Wordle Solver
Solve your daily Wordle puzzle. Type your guesses below and click/tap tiles to change their colors matching the game.
Wordle Suggestions
Found 0 matching wordsInformation Theory & Optimal Strategy in Wordle
Invented in 2021 by software engineer Josh Wardle and acquired by The New York Times, Wordle is a masterclass in constrained search and combinatorial deduction. Players have 6 attempts to deduce a secret 5-letter English word. Behind the deceptively simple green, yellow, and gray feedback lies a profound application of Information Theory—the branch of mathematics pioneered by Claude Shannon in 1948.
Every time you submit a 5-letter guess, the game returns one of $3^5 = 243$ possible color feedback patterns. An optimal Wordle guess is not simply a word you hope is the answer; mathematically, it is the word whose feedback pattern distribution provides the highest Expected Information Gain (Entropy), measured in bits:
In this formulation, $p_i$ represents the probability of receiving feedback pattern $i$ out of the 243 potential combinations. The higher the entropy $E[I]$, the more evenly the remaining candidate solution pool is partitioned, minimizing the average number of turns required to solve the puzzle.
Top Statistically Optimal Wordle Starting Words
Computer simulations analyzing all 2,309 curated NYT solution words have computed the exact mathematical entropy and average remaining word pool for popular openers:
| Starting Word | Expected Entropy (Bits) | Avg. Remaining Candidates | Vowel / Consonant Profile | Strategic Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOARE | 5.89 Bits | ~60.9 Words | 3 Vowels (O, A, E), 2 Consonants (S, R) | Highest theoretical information entropy in English lexicons. |
| ROATE | 5.88 Bits | ~61.3 Words | 3 Vowels (O, A, E), 2 Consonants (R, T) | Favors top consonants R and T; excellent second-turn branching. |
| RAISE | 5.87 Bits | ~62.1 Words | 3 Vowels (A, I, E), 2 Consonants (R, S) | Player favorite; instantly screens the three most frequent vowels. |
| SLATE | 5.86 Bits | ~63.4 Words | 2 Vowels (A, E), 3 Consonants (S, L, T) | Optimal for human players; targets high-frequency positional consonants. |
| CRANE | 5.83 Bits | ~64.8 Words | 2 Vowels (A, E), 3 Consonants (C, R, N) | The official WordleBot benchmark opener. |
| ADIEU | 5.52 Bits | ~124.0 Words | 4 Vowels (A, I, E, U), 1 Consonant (D) | Identifies vowels rapidly, but leaves 2× more candidate words due to weak consonant screening. |
Understanding the "Hard Mode" Trap
In Wordle's optional Hard Mode, any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses. While intuitive, this constraint introduces a fatal mathematical vulnerability known as the Terminal Rhyme Trap.
Consider the pattern _OUND. Valid solutions include BOUND, FOUND, HOUND, MOUND, POUND, ROUND, SOUND, and WOUND (8 distinct candidates). If a Hard Mode player discovers _OUND on turn 2 with 4 guesses remaining, they can only test one initial consonant per turn. With 8 possibilities and only 4 turns left, losing is mathematically predetermined if unlucky. In Standard Mode, the optimal counter-strategy is playing an "eliminator word" like CLIMB or SPARK on turn 3 to test multiple leading consonants in a single move.
Duplicate Letter Color Mechanics
One of the most frequent sources of confusion in Wordle involves duplicate letters. The grading engine evaluates tiles from left to right with exact positional priorities:
- Step 1: Assign Greens: Positional matches are locked first. If target is
ABBEYand guess isBLEED, the secondEat position 4 turns Green. - Step 2: Assign Yellows: Remaining unassigned letters in the guess are matched against remaining unassigned letters in the target. Since
ABBEYhas only oneE(which is already Green), the firstEinBLEEDturns Gray, not Yellow. - DIY Toolkit Implementation: Our solver replicates this exact two-pass grading algorithm to ensure that candidate words precisely honor duplicate letter frequency counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the solver handle duplicate letters (e.g. one Yellow, one Gray)?
Our solver rigorously simulates the official NYT two-pass grading algorithm. If you mark one 'E' as Yellow and a second 'E' as Gray, the algorithm deduces that the secret word contains exactly one 'E' and eliminates all candidate words with zero or multiple 'E's.
What is the difference between Wordle's answer list and guess list?
The original Wordle game split its vocabulary into two subsets: ~2,309 common words chosen as potential daily solutions, and ~10,600 obscure words permissible as valid guesses. Our solver queries a comprehensive dictionary to support standard Wordle, custom games, and international variations.
Can this solver be used for multi-grid games like Quordle, Octordle, or Sedecordle?
Yes. Simply input the 5-letter guesses and color feedback for whichever specific grid you are solving. Because each grid in Quordle or Octordle operates under independent feedback, running our solver for each individual board isolates its unique solution.
Why is 'ADIEU' not the mathematically best starting word despite having 4 vowels?
While ADIEU identifies vowels quickly, vowels alone do not sufficiently partition the English lexicon. High-frequency consonants like R, S, T, L, N appear in far more word structures. Openers like SLATE or ROATE provide roughly 0.35 more bits of entropy, leaving half as many remaining candidates on average.
How do I change tile colors on the interactive board?
After typing your 5-letter guess, simply click or tap any individual letter tile. Each tap cycles the tile through Gray (Absent) → Yellow (Present in wrong spot) → Green (Correct position) to mirror your game screen.
Is my puzzle state or board history uploaded to a server?
No. All constraint filtering, letter frequency modeling, and dictionary candidate lookups run 100% locally in your browser memory via Web Workers. No gameplay data or keystrokes ever leave your device.