Best Wordle Starting Words

Which word should you start Wordle with? Instead of opinions, we ran the numbers: every five-letter word was tested as a first guess against every likely answer.

RAISE is the best Wordle starting word in our analysis. After it, on average only 53.1 of 2,130 likely answers are left, and at worst 144.

Top 25 starting words

We tested all 8,602 five-letter dictionary words as openers against every likely answer. Lower "answers left" is better.

#	Word	Answers left (avg)	Worst case	Green chance
1	RAISE	53.1	144	45%
2	ORATE	54.4	138	40%
3	IRATE	55.1	146	40%
4	ARISE	56.6	146	40%
5	AROSE	57.0	150	39%
6	ARIEL	58.6	141	39%
7	TALER	58.8	161	36%
8	ARTEL	59.6	161	36%
9	RATEL	60.1	161	36%
10	OATER	60.1	138	32%
11	SANER	60.2	189	44%
12	TARES	60.4	191	38%
13	CARTE	60.5	188	45%
14	LATER	60.8	161	34%
15	SNARE	61.5	189	43%
16	ANTRE	61.7	172	35%
17	RATES	61.8	191	34%
18	CRATE	62.2	188	44%
19	STARE	62.2	191	41%
20	ARLES	62.2	182	35%
21	LARES	62.4	182	36%
22	TERAI	62.5	146	29%
23	TOILE	63.0	160	45%
24	RETIA	63.0	146	29%
25	TRACE	63.1	188	42%

Best starting words that can also be the answer

These are common words, so they also give you a small chance of winning in one.

#	Word	Answers left (avg)	Worst case	Green chance
1	RAISE	53.1	144	45%
2	ARISE	56.6	146	40%
3	AROSE	57.0	150	39%
4	ARIEL	58.6	141	39%
5	CARTE	60.5	188	45%
6	LATER	60.8	161	34%
7	SNARE	61.5	189	43%
8	CRATE	62.2	188	44%
9	STARE	62.2	191	41%
10	ARLES	62.2	182	35%
11	TRACE	63.1	188	42%
12	ALTER	63.3	161	31%
13	LEARN	64.3	169	35%
14	ALERT	64.5	161	32%
15	LASER	64.7	182	33%

How popular openers compare

Where the starting words people talk about most land among all 8,602 words.

Rank	Word	Answers left (avg)	Worst case	Green chance
49	CRANE	66.6	203	44%
40	SLATE	65.2	186	45%
25	TRACE	63.1	188	42%
18	CRATE	62.2	188	44%
1	RAISE	53.1	144	45%
4	ARISE	56.6	146	40%
19	STARE	62.2	191	41%
1578	ADIEU	117.3	274	28%
3921	AUDIO	166.7	399	26%
12	TARES	60.4	191	38%
3	IRATE	55.1	146	40%
14	LATER	60.8	161	34%
1635	HOUSE	118.5	292	39%

How it works

"Answers left (avg)" is how many likely answers remain, on average, after the colours you get from that first guess. Lower is better.
"Worst case" is the largest number of answers that could remain.
"Green chance" is how often the word gets at least one green tile.

Results use our own list of likely answers (common five-letter words that are not plurals or past tenses), not the official answer list, and the same colour rules as the Wordle solver. Vowel-heavy words like ADIEU and AUDIO find vowels but leave far more answers than words with common consonants like R, S, T and L. Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company.