Word Guessing Game Tips: Repeated Letters and Clues

Choosing guesses, measured on the 200 answers

The game page explains how the marks work. This guide is about which words to type. Every number below is measured on the game’s own 200 answers and its 2,579 accepted guesses, scored the way the game scores them.

Best opening words for this word guessing game

A good first word splits the answers into many small groups, so that whatever marks come back, few answers still fit. Of all 2,579 accepted words, CRANE does this best: after it, 4.1 answers fit the marks on average, and never more than 10.

Vowel-heavy openers do poorly here. ADIEU leaves 11.8 answers on average and AUDIO leaves 18.0. Most answers have only one or two vowels, so a word that spends four letters on vowels learns little about the consonants that tell the answers apart.

What the first clue tells you

CRANE marks at least one tile for 195 of the 200 answers, and gives at least one ✓ for 128. Only 5 answers leave all five tiles marked —. For 32 answers the marks fit no other answer, so the second guess can already win. The largest group that can remain is 10 answers.

Near-twin answers and probe guesses

76 of the 200 answers have a near twin: another answer that differs in one position only. These 44 pairs and groups are where guesses get lost, because guessing one twin rules out only that word. Two groups have three members, for example BRAIN, DRAIN and TRAIN.

With two twins left, just guess one of them. With three, a probe word that tests the letters that differ is safer. ADMIT cannot be any of the three, but its D and T settle it in one guess:

If the answer is BRAIN:

If the answer is DRAIN:

If the answer is TRAIN:

D marked ◆ means DRAIN, T marked ◆ means TRAIN, and neither means BRAIN. The next guess always wins, so the probe finishes in two guesses. Guessing TRAIN instead wins at once one time in three, but it can take three guesses.

Where the letters sit

Once you know which letters are in the word, their positions follow strong habits. The most common letters in positions two to five (first letters are covered on the game page):

74 answers have R or L in second place, as in BRAIN. 39 end in E and 29 in T. Every answer contains at least one of A, E, I, O and U; 122 contain exactly two and 57 only one. Once two vowels are placed, spend the next guess on consonants.

Doubled letters: which ones and where

44 answers repeat a letter. The letters that repeat most are E (10), A (7), C and S (6 each), and R and O (5 each). In 25 of the 44 the two copies sit side by side: 6 answers end in SS and 6 contain EE. No answer uses a letter three times, and 2 repeat two different letters.

So if you have three or four letters and no word with five different letters fits, try repeating one you already have: E or A first, with the two copies next to each other.

How many guesses a perfect player needs

A program that opens with CRANE and then always plays the word that leaves the fewest answers on average solves all 200 in three guesses or fewer, 2.6 on average. Allowed only words that could still be the answer, it also averages 2.6, but 8 answers then need a fourth guess. Probe words pay off in the near-twin cases, not on average, and six guesses leave plenty of room for slower, human play.