ranked against all 1,826 real Wordle answers
Most "best starting word" lists are computed against a generic dictionary. This one is different: every word below is scored against every real Wordle answer ever played — the same archive behind our complete past-answers list, updated daily.
Our pick · Best all-round starter
STARE hits an average of 1.79 letters per real answer and lands more greens (0.60 per game) than any other top-tier coverage word that has actually been a Wordle answer. Balanced, memorable, and it never wastes a guess.
| # | Word | Avg. letters hit | Avg. greens | 2+ letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ROATE † | 1.84 | 0.57 | 65% |
| 2 | ORATE † | 1.84 | 0.54 | 65% |
| 3 | LATER | 1.81 | 0.43 | 63% |
| 4 | ALTER | 1.81 | 0.41 | 63% |
| 5 | ALERT | 1.81 | 0.41 | 63% |
| 6 | IRATE | 1.81 | 0.54 | 64% |
| 7 | SOARE † | 1.79 | 0.69 | 64% |
| 8 | AROSE † | 1.79 | 0.56 | 64% |
| 9 | STARE | 1.79 | 0.60 | 62% |
| 10 | TEARS † | 1.79 | 0.40 | 62% |
| 11 | RATES † | 1.79 | 0.36 | 62% |
| 12 | LASER | 1.77 | 0.41 | 61% |
† Valid guess, but has never been a Wordle answer itself. Avg. letters hit = average number of the word's letters that appear in a real answer (green or yellow). Avg. greens = average exact-position matches. 2+ letters = share of all real answers where the word hits at least two letters.
SLATE — WordleBot's longtime favorite — comes in at #24 (1.70 letters, but an excellent 0.64 greens). CRANE, the pick made famous by 3Blue1Brown's information-theory video, ranks #46 (1.67 letters, 0.62 greens). Both remain great openers: they trade a little coverage for green-heavy positioning.
And the myth: ADIEU ranks #217, hitting just 1.51 letters per answer — and AUDIO is way down at #613 (1.34). Stacking vowels feels productive, but vowels are cheap information: E and A appear in nearly half of all answers anyway. It's the common consonants — R, T, L, S — that actually narrow the field.
Prefer to bank information with two fixed openers? The strongest measured pair is LATER → SONIC:
Together they cover an average of 3.08 letters per real answer; 99.3% of all answers contain at least one of their ten letters, and three in four contain three or more. Close runners-up: ALERT + SONIC, LASER + TONIC, LEARN + STOIC, and SLATE + RHINO.
Share of all real answers containing each letter:
At the other end: J (1.2%), Q (1.5%), Z (1.6%) and X (1.8%) barely exist. Never burn an opener on them. More of these numbers — repeated letters, vowel patterns, word families — on the stats & facts page.
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st letter | S 15% | C 9% | B 8% |
| 2nd letter | A 13% | O 13% | R 12% |
| 3rd letter | A 15% | O 11% | I 11% |
| 4th letter | E 13% | N 8% | I 8% |
| 5th letter | E 20% | Y 14% | T 11% |
This is why SOARE lands so many greens: S-1, A-3 and E-5 are all top slots. One in five answers ends in E, and Y — weak overall — is the second-best final letter thanks to words like DODGY and PARTY.
Every candidate word was scored against the complete archive of real Wordle answers (1,826 answers through July 2026 — see the full list). For each answer we count how many of the starter's distinct letters appear in it (a green or yellow in an actual game) and how many sit in the exact right position (greens). Rankings use average letters hit, with greens as the tiebreaker. As new answers are played daily, the numbers drift very slowly; the top tier has been stable for years.
A great opener is habit one of six — the rest are in our data-backed strategy guide. And if you're playing today's puzzle right now, get spoiler-free hints — clues revealed one at a time, answer only if you ask.
STARE is our pick for best all-round starter: 1.79 letters hit per real answer with an excellent 0.60 greens. ROATE and ORATE score marginally higher on coverage but are obscure words that have never been Wordle answers.
No — ADIEU ranks around #217 against real answers (1.51 letters hit). Common consonants like R, T, S and L narrow the field faster than a fourth vowel does.
LATER → SONIC: 3.08 letters covered per answer on average, and 99.3% of all real Wordle answers contain at least one of their ten letters.
Slightly. These rankings are recomputed against the growing archive of real answers — one new word per day — but the percentages move very slowly and the top tier has been stable for years. Check whether any word has already been used on our past Wordle answers list.