# What's your Wordle approach? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [January 7, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372 "2022-01-07T14:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/21 "2022-01-12T14:03:27Z")
I assumed “Hard Mode” was the only mode… but I guess it makes sense to be allowed to guess “wrong” letters to help get the right ones. Just didn’t occur to me. I like words like SLATE and RANCH and SMART to start with to help knock off those really common letters. Then it gets a bit dicier. Thanks for STAIN and HORDE - those seem promising as well. Once you have a few letters it’s just about vocab I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/22 "2022-01-12T17:10:19Z")
I’m similar to the OP. I don’t have a regular starting word, but I usually try and pick a word that uses fairly common letters. Today I landed on REACH which I liked because it used R, E and A. I like to narrow down the vowels in the first 2 guesses. Beyond that I try not to be too robotic about it. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/23 "2022-01-12T17:51:35Z")
I think being mostly robotic in my starting word contributed to my awesome run of 3- and 4-guess solves. [![](https://i.gyazo.com/afd32427f870fbb7b8bb2fb873e810fe.png) ](https://i.gyazo.com/afd32427f870fbb7b8bb2fb873e810fe.png) My goto word has been STORE. O is more common than A or I, and R is more common than N in the actual target word list used by the game, according to that [Wordle analysis linked early on in the other thread](https://bert.org/2021/11/24/the-best-starting-word-in-wordle/). I haven’t looked directly at that list because I’m likely to get spoilered, but I believe E’s most common position is probably at the end of a 5-letter word and 3-vowel 5-letter words are rare. Knowing the fact the solution word list is much more restricted than the list of allowable guesses is also crucial, IMHO. It means one should never try obscure words until more common words have been completely ruled out. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/24 "2022-01-13T15:36:25Z")
There are some “rules” that I think apply to iWORDLE’s choice of words: I don’t think they want to use simple plurals (i.e. “S” in fifth position to pluralize) and I often rule out words that ARE words but very uncommon words. I don’t think they like to use common conjugated verb forms (like “LIKED”) though I will use those to guess in the first two stages when I’m mostly trying to eliminate common letters. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/25 "2022-01-13T15:54:14Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > My goto word has been STORE. O is more common than A or I I’ve been using STARE; maybe I’ll see if STORE works better. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/26 "2022-01-13T17:57:26Z")
I start with a vowel-rich word like “oaten” and usually get one or two hits. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/27 "2022-01-13T19:00:23Z")
Has anyone messed around with [Absurdle](https://qntm.org/files/wordle/index.html)? I’ve been playing with it since it was linked in the other thread and it’s pretty fun to play ‘against’ the website. The quickest I’ve been able to corner it was in 7 guesses. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/28 "2022-01-13T19:08:25Z")
I’ve been able to do six a number of times, but I don’t think I’ve gotten it down to five. My strategy is to lay off the most common letters right away (like in Wordle), thus forcing it into a smaller and smaller set of possible words. (I assume most people figure that out pretty quickly.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/29 "2022-01-13T19:10:34Z")
I seem to always let it maneuver me into final combinations with buckets of possibilities. My last one ended up with GRA\_E, and so I had to pick GRAPE and GRATE before it finally had to accept GRAZE. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/30 "2022-01-13T19:11:24Z")
I usually can do it in 7, gotten 6 a couple times. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/31 "2022-01-13T19:17:54Z")
Just got one in five! Absurdle 5/∞ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 My starting word was RATIO, followed by: SUPER FEELS WEENY BEECH ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/32 "2022-01-13T19:25:49Z")
I play in easy mode, and always start with RATES. Unless that’s extremely successful (say, three letters, or two in the right place), I’ll just go to DOING second. From there, it depends on the situation. Someone above said that O is more common than A – I don’t think that’s right. I think the sequence is ETA OIN SHR DLU, although I haven’t actually tried getting the distribution for the dictionary of answers in Wordle (or the larger dictionary of allowable guesses). I mostly have 4s, then 5s, then 3s. No sixes, no fails. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/33 "2022-01-13T23:14:40Z")
I’m usually able to get it to six or five, though the tricky parts is that if you start with the same words each time, you’ll follow similar or same paths as you narrow down the options for the app. So I do vary the start word. I spent a while seeing if four is forceable, but I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/34 "2022-01-14T01:35:39Z")
For me, normal mode and intuition over strategy. For me, the pleasure is in playing with the words, not figuring out the most efficient way to win. This is why I don’t like Scrabble and never bothered to get a Rubik’s Cube. I have very good pattern recognition and musing over the words is relaxing. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/35 "2022-01-14T01:43:21Z")
the more I think on it, the more I want to go with a consonant-rich approach. Why? Well, you have to use a few vowels in your first two tries anyway, and one way or the other, you’ll get a hit sometimes with a vowel or two, and you’ll eliminate a vowel or two, so by the third guess, you’ve made some headway with vowels without trying at all. Meanwhile you’ve also eliminated more than a few of the likeliest consonants. If you try a vowel-rich approach, you’ve got a LOT of consonants yet to try by move 3 or 4. I think consonants are the way to go. SPORT and SCORN and TRASH and such. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/36 "2022-01-14T04:20:48Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I spent a while seeing if four is forceable, but I don’t think so. Spent some more time tonight trying to get a four, and just got a bunch of fives. but according to the inventor’s FAQ, there are fours out there… trying to avoid spoilers so I don’t know what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/37 "2022-01-14T12:09:20Z")
Absurdle 6/∞ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Dammit, Absurdle! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/38 "2022-01-14T12:15:07Z")
I grabbed the Wordle answers dictionary and did some rudimentary analysis in Excel to figure out which words, with unique letters show up most often, and which words with unique different letters that don’t match that first word show up most often. Anyway, I changed my first two words. I suppose a better analysis would be to use the full answers dictionary to figure out which words are common and prune the tree the most, but I didn’t feel like going down that path. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/39 "2022-01-14T15:49:30Z")
I think Absurdle deserves a thread of it’s own and will start one. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372/40 "2022-01-14T22:59:29Z")
I also use adieu, then snort. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-wordle-approach/957372.md?page=3)