Wordle is a very popular web-based word game which gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. While guessing the word correctly means you've succeeded, guessing it in as few attempts as possible is the ultimate goal. Which is why choosing a good word to start with is so important.
With a little strategy employed, your choice of Wordle starter word can significantly increase your chances of success. So, to help you succeed at Wordle and keep that well-earned streak going, here are the best starter words for Wordle, according to the experts.
The Strategy Behind the Best Wordle Starting Words
Wordle experts recommend choosing vowel-heavy words as your opening guess word for Wordle. The reason for this is simple: there are only five vowels in the English alphabet, and most words contain one or more of them. If you figure out which vowels you're working with, you can quickly narrow down your list of potential solution words.
By this reasoning, words like "ouija," "adieu," "audio," and "raise" would be the ideal first guesses in a Wordle game. Well, not quite. More scientific approaches to Wordle solving argue that the vowel-first strategy is wonky for the same reasons that players think it's great. There are thousands of words with vowels in them, so unraveling an E or an A in your Wordle puzzle won't bring you much closer to solving that day's Wordle.
Some players also go for more consonant-heavy words like "nymph," "fjord," "waltz," "gybes," and "quick," so they can eliminate as many letters as possible within the six guesses. But even that approach is faulty, since Wordle answers frequently have repeated letters. Fo example, "trite" or "runny."
Others try words like "train," "roast," "irate," or "roate," because they contain commonly-occurring letters, but on days when the answer is a word like "jazzy" or "khaki," this approach won't help.
So, if these strategies don't work, what does?
The Best Wordle Starter Words According to the Experts
On the surface, you wouldn't think a word game to be enticing for mathematicians and data analysts, but since Wordle is also a probability game, that's the kind of crowd it has drawn.
We've seen several theories applied to determining which is the best word to start a Wordle game, and the results are interesting. Here are some of the best Wordle starting words, according to experts.
1. Crane
According to popular math YouTuber Grant Sanderson, who visually explains "higher mathematics" on his YouTube channel, 3Blue1Brown, the best Wordle starter word is "crane".
For the math geeks who are curious about his methodology, here's the TL;DR. Sanderson gave us a lesson on information theory by performing a simulation of various words using the Wordle answer sheet, after which he found that "crane" would give you the lowest average follow-up guesses. A little anticlimactic, no? After all that mathematical effort, you'd expect a more unusual word like "waltz" or "fjord". But apparently, there's magic in the mundane.
The New York Times' WordleBot (which is a tool that analyzes your completed Wordles and shares tips to improve your gameplay) also considers "crane" to be one of the best Wordle starter words.
2. Salet
Another mathematician, Alex Selby, claims on his website that “salet” is the best word to start with on Wordle. This is based on a strategy built around an algorithm.
Selby’s algorithm found that Salet left the least average guesses of 3.42 to arrive at the word of the day. Grant Sanderson of 3Blue1Brown corroborates this outcome in a follow-up analysis that restated his position on which word is best for starting Wordle.
At the time of writing, WordleBot's current top pick for Wordle starter words is something similar: "slate". It's a slightly different letter arrangement, but it's the same combination and has roughly the same chances of ruling out any remaining solutions.
3. Trace
According to machine learning researcher, Daniel Kats, who analyzed the Wordle answers sheet and documented his findings on GitHub, “trace” is the Wordle starter word that leaves the lowest number of remaining possible solutions. Kats found that a player would typically need 3.58 attempts to reach the answer after using "trace" as their first guess.
Trace is also up there as one of WordleBot's top starter words.
The Best Wordle Starter Words According to WordleBot
Apart from "slate," "crane," and "trace", WordleBot also suggests "slant," "crate," "carte," "least," "trice," "stare," "leant," "saint," "lance," "crone," and a host of other words as recommended first guesses.
You'll need a subscription (which costs $2 per month) to use WordleBot on New York Times and see the full list of starting words, as well as get insights to help you get better at Wordle.
Don't Forget to Have Fun While Playing Wordle
Of course, these recommendations are not set in stone. When it comes down to it, Wordle is a game, and you should have fun playing it. If you don't want to, there's no need to stick with a word routine for every game.