# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 19, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451 "2024-11-19T10:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 316
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6301 "2026-01-09T05:45:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Three greens and a yellow is functionally equivalent to four greens, it’s not like that yellow has anywhere else to go. πŸ™‚ Nitpick: 3G+Y is slightly better than 4G ! Compare getting yGG-G on Reads with -GGGG on Dears. These have the same solutions sets _except_ that Rears is ruled out in the former case. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6302 "2026-01-09T09:27:30Z")
Wordle 1,665 X/6\* \begin{aligned} &\bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ \end{aligned} Bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6303 "2026-01-09T09:49:46Z")
Wordle 1,665 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLATE GRIND EIGHT I’ve conceded that Slant might be the 2nd-best start. But be aware that E in 5th position is the most common letter-position pair in the Wardle word list: [https://real-statistics.com/wordle-strategy/wordle-letter-frequency-and-patterns/](https://real-statistics.com/wordle-strategy/wordle-letter-frequency-and-patterns/) [It looks like your link to **[real-statistics.com](http://real-statistics.com)** was already posted in the topic by **@gordon_g** in [a reply on Dec 7, 2025](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5735) – are you sure you want to post it again? – Sorry. I’m afraid fans might have forgotten the month-ago link and accused me of pulling numbers our of my ear] S/1st and Y/5th are in a virtual tie for 2nd/3rd place. 4th place is … E/4th ! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6304 "2026-01-09T12:29:52Z")
Wordle 1,665 4/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ β¬›πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RADIO SUITE CIVET EIGHT ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6305 "2026-01-09T12:46:01Z")
Wordle 1665 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLANT CHORE EIGHT > [@Gordon\_G](#): > > I’ve conceded that Slant might be the 2nd-best start. But be aware > that E in 5th position is the most common letter-position pair in > the Wardle word list: Yeah, I’m aware. πŸ™‚ I’ve been using my used-words spreadsheet for years now to keep statistics on which letters have been used how often, and in which positions. Concerning the choice of starting word, I don’t think of SLANT just in isolation, but as part of a package deal with my default followup word, CHORE. The two of them together give me the seven most frequent consonants and the three most frequent vowels, and with the exception of R, they’re either in their most frequent position or close enough to make no never mind, which means more greens. There’s no real need to get more vowels sooner, first of all there’s 20 consonants and only 6 vowels, counting Y as one of the latter. And it’s not that hard to infer what the vowels are once you have the consonants in place. (If you ever see a Hebrew-language newspaper, all those letter on the page are consonants. One mentally fills in the vowels.) Also, every trap you see is a trap because too many consonants fit. I’ll go with a different second word if my starting word gives me enough info (G+Y or better is always good enough, and some situations with one green or two yellows), but absent that, I play my default second word, so it works well to treat them as a package deal. It may be that your starting word, which is a very popular one, gives a slightly better chance of a 2, but I think my combo is about as good as it gets for getting 3s and avoiding 5s or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6306 "2026-01-09T13:36:33Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yeah, I’m aware. πŸ™‚ I’ve been using my used-words spreadsheet for years now to keep statistics on which letters have been used how often, and in which positions. > > Concerning the choice of starting word, I don’t think of SLANT just in isolation, but as part of a package deal with my default followup word, CHORE. The two of them together give me the seven most frequent consonants and the three most frequent vowels, … Great minds think alike! 😊 I get almost exactly the same benefit from my default Slate/Crony but can often find a better #2 sleuth. And I also usually ask just 3 early vowels – consonants need to be eliminated ASAP in case you’re in a trap like Bound/Found/Hound/Mound/Pound/Round/Sound/Wound. But I often deviate on #2. If E hits, I _think_ I is more likely than O or Y. (Today I asked Grind which worked very well.) I might prefer Slote over Slate if it were a word. - - A - - is very convenient for forming β€œsleuth” words. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6307 "2026-01-09T14:21:05Z")
Wordle 1,665 4/6\* ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 STEAL TEMPO ERECT EIGHT ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6308 "2026-01-09T14:22:58Z")
I prefer short and alien as my first two ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6309 "2026-01-09T14:28:08Z")
Wordle 1 **666** 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 πŸ˜‡ no Ai 🦘 Devilish good fun 😈 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6310 "2026-01-09T15:33:53Z")
Wordle 1,665 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BUYER GEOID EKING EIGHT ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6311 "2026-01-09T15:43:21Z")
I still contend that the ONLY way a word can be characterized as the β€œbest” starting word is if it is possible for it to be the solution. STEAL (for the nonce) qualifies. SLATE does not. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6312 "2026-01-09T15:47:56Z")
Wordle 1,665 3/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART SHEET (six seven) EIGHT ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6313 "2026-01-09T16:56:08Z")
Wordle 1,665 4/6 β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ§β¬›πŸŸ¦β¬› πŸŸ¦πŸŸ§β¬›πŸŸ§πŸŸ¦ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 SPEAK LINER TITHE EIGHT I get that some people truly enjoy all the number-crunching and statistics-analyzing. I do not. I’m playing a game, not doing homework. 😁 ---
**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 9, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6314 "2026-01-09T17:08:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The two of them together give me the seven most frequent consonants and the three most frequent vowels Same for my usual CRANE and HOIST, except I also get β€˜i’. Wordle 1,665 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦 🟦🟦⬜⬜⬜ 🟧🟦🟦⬜⬜ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 SLATE TEMPO ETHER EIGHT ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6315 "2026-01-09T17:36:12Z")
You could call it the ALF opening! ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6316 "2026-01-09T17:48:22Z")
> **Wordle 1,665 3/6\* 1/9/2026** > > ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 > ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > BLAS **T** β†’ I looked for a word with both O & E here and couldn’t find one. Then I thought about I & E, but wanted to finish up my WoFcons, so I went with > FRON **T** β†’ Which was no help. But, it gave me the freedom to try the word I had been thinking of with I & E which was > **EIGHT** > > Yep, could woulda shoulda had a two. Although one of the features of the second guess was that it functioned as a sleuth word if I dropped into the trap with that third guess - in fact, _every consonant I guessed_ with the first two guesses (including that first guess carryover) could have been solutions to the trap as it turned out. And I was blissfully unawares. Scoredle actually shows five more possibles for that trap, but they’re all bogus IMHO. And hey, it’s an example of a trap that includes vowels (you could also have a bogus - really, archaic - A in there). Scoredle from my start finishes with a par, better than it does from its own start where it bogeys. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6317 "2026-01-09T20:28:01Z")
Wordle 1,665 3/6\* β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Dried Fiest Eight Lucky slinging on guess 2. What’s it mean, I dunno! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6318 "2026-01-09T21:51:30Z")
Wordle 1,665 3/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨ β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRANE SHOUT EIGHT > [@Chefguy](#): > > Same for my usual CRANE and HOIST, except I also get β€˜i’. I’ve been going back and forth between shout and hoist as my second word. There are an awful lot of words that begin with β€œs”, and β€œh” is pretty common as a second letter. Shout worked well today. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6319 "2026-01-09T22:32:51Z")
**Wordle 1,666 4/6 β€” 2026-01-10 Sat** β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 {Day 27 of 30 from the Philippines} ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/6320 "2026-01-10T04:51:57Z")
Wordle 1,666 3/6 SATURDAY 🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 AUDIO TAPIR MANIC [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451.md?page=315) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451.md?page=317)