You have four green letters. One square is left. And then you see the list: RIGHT, NIGHT, LIGHT, MIGHT, FIGHT, TIGHT, SIGHT, EIGHT.
This is a Wordle trap. Every guess that could be the answer tests only one new letter. With eight common words and a handful of guesses, the odds are against you.
Today we're adding a Strategy Coach to the Wordle Solver. When it spots a trap, it suggests a guess that tests several letters at once, shows how that guess splits your list, and tells you when a direct guess is the better move.
What a Wordle trap looks like
A trap is a group of words that share most of their letters. The usual suspects end in _IGHT, _ATCH, _OUND, _ASTE or _ILLS. Each one has a different first letter, and nothing else to tell them apart.
If you guess the words one by one, each guess only asks one question: "Is it this letter?" Here is how that goes in Hard Mode, where you have to keep every green letter in place:
The board is not unlucky. It is doing exactly what a one-letter-at-a-time strategy does.
The way out: test several letters at once
The fix is to spend a guess on a word that cannot be the answer, but that contains several of the letters you are choosing between.
For _IGHT, our solver's word list has 15 matching words. That includes the eight common ones above and some rare words it also tracks. The coach suggests FLAME:
FLAME tests F, L, M, A and E in one go. A green F means FIGHT. A yellow L means LIGHT, and a yellow M means MIGHT. If only the E lights up, it's EIGHT.
Compare that with guessing RIGHT. If RIGHT is wrong, you have learned one thing: it's not R. The other 14 words are still tied.
The coach draws these same bars, so you can see the split before you commit to the guess.
When the coach plays a perfect split
Sometimes an elimination word sorts out the whole list. Enter S_EEP and four words fit: SLEEP, SHEEP, SWEEP and STEEP.
Guess SLEEP and you might win, but if you don't, three words are still tied. The coach suggests SHAWL instead. It has an H, a W and an L, and that's enough:
Open See every outcome under the coach and you get this same breakdown for any trap: each color result, and the words it leaves.
How many guesses you have left changes the advice
An elimination guess only pays off if you have a turn left to use what it tells you. So the coach asks how many guesses you have left.
- Three or more: it picks the guess that leaves the fewest words in the worst case.
- Two: it picks the guess that lets you get the most answers with your last two tries. After FLAME you can still get 6 of the 15 _IGHT words. After RIGHT, only 2.
- One: it stops suggesting elimination words. On your last guess, the only useful move is a word that could win, so it shows the most common word that fits.
If you use the board, the coach counts your complete rows and works this out for you. In the classic form, pick the number from the menu at the top of the coach.
What about Hard Mode?
Hard Mode makes you reuse every green and yellow letter you've found. With four greens in place, there is no legal word that tests more than one new letter. FLAME is not allowed.
Switch the coach to Hard Mode and it follows the same rules. When only one square is open, it tells you so plainly and suggests a possible answer instead of a guess you can't play:
When the trap is not fully closed yet, for example with only one or two greens, Hard Mode can still leave room for a useful elimination word, and the coach will find it. The coach remembers your Hard Mode choice on your device.
The lesson for Hard Mode players is to avoid the trap early. If two or three guesses in you see a pattern like _IGHT forming, the best time to test the first letter is before all four greens lock in.
How to use the Strategy Coach
- Enter your clues on the Wordle Solver, on the board or in the classic form, and press Solve.
- If the matching words form a trap, the coach appears above the word list.
- Set Normal or Hard Mode, and check the number of guesses left.
- On the board, press Play to put the suggested word in your next row, then tap the tiles to match the colors your game gave you. In the classic form, press Copy.
The coach stays out of the way when there's no trap. With only two matching words, or a list that common guesses already split well, you won't see it.
How it decides
The coach only works on lists it can check completely. When between 3 and 80 words match your clues, it takes every one of them and works out the exact color result each candidate guess would produce against each word. Nothing is sampled or estimated.
It compares two kinds of guess:
- every word that could still be the answer, and
- a shortlist of about 500 familiar words that make good elimination guesses.
A trap is flagged only when guessing an answer would leave at least half the list tied in the worst case, and an elimination word does clearly better.
This is different from the Best Guess sort in the results list. Best Guess ranks the possible answers by how much each one would tell you. It never adds words that can't win. You can read how Best Guess works in a separate post, and the bigger picture in our Wordle strategy guide based on information theory.
What the coach does not promise
The coach counts every word in the solver's word list that fits your clues. That list is bigger than the set of words Wordle uses as answers, so a few rare words are always included. If you turn on Hide past Wordle answers, the coach works with the shorter list you see.
It also doesn't claim a guaranteed win. When some color results would still leave a choice, it says so. And the coach is only on the 5-letter Wordle Solver for now, not on the other word lengths or the Quordle and Octordle solvers, where one guess has to work across several boards.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Wordle trap?
A Wordle trap is a set of possible answers that share four of their five letters, such as RIGHT, NIGHT, LIGHT and MIGHT. Guessing them one at a time tests a single letter per guess, so you can run out of turns before you reach the answer.
Should I guess a word that can't be the answer?
Often, yes. If several words are still tied and you have at least two guesses left, a word that tests several of the differing letters usually tells you more than a direct guess. On your last guess, always play a word that could win.
Does the Strategy Coach work in Hard Mode?
Yes. Switch the coach to Hard Mode and it only suggests words that keep your green letters in place and use every letter you've found. When four greens leave a single open square, it suggests a possible answer.
Why don't I see the Strategy Coach?
It appears on the 5-letter Wordle Solver when between 3 and 80 words match your clues and they form a trap. If the list is short, already easy to split, or very long, there is no trap advice to give.
Is the suggested word always a real word?
Yes. Elimination guesses come from a shortlist of familiar English words that Wordle accepts as guesses, so you can type them into the game.
Try it on your next tough board on the Wordle Solver. If the coach gives you advice that looks wrong, leave a comment below with your clues, and we'll take a look.
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