Do you know what is the best word to start with in wordle? Read this guide to understand which is the Best Wordle Starting Word in today’s world:
As someone who has spent a lot of my free time on the incredibly addictive Wordle, I can confidently state that the key to beating the game lies with the right starting words. The best wordle starting word gives you an edge and increases your chances of winning it. Without a good or even decent starting word, you are almost certainly at risk of losing.
From self-professed Wordle experts to NYT’s very own WordleBot too, all seem to have recognized just how important a good starting word is to cracking Wordle.
Having won my fair share of Wordle sessions, I can attribute most of these victories to my strategic use of a great starting word. Perhaps this has brought me here to discuss this topic in detail today.
Table of Contents:
The Science Behind the Best Starting Word for Wordle
I suggest you read on as I share what the best word to start Wordle is, explain the math that goes into it, and recommend a few alternative tricks in the process to help you crack the game with ease.
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Generally speaking, it is always wise to rely on the alphabet that is used frequently in the English language. For instance, you are more than likely to find an ‘E’ in an English word than the letter ‘X’.
According to a research paper simply titled English Letter Frequency Counts, published by Peter Norvig, it was found that ‘A’, ‘T’, and ‘E’ were the most frequently used letters in English. On the other hand, the letters ‘Q’, ‘Z’, and ‘J’ were least utilized.
That being said, it is important to note that the list highlighted in the research relies on words used in general and not Wordle answers. You’ll need to analyze all the letters by yourself to find out which of them makes the most appearances in a Wordle game.
Before you feel intimidated by this prospect, let me assure you that it is easier than you’d expect. As all Wordle answers are freely available in the website’s HTML code, all you have to do is download them and get to work. Fortunately, you don’t have to do that as I’ve taken care of it for you.
Below is the list of letters that most frequently appear on Wordle:
- E
- R
- L
- T
- A
- I
- N
- S
- O
- C
The above list only pertains to valid answers as you have 12000 words to guess from, out of which only 2000 or so words are correct.
Which is the Best First Word for Wordle
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Wordle has been around for quite a while. In that time, numerous people have used math to find out what is the best word to start with in Wordle. So let’s first have a look at what game designer and programmer extraordinaire Tyler Glaiel found when he used good role mathematics to find a good starting Wordle word.
Tyler began by assigning each letter in Wordle’s list of possible guesses with a score of 0, 1, or 2. These scores were based on whether these letters were included within one among Wordle’s 2309 correct answers. After assessing all possible guesses, Tyler determined that three words could serve as good wordle starting words.
They were:
- Soare
- Raise
- Roate
After further deliberation, Tyler went on to claim that out of the 3 words, Roate is the word one should go with to rule out all possible answers immediately. That being said, Roate can’t be found in the list of Wordle’s probable answers. As such, there is practically no way for you to get a 1/6 by starting with Roate.
Therefore Tyler suggested the next best option, which was the word ‘Raise’.
What is the Best First Word for Wordle According to NYT’s WordleBot
The famous WordleBot (which is unfortunately now behind a paywall) has a list of its own that it promises are some of the best-starting words for Wordle. I am inclined to trust them as WordleBot is made by the same people who are now in charge of Wordle.
This list by WordleBot consists of words based on how many of Wordle’s 2309 possible answers are left after the game has been played.
After taking this metric and the average steps needed to finish the game into consideration, we are left with the following list of words. These, according to WordleBot at least, are 10 of the best words to start wordle with:
- Crane
- Slate
- Crate
- Slant
- Trace
- Lance
- Carte
- Least
- Trice
- Roast
Judging by the above list, WordleBot clearly states that the best 3 starting words for Wordle are ‘Crane’, Slate, and Crate.
Significance of Vowels
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Almost every Wordle answer employs one or more vowels in it. So focusing on vowels is perhaps an effective alternative approach to finding the best starting word for a wordle. Based on this theory, some popularly used words today have been ‘Adieu’ and ‘About’. This is mostly because both of these words use at least three vowels in them.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend using Adieu as it is not a Wordle solution. So you won’t get 1/6 with that word. About, on the other hand, is decent but it doesn’t have the letter ‘E’ in it, which is the most frequently used letter in Wordle. Other crowd favorites include the word Canoe, Audio, and Ouija.
Although helpful, these words aren’t likely to help you crack the game. However, I would still recommend paying heed to vowels, especially when it comes to pondering over your second wordle word.
Following Up With the Second Best Wordle Word
So you now have the best start word in your arsenal to approach your Wordle session with. However, that may not be enough to crack the game. The word might not even be enough to secure a yellow or green result for yourself.
To win then, you’ll need a great follow-up word. Your second word will most obviously depend on the first word you chose. For instance, if you are going with Crane, then the second best answer to throw out there could be Sound. If your first word was Trace, then your ideal second word could be Sully.
Below are a few more examples of some of the Best Second Startle Words you can use to immediately follow a strong starting word:
- First Word: Ourie, Second Word: Badly
- First Word: Roate, Second Word: Funds
- First Word: Stare, Second Word: Blimp
- First Word: Store, Second Word: Finch
A piece of advice from me would be to rely on second words with multiple vowels in them. This could be the strategy you need to succeed at Wordle.
Best Pairs Pertaining to Wordle Starting Words
A recent study looking into the best Wordle starting word pairs found that ‘Coal’ and ‘Nitter’ are the best Wordle starting word pairs as of 2024. That being said, they aren’t the only Wordle pair you can kick-start your game with.
Below are a few more examples:
- Carner and Toils
- Hones and Trail
- Citer and Loans
- Canoe and Tirls
- Caner and Toils
- Citer and Solan
- Coirs and Laten
- Conte and Rials
- Cairn and Toles
- Ceils and Torah
Each of the above-mentioned pairs provides you with a 64% chance of hitting at least one green square, while also having a 97% chance of hitting at least one yellow square. All of these pairs have the letters O, I, E, and A in them, thus again increasing your chances of making the correct guess.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How is Wordle played? What are the common rules associated with it?
Wordle is a very simple game to play and has turned into a viral phenomenon in a very short span of time. All you have to do is guess a 5 letter word and you get six chances to do so.
Below are a few rules that every Wordle player must adhere to:
You get six attempts to guess the Wordle answer.
The words you enter must be on the word list.
A correct letter will turn green.
A correct letter in the wrong place will turn yellow.
Inserting an incorrect letter will turn grey.
You can use letters multiple times.
2. Is there a daily limit imposed on Wordle?
Wordle only allows you to solve one puzzle a day. While some people find this upsetting, others believe that this makes Wordle all the more enthralling.
You only get one chance a day to get your Wordle puzzle right. Messing up means starting all over again the next day. This adds some stakes to the game every single time you hop on your computer or mobile to solve it.
3. How do I bypass Wordle Daily Limit?
Now although Wordle allows you to only solve one puzzle a day. People have found ways to bypass this restriction in order to play the game multiple times. You see Wordle pulls the date and time depicted on your computer or mobile screen every day before it assigns you a word.
So all you have to do is manually change the date and time on your system and you’ll be able to play Wordle as many times as you like each day.
4. What’s a respectable Wordle score?
As I mentioned before, you get six attempts to guess the correct word. Speaking from experience, people who are able to consistently guess the right word in 4 or less than 4 attempts are considered to have a respectable score. A score of 4 is hailed as especially impressive when you’ve harder words like ‘cynic’, ‘swill’, or ‘vivid’ involved.
5. What is the most common starting letter in Wordle?
It is said that over 15% of words in a day on Wordle start with the letter ‘S’. Following it, 6 other letters are said to appear in over 5% of Wordle words. The letters are:
C
T
B
P
A
F
Conclusion
Ever since Wordle first blew up, attempts have been made to make the game easier to crack. People have used everything from linguistics science to math to find the best start word for Wordle, some of which I’ve already recommended above. Wordle can be both simple and frustrating at times, and yet one cannot help but go back to it every day.
As I exit to experience another brain-teasing game of Wordle, I’d like to leave you with a few tips that could help you with your Wordle game.
- Try not to use duplicate letters in your initial guesses.
- Pay attention to greyed-out letters and always ignore them.
You now know the best-starting words and a few tips to have a fun time playing Wordle. Keep playing and it will only be a matter of time until you find yourself becoming a pro at it.
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