Best Wordle Starting Words
Ranked by data, not opinion — computed from the full answer list.
Why your first guess matters so much
The opening guess is the only one you make with no information at all. A good opener does not try to win immediately; it tries to split the answer list into small groups. If your first guess divides the possible answers into a few large groups, you learn very little whichever group you land in. If it splits them into many small groups, the feedback from that one guess eliminates most of the candidates.
That is why the strongest openers tend to use common letters and a mix of vowels and consonants — they extract the most information from a single row of tiles.
How we evaluate starting words
We score candidate openers against the full answer list (2,309 words) and measure four things:
- Expected information — how evenly the opener splits the answers into feedback groups, in bits. Higher is better.
- Expected remaining — how many answers are left on average after the opener. Lower is better.
- Letter coverage — how common the word's letters are across the answer list.
- Vowels — how many of A, E, I, O, U the word contains.
Candidates are words that can actually be answers (the answer lists), not the full guess dictionary — so some high-entropy but non-answer words are excluded by design. "Best" depends on the metric: a word that maximises information may differ from one that maximises familiarity. There is no single objectively best opener.
Top openers by expected information
| # | Word | Information | Expected left | Coverage | Vowels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RAISE | 5.88 bits | 60.7 | 0.39 | 3 |
| 2 | SLATE | 5.86 bits | 71.3 | 0.37 | 2 |
| 3 | CRATE | 5.83 bits | 72.8 | 0.37 | 2 |
| 4 | IRATE | 5.83 bits | 63.5 | 0.39 | 3 |
| 5 | TRACE | 5.83 bits | 73.9 | 0.37 | 2 |
| 6 | ARISE | 5.82 bits | 63.5 | 0.39 | 3 |
| 7 | STARE | 5.81 bits | 71.0 | 0.39 | 2 |
| 8 | SNARE | 5.77 bits | 71.0 | 0.38 | 2 |
| 9 | AROSE | 5.77 bits | 65.8 | 0.39 | 3 |
| 10 | LEAST | 5.75 bits | 78.0 | 0.37 | 2 |
| 11 | ALERT | 5.74 bits | 71.5 | 0.39 | 2 |
| 12 | CRANE | 5.74 bits | 78.7 | 0.36 | 2 |
| 13 | STALE | 5.74 bits | 75.3 | 0.37 | 2 |
| 14 | SANER | 5.73 bits | 70.0 | 0.38 | 2 |
| 15 | TEARS | 5.72 bits | 75.3 | 0.39 | 2 |
Computed 2026-09-19 from 3,065 candidate words against 2,309 answers.
Reading the table
RAISE and SLATE sit at the top because they combine common letters (R, S, T, L) with two or three vowels, and they separate the answers well. IRATE and ARISE score highly on the same principle. A word like LEAST has a lower information score but a very high word frequency, which some players prefer because it feels natural to type.
Notice how close the top scores are. The gap between the best opener and the tenth-best is tiny compared with the difference between a good opener and a careless one. If you already have a favourite five-letter word with common letters and two vowels, it is probably fine.
Vowel-heavy openers
If you prefer to clear vowels early, these cover three or more vowels.
How to choose your own opener
- Prefer five different letters. Repeated letters waste a tile.
- Include two or three vowels. Almost every answer contains vowels; finding them early is efficient.
- Use common consonants. R, S, T, L, N and C appear often; J, Q, X and Z rarely.
- Stay consistent. Using the same opener every day lets you compare games and improves your instincts.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there one objectively best starting word?
- No. It depends on the metric. By expected information, RAISE scores highest in our analysis; by familiarity, a more common word may suit you better.
- Should I always use the same opener?
- Most strong players do. Consistency makes the second guess easier and helps you learn the answer space.
- Do repeated-letter openers work?
- They are usually weaker, because a repeated letter gives you less new information than two different letters would.