly want to avoid losing, look at the worst case instead. IRATE (39) and ARISE (40) never leave you with more than about 40 answers, while SLATE can leave 54 and CRANE 63.

ARISE has one more advantage: it is itself a possible answer, so once in a while it wins on the first guess. CRATE, TRACE and SLATE are accepted as guesses but are not on the Smotix answer list.

The best fixed second words

Many players like a fixed two-word start, so they never have to think on turn two. We tested every possible second word after each top opener. These pairs work best:

"Exact answer known" is the share of puzzles where the two patterns together leave only one possible answer, so you can win on guess three. A fixed pair is slightly worse than choosing your second word based on what the first one showed, but it is simple and very strong.

When not to use your fixed second word

• If your first guess turns up two or more greens, switch to guessing words that fit them. The fixed second word is built for the common case where you learn little.
• In Hard Mode you must reuse every green and yellow letter, so a fixed second word is often not allowed. See our Hard Mode tips.
• Once three or fewer answers remain, guess one of them. A guess that might win is worth more than extra information.

A note on other Wordle games

These rankings are for Smotix Wordle, which uses its own list of 731 common answers. Other Wordle games use different lists, so their published rankings differ slightly. The broad lesson holds everywhere, though: open with common consonants in their usual positions, plus two vowels, rather than with as many vowels as possible.

Ready to try it? Play today's Daily Wordle, or practise openers in unlimited Wordle.