Best starting words for Wordle
Site guide · Nov 2026
A good first guess is not a guess at the answer. It is a guess at information: five letters that, whatever colours they come back with, cut the list of possible answers the most.
What makes a good opener
Common letters in common positions. Openers such as SLATE, CRANE and TRACE cover frequent consonants plus A and E. Vowel sweeps such as AUDIO settle vowels fast but teach less about consonants.
Best guess vs best answer
The solver keeps these apart on purpose. The most likely answer is the single word the pattern points to hardest. The best information guess is the word that tests the most undecided letters — useful when several answers share a pattern, such as the classic –ATCH trap.
Your second word matters more
When the first guess comes back mostly grey, the second word should test five fresh letters. A bad opener followed by a fresh-letter second word still becomes a three- or four-guess solve.
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