NYT Reveals More Effective ‘Wordle’ Starting Words After Analyzing 515M Solves

Photo 242479909 © FPCreativeStock | Dreamstime.com

The New York Times has dished out some intriguing findings after crunching data from a whopping 515 million Wordle attempts from the past year using its Wordle Bot. This AI-powered sleuth has been busy assigning probabilities to all 14,855 valid Wordle guesses. 

So, what’s the scoop from this deep dive into the Wordle world? Well, “SLATE” is climbing the popularity charts, while “CRANE” seems to be yesterday’s news.

Like that popular kid in school who barely did well in class, “ADIEU” turns out to be the most commonly chosen starter word but, ironically, ranks lowest on the efficiency scale in comparison with other favorite first guesses.

Say adieu to “ADIEU”

The Times notes that starting off with a bunch of vowels in “ADIEU” might seem like a smart move, but it often leads to a guessing game filled with gray boxes. This leaves players with fewer vowels to play with but a whole lot of consonants to figure out. Not far behind in the popularity stakes is “AUDIO,” another vowel-heavy starter that tends to lead players down a similar path of inefficiency.

RAISE your STAKE(s) with “SLATE” / “CRANE” / “TRACE”

To nudge you toward acing your daily puzzle, the Wordle Bot highlighted a few gold star starters like “SLATE,” “CRANE,” and “TRACE,” which seem to get players to the finish line with fewer guesses. In a bit of Wordle math, those who kick off with “ADIEU” typically need an extra third of a turn to solve the puzzle compared to the “SLATE” starters. Over a year, that adds up to 132 extra turns—quite a significant number when you’re trying to crack the code in as few guesses as possible.

Jumping Jiminy!

Interestingly, players often struggle with solutions starting with “J.” The word “JOKER” had fans scratching their heads more than any other, with only 71% managing to figure it out. So, if you’re a Wordle enthusiast, it might be time to give this underappreciated letter some more love.

You can find out more insights about beating the game by reading the Times’ Wordle year in review.

[via New York Times, cover photo 242479909 © FPCreativeStock | Dreamstime.com]