Best Wordle Starting Words
We played every candidate opener against all 2,315 answers on Wordle’s original list. Here’s what leaves you with the fewest words to sort through.
Starting-word lab
The top openers
| Word | Avg. left | Patterns | Can be the answer? |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROATE | 60.4 | 126 | No |
| RAISE | 61 | 132 | Yes |
| RAILE | 61.3 | 128 | No |
| SOARE | 62.3 | 127 | No |
| ARISE | 63.7 | 123 | Yes |
| IRATE | 63.8 | 124 | Yes |
| ORATE | 63.9 | 127 | No |
| ARIEL | 65.3 | 125 | No |
| AROSE | 66 | 121 | Yes |
| RAINE | 67.1 | 129 | No |
| ARTEL | 67.5 | 128 | No |
| TALER | 67.7 | 134 | No |
Popular picks, scored
| Word | Avg. left | Greens / guess | Yellows / guess |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROATE | 60.4 | 0.54 | 1.25 |
| RAISE | 61 | 0.55 | 1.21 |
| SOARE | 62.3 | 0.66 | 1.11 |
| ARISE | 63.7 | 0.55 | 1.21 |
| IRATE | 63.8 | 0.51 | 1.27 |
| STARE | 71.3 | 0.57 | 1.19 |
| SALET | 71.3 | 0.58 | 1.1 |
| SLATE | 71.6 | 0.62 | 1.06 |
| TRACE | 74 | 0.56 | 1.13 |
| CRANE | 78.7 | 0.6 | 1.05 |
| ADIEU | 123.7 | 0.32 | 1.16 |
| HOUSE | 128.8 | 0.48 | 0.9 |
| AUDIO | 183.7 | 0.27 | 1.05 |
| OUIJA | 245.9 | 0.24 | 0.93 |
Where letters actually land
The twelve most common letters in Wordle answers, by position. Darker squares mean more answers have that letter in that slot. It’s why S is a great first letter but a poor last one: plurals were left out of the answer list.
What makes an opener good
A first guess is an experiment. It’s good if every possible result tells you a lot, which happens when the colour patterns split the answers into many small groups. RAISE produces 132 different patterns; ADIEU produces 80. More patterns means smaller groups and fewer words left to sort through.
That’s why vowel-heavy words like ADIEU and AUDIO underperform: they find vowels, but most answers contain one or two of the same vowels, so many answers produce identical patterns. Common consonants such as R, S, T and L separate words far better.
The very best scorers (ROATE, SOARE, RAILE) are valid guesses that aren’t on the answer list, so they can never win on guess one. If you like the tiny chance of a first-guess win, RAISE and ARISE cost you almost nothing. Check what’s left after your opener with the Wordle solver, or scratch today’s Wordle hints.
Questions
What is the best Wordle starting word?
Measured by how many answers are left on average after one guess, the leaders on the original 2,315-word answer list are ROATE, RAISE, RAILE. RAISE and ARISE are the best openers that can also be the answer.
Is ADIEU a good starting word?
ADIEU finds vowels, but it leaves about 123.7 answers on average versus about 61 for RAISE, because D is rare and four vowels rarely land in the right spots.
Should I use the same starting word every day?
A fixed opener makes your second guess easier to plan because you learn what each pattern tends to mean. Rotating adds variety but costs a little efficiency on average.
How were these scores worked out?
Each starting word was played against every answer on the list and we counted how many answers would still be possible for every colour pattern it produced, then averaged that across all answers.