Letter Frequency in Wordle Answers

Some letters show up far more than others. Knowing this helps you pick smarter guesses, especially early on.

E is the most common letter overall, followed by A, R, O, and T. J, Q, X, and Z are the rarest — save them for later guesses, not your opener.

S is the most common starting letter. Almost 16% of all answers begin with it. E is the most common ending letter, showing up at the end of over 18% of answers.

Example: Narrowing Down an Answer

Guess 1: Try SLATE. Say S comes back grey, L is yellow, A is green in position 3, T is grey, and E is green in position 5. Enter all of that into the solver. Your list drops from over 2,000 words to a few dozen.

Guess 2: Pick any word from that shorter list. The next round of feedback usually cuts it down to under 10 words.

Guess 3: With only a handful of words left, the answer is usually easy to spot.

How It Works

After each Wordle guess you get three types of feedback. A green tile means the letter is correct and in the right position. A yellow tile means the letter is in the word but you put it in the wrong place. A grey tile means the letter isn't in the word at all.

Put all of that into the solver and it checks every word in the Wordle list — keeping only the ones that match everything you know. The more guesses you enter, the shorter your list gets, typically down to a handful of options by guess three or four.

What to Type Where

Green boxes: Type the green letter in the exact box number it appeared in. Letter was green in position 3? Type it in box 3.

Yellow rows: Add one row for each yellow letter. Type the letter, then tick the position it was in. The solver finds words containing that letter — just not in that spot.

Grey box: Type all your grey letters together. No spaces, no order — just dump them all in.

Best Starting Words

Top pick: SLATE — rated 99 out of 100 by the New York Times' own WordleBot. Other great starters: CRANE, TRACE, CRATE, and CARTE. They all work for the same reason: each covers five different common letters at once, so one guess gives you a lot of information and makes your second guess much easier. See our full breakdown of the best Wordle starting words for more options and the reasoning behind each one.

AUDIO and ADIEU look smart because of all the vowels, but they don't actually tell you as much as SLATE or CRANE do. Vowels are easy to find — common consonants are harder, and that's the information you really want from an opener.

Playing on Hard Mode?

On hard mode, every confirmed letter must be used in subsequent guesses — you can't throw in a fresh exploratory word just to gather more clues.

That's exactly when this solver helps most. It shows only the words still valid under your constraints, so you can pick the guess that satisfies everything while eliminating the most remaining possibilities. For more tactics beyond hard mode, see our full Wordle strategy guide.

Best hard mode opener: CLASP.

About the Word List

The Wordle answer list wasn't generated algorithmically. The original creator went through the full set of five-letter words by hand and curated it down to common, familiar words — removing obscure terms, proper nouns, and plurals ending in S.

That left 2,315 possible Wordle answers, plus another 10,657 words accepted as valid guesses but never used as solutions. When "Show only Wordle words" is on, this solver filters against the 2,315-word answer list exclusively.

Two Reasons People Use This

You're stuck mid-puzzle. A few guesses in, you've confirmed some letters but no word is surfacing. The solver shows every remaining candidate so you can make an informed guess instead of a random one.

You want to get better. After finishing a puzzle, run your actual guesses back through the solver and see how many words were left at each step. It's one of the fastest ways to spot a smarter move for next time.

Common Patterns to Watch For

About 32% of Wordle answers contain a repeated letter (like SPEED or GLASS). If your guesses have confirmed 4 unique letters but the word still doesn't click, consider that one letter might appear twice. Also watch for less common letter combinations like GH, PH, and QU — they appear more often than you'd expect.

FAQs

How do I use a Wordle word finder by letter position?

Type each known letter into the box that matches its position in the word. Green boxes need an exact position. Yellow letters need a position you tick to exclude, since the letter exists in the word but not there.

Can a Wordle solver be used on hard mode?

Yes. Hard mode requires every confirmed letter to appear in later guesses. This solver only shows words that already meet that rule, so every result is a valid hard mode guess.

What is the difference between a Wordle solver and a plain word list?

A plain word list shows every five-letter word. A solver filters that list using your specific green, yellow, and grey clues, so you only see words that can still be the answer.

Why does the same letter appear twice in some Wordle answers?

About 32% of Wordle answers have a repeated letter, like SPEED or GLASS. If you've confirmed 4 unique letters and nothing fits, try a word with a double letter.