Best Wordle Starting Words – WordsRated (2024)

Wordle starting words – report highlights

• According to WordsRated’s analysis, the best starting words for Wordle are CRANE (based on all available solutions) and SAUCY (based on remaining solutions as of Feb, 2024).
• For Normal mode, SLATE, SALET, ROATE and STARE are known to be some of the best alternative starting words for Wordle.
• For Hard mode, DEALT is believed to be the best Wordle starting word.
• However, COALS and NITER were found to be the best performing word pair combination for the opening two guesses.
• “S” is the starting letter in 15.81% of Wordle solutions, more than any other letter.
• “A” is the most common 2nd and 3rd letter, while “E” is the most common 4th and 5th letter.
• The letter “E” is also the most common letter used overall in all Wordle solutions, present in 10.65% of solutions.
• “R” is present in 7.77% of Wordle solutions, more than any other consonant.

In a game of Wordle, the initial word a player chooses to play is essential to finding the solution quickly. If a correctly placed green letter or an incorrectly placed yellow letter is not identified after the first turn, the total number of turns needed to solve the Wordle level is hugely impacted.

Many players opt for three key strategies when choosing their starting word. Selecting the most common letters improves the likelihood of letters appearing, opting for many vowels can make the solution easier to guess and choosing unique instead of duplicate letters prevent wasted letter squares.

Players should be aware that although the game recognizes over just under 13,000 words in its dictionary, only 2,309 words will result in a level solution. However, players can use any term in the game’s word bank alongside careful deduction skills to bring them closer to a level’s answer using fewer turns.

7 best starting words for Wordle

The perfect starting word can be the difference maker between winning, losing or decreasing the turns needed to complete a level. Although there is no definitive answer that will work 100% of the time, we have found some of the best starting words from throughout the history of Wordle for you to put into practice.

CRANE (all words)

We performed an analysis of the top starting words for Wordle by adding together the frequencies of the top 5 letters used in each position. From this, CRANE was shown to be the best starting word based on all available solutions.

• Using all solutions, CRANE has the highest score of all words available, 59.55.
• CRANE contains the top 2 most frequent vowels, “A” (#2) and “E” (#1).
• It also contains 2 of the 5 most common consonants, “R” (#1) and N (#5).
• Furthermore, it also uses “C” in the first letter position, where it is the second most-common letter.

Using WordsRated’s analysis, a table is given below to compare CRANE vs. other top rated words for Wordle:

SAUCY (remaining words)

However, our analysis showed that SAUCY is the best starting word to use from the remaining solutions as of February, 2024.

• Eliminating words already played, SAUCY is found to be the best word to play on the first turn, with a score of 62.15.
• The score for SAUCY is 1.59% higher than the second-best scoring word using remaining solutions, SAUCE.
• SAUCY contains the most-common first, second and fifth letters remaining (“S”, ”A” and “Y” respectively).
• It also contains the letters “U” and “C”, which are each ranked as the fifth highest by frequency for their letter positions out of the remaining solutions.

Using WordsRated’s analysis, a table is given below to compare SAUCY vs. other top rated words for Wordle:

SLATE

Wordlebot, which is the official automated assistant from The New York Times, recommends SLATE as an opening word for players who look to play the game in its Normal mode.

• Compared against all other starting words, SLATE is rated 99/100 in terms of skill by Wordlebot (highest).
• When SLATE is used as an opening word, just 1.70% of players fail to solve their given Wordle in time.
• SLATE contains the most common first letter “S”, the most common third letter “A” and the most common fifth letter “E”.
• In addition, “L” is the third-most common consonant and “T” is the second-most common consonant overall.

A graph is given below to show the extra guesses needed to solve Wordle for SLATE vs. other starting words:

SALET

Using a different model, two MIT researchers crunched the numbers and found a different recommended word to begin Wordle, SALET. This unusual word describes a round, light helmet that covers the back of the neck.

• 5 of the top 10 most-common letters used in Wordle answers are used in the word SALET.
• The researchers found that it performs better than SLATE by 1% in terms of narrowing down Wordle options.
• This means that players who use it as an opening word have a better chance of solving the day’s challenge within 6 guesses.
• Despite this, it is impossible to score a perfect 1 guess Wordle as the word is not included within the game’s answers and can only be used as a deduction word.

ROATE

Tyler Glaiel, a game designer and programmer, decided to assign values to each letter in all possible Wordle guesses. Essentially, each value given depended on whether a letter resulted in a gray, yellow or green square (0 points, 1 point and 2 points respectively).

• From his analysis, he decided that the opening word ROATE (a financial term) provided the lowest average number of guesses to find the solution.
• Unfortunately, as with SALET, ROATE does not feature as a potential solution and can only be used to provide information for use in upcoming guesses.
• ROATE contains the most-common consonant “R” and the second-most common consonant “T”.
• It also contains the three most-common vowels, “E” (#1), “A” (#2) and “O” (#3).

STARE

Casting aside the calculations of researchers, programmers and computers, the average player considers STARE to be the best opening word.

• Using basic logic, STARE provides a clear choice to most players, due to the probability of each letter appearing alongside their placement within the term.
• “S” is in position #1 and is also the most-common first letter from Wordle’s answers.
• “A” is in position #3 and is the most-common letter for this spot.
• “E” is in position #5, which again is the spot’s most common letter.
• The most-common consonants from Wordle’s answers, T (#2) and R (#1) make up the remaining spaces.

DEALT (Hard mode)

Some players look to play Wordle on Hard mode after finding yesterday’s solution too easy. There is an alternate optimal starting word you can use for this mode, which differs from the other solutions provided.

• DEALT is recommended as the perfect starting word for Hard mode by the Wordlebot automated assistant.
• “E” (#1) and “A” (#2) are the most-common vowels to appear in the word bank.
• Furthermore, “L” and “T” both feature in the top three most-common consonants (#3 and #2 respectively).

Popular starting word strategies for Wordle

Although the solutions above prove to be some of the best words to start Wordle, some alternative sources suggest different terms. Each player should also note that any of the word bank’s 5-letter words can provide valuable information for your next guess and that no single perfect word will guarantee results.

Vowels

As a general rule, the best Wordle players will look to identify the most common vowels within their first guess. As there are only 5 to choose from, vowels are much easier to identify and can give away major clues as to the structure of the solution.

To maximize this strategy, players often go for AUDIO or ADIEU which each feature 4 vowels. Once the vowels are in place, the player can start looking for words with a higher number of consonants to fill in the gaps.

Consonants

When choosing consonants, players should look to be more specific in the letters they go for, as some are much more common than others. Based on frequency, players should look for words that include “L”, “R” and “T” and avoid those that contain “J”, “Q”, “X” and “Z”.

Duplicate letters

it is also recommended to avoid selecting a letter twice, unless you are guessing the final solution in your next turn. Entering the same letter multiple times on an early guess can prevent you from finding other letters by wasting additional squares.

Plural words

Players should always avoid making a guess that is plural, as Wordle doesn’t contain any plural words as answers. Additionally the letter “S” rarely occurs at the end of a word, so even if it does appear, it is likely to show up as yellow and need re-arranging.

Repeat words

Once a word is solved as a daily answer, it will no longer be possible for it to become a solution word again. Knowing this, players should keep in mind that they can use previous answers to help them solve the day’s solution as a first guess but they will miss out on the opportunity to score a perfect 1 out of 6.

Speed

As a daily game, Wordle players have a total of 24 hours to find the given solution. Knowing this, it is important for each player to prevent rushing through multiple guesses in one go and instead pause to consider different possibilities.

A graph is given below to show the most 5 popular Wordle starting words:

(data from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023)

NYT Wordlebot highest ranking words

The New York Times’ official Wordlebot has categorized its best performing words to be used on a first guess in each game mode by their skill level. A higher skill level means that the word is better for helping players solve each solution.

• SLATE is the highest ranked word by Wordlebot for a first guess in Normal mode.
• Although SLATE has been selected as the most effective, CRANE, CRATE, SLANT and TRACE also scored equally according to the method.
• For Hard mode, DEALT scored higher than any other word.

(Skill level out of 100 in brackets)

Did you know, you can now see how your Wordle scores compare against other players in your city, state or country?

Most common letters in Wordle

By analyzing Wordle’s solutions list, it is possible to see the frequency at which each letter appears. Using this, we can determine the best letters to play in a starting word.

• Using the full list of Wordle solutions, “E” is the most frequent letter that appears (10.65% of words).
• This is followed by the letter “A” (8.45%) and the letter “R” (7.77%).
• Even when removing past Wordle answers*, the letter “E” is still the most common letter (in 10.57% of words).
• Again, “A” follows up with 8.14% while “R” comes in third at 7.60%.

*as of February, 2024

Most common first letter in Wordle

Using Wordle’s full list of solutions, the most frequent first letter for an answer is “S” which features in 15.81% of words. However, accounting for solutions already solved, it increases further to 17.21% and remains the most common for future answers*.

*as of February, 2024

Most common second letter in Wordle

“A” is the most common letter in the second spot, featuring in 13.17% of all Wordle solutions. Removing solutions already given, it still remains the most frequent and its presence climbs to 13.64%*.

*as of February, 2024

Most common third letter in Wordle

The third letter in Wordle solutions is of key importance to players for finding the answer. Again, “A” is the most frequent letter to occupy this spot, at 13.25% for all solutions and 12.59% for remaining solutions*.

*as of February, 2024

Most common fourth letter in Wordle

The letter “E” is by far the most frequent to appear in the fourth spot in wordle solutions. For all answers it appears 13.77% of the time and for remaining answers it jumps to 14.53%*.

*as of February, 2024

Most common fifth letter in Wordle

In the fifth letter position, “E” is once more the most frequent letter for all solutions at 18.28%. Despite this, by removing the already played solutions “Y” becomes the most common at 17.59%*.

*as of February, 2024

A graph is given below to show the most frequent letters per position for Wordle solutions:

Total consonants vs. vowels

By looking at all of the letters in Wordle solution words, we can see that consonants are significantly more frequent than vowels. Comparing the full list of Wordle solutions vs. just the remaining solutions, the percentage of consonants to vowels remains stable.

A graph is given below to compare the total consonants vs vowels in Wordle solutions:

Consonants vs. vowels by position

The likelihood of a solution letter being a consonant or a vowel varies greatly depending on where in the word it is placed. Consonants are significantly more common in positions 1, 4 and 5 while positions 2 and 3 are much more balanced with vowels.

A graph is given below to show the percentage of consonants vs. vowels by their letter position in Wordle solutions:

Wordle starting guess combinations

Instead of focusing on just finding the best Wordle word to start with, you may be more interested in finding an optimal two word combination. By playing in this way, you can assess your options after playing 10 letters instead of 5, potentially setting you up with better hints for turns 3 and 4.

• One large simulation of Wordle games found that COALS and NITER were statistically the best performing word pair.
• This combination was found to produce yellow letters in 97.00% of games and green letters in 62.40% of games.
• However, when tasked with identifying only consonants, DARNS and LETCH were the most effective.
• This combination produced yellow letters in 90.80% of games and green letters in 37.00% of games.
• Starting guess combinations can be even more effective for variations of Wordle that feature additional solutions, such as Quordle and Octordle.

A list is given below to compare the most effective first and second guesses for Wordle (all letters):

A list is given below to compare the most effective first and second guesses for Wordle (consonants only):

Should your Wordle start word have lots of vowels?

• Players are recommended to use many vowels in their opening Wordle guess.
• Although vowels are less frequent overall, they make up the most dominant letter in positions #2, #3, #4 and #5.
• This means that if they can be identified early on, the structure of the word should be more obvious to players, which can help when determining which consonants are missing.

What is the best follow-up word in Wordle?

No matter how accurate your first guess is, your chance to solve levels in one turn is phenomenally rare. After using our guide to work out the optimal Wordle opening move, you may be thinking how to follow it up with a measured second guess.

Good second guesses and subsequent guesses are dependent on the turns played before, in order to calculate the letter possibilities. Assuming you used the players’ favorite word STARE, good follow-up words include COULD, DOING or PHONY as they each contain frequent letters that are unique to the first guess.

Whatever follow up word you decide to go with, select it using common letters, without repeating letters from your first turn or repeating letters in the current turn. By doing so, you will increase your chance of finding yellow and green squares, setting you up to solve today’s Wordle using a minimal number of turns.

What is the worst Wordle starter word?

• The word XYLYL (used in chemistry) has been reported by many players to be the worst possible word to use when starting a game of Wordle.
• It has been chosen as the worst possible word as it only contains 3 unique letters, all of which are extremely rare.
• In addition, there are no vowels present in the word at all.