Wordle fans continue to play the once-a-day word guessing game and post their results to social media every day, and one thing I’ve noticed is the question that we’ve explored a couple of times now.
What is the perfect first word to open with to give you the optimal chance at winning?
I’ve seen some people claim their perfect first word gets them the win every time. Some folks change it up. So I’ve decided to put together a bunch of different theories that you can use to try out in order to find your best opening move. Here they are:
1
ADIEU
We’ve been over this. Four vowels right off the bat. Your next word can be one with an R, S, T. Boom.
me today after my usual Wordle opening of "adieu" and seeing the number of yellows and greens. pic.twitter.com/UqZP1PQpLK
— Matt Skrajner (@MattSkrajner) January 18, 2022
On the day that the wordle answer is ‘adieu’ social media will implode
— vasili (@mockdownblues) January 20, 2022
2
AUDIO
I saw this one on a list of good words to kick off with. AUREI is also up there and my head exploded.
3
STARE
If you want common consonants and two vowels, there you go. From this post.
The best word to start Wordle with is "STARE".
A and E are the most commonly used vowels in English, while T and R are the most commonly used consonants. The most common first letter, on the other hand, is S.— K Manuel 🍄 (@theklmanuel) January 16, 2022
4
ROATE
I’ve seen some people claim this is the optimal first word thanks to algorithms:
I wrote a near-optimal algorithm for WORDLE that averages 3.5 guesses (3.25 over last 2wks)!
Here’s what we can learn:
– The best first word is ROATE
– It’s suboptimal to limit yourself to valid words: if CREAM gives you 🟩⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️→ your second guess shouldn’t start with C pic.twitter.com/lPAfIvXHfF— Shikib Mehri (@shikibmehri) January 15, 2022
There’s a whole article about it!
5
ROAST
I like this one!
Fellow Wordle players: do you just use the same first word every time?
Mine is “ROAST”
— Kyle Orland (@KyleOrl) December 30, 2021
Lucky my starting word is always ROAST.
Wordle 215 2/6🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩— Roger Finch (He/Him) (@RogerFinch1) January 20, 2022
6
RATIO
Good one in a roundup from Polygon.
7
ARISE
Three vowels and two common consonants. I approve!
Arise? Adieu? Irate? Wordle, a new word game, has people debating the best five-letter words https://t.co/sPP1y9tF4o
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 10, 2022
The optimal first guess on Wordle is "ARISE"
— Jalopy Galopy (@Jankem69420) January 11, 2022
8
TEARS
Like STARE but you can see if you have a plural right away.
