Interactive tool

Wordle Starting Word Comparison Tool

Pick an opening word and watch every historical answer sort itself into feedback groups. The tool measures how much each guess actually narrows the field, using 1,880 distinct past answers. Everything runs in your browser.

This tool needs JavaScript to run its calculations. The full results are in the table below, and theaccompanying article explains what they mean.

Results for all 11 opening words

These are the same figures the tool computes, published here so they are readable without running anything. Higher information means the guess separates the answers more evenly; fewer average candidates means it narrows the field harder. The two do not always agree.

Opening words scored against 1,880 distinct historical Wordle answers, each equally likely.
Opening guess	Information (bits)	Average candidates left	Largest remaining group
SOARE	5.902	48.7	141
TRACE	5.875	56.0	177
CRATE	5.873	55.4	177
IRATE	5.872	49.5	151
SLATE	5.854	57.5	178
RAISE	5.835	50.4	143
SALET	5.795	59.3	178
TARES	5.734	58.3	182
ADIEU	4.879	98.5	219
AUDIO	4.612	147.1	348
FUZZY	2.253	734.9	1,138

Computed from a frozen archive snapshot taken 2026-09-04, covering 20,680 guess-answer pairs. This measures the first guess only, not a full-game strategy or today's eligible answer pool.

Where these numbers come from

The article walks through what a bit of information means in Wordle, why TARES, SOARE and SALET can each top a different ranking, and when an "impossible" guess is the right move.

Read the full article →

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