Best Wordle Starting Words: RAISE, SLATE and the Top 20 Tested

The best Wordle starting words are short lists of common letters in their most likely spots: RAISE, IRATE, ARISE, STARE, CRATE, TRACE and SLATE all sit at the top of our own test. We scored every one of the 8,636 five-letter words our game accepts against all 1,705 answers in our Daily Word answer bank, and RAISE came out first: on average it leaves just 43.1 possible answers after the first guess. SLATE splits the answers into the most different color patterns (145), and the popular CRANE is still a strong opener at 56.1. ADIEU and AUDIO, the vowel-heavy favorites, do much worse.

Below you will find the full top 20, the best two-word and three-word combinations, the letter statistics behind them, and an honest explanation of how we got every number. Nothing here is copied from another site: the tables come from a script that plays each opener against our real answer list, so you can see exactly why some first words work and others waste a turn.

How we tested every starting word

A first guess has one job: to tell you as much as possible about a word you know nothing about. The fairest way to measure that is to play the opener against every possible answer and look at what happens. For each answer, the game would color your five tiles green, yellow or gray. Some answers produce the same coloring, so they end up in the same group. After you see the colors, the only answers still possible are the ones in your group.

That gives a clean score, the expected number of answers left. If an opener splits our 1,705 answers into groups of sizes n1, n2, n3 and so on, then the chance of landing in a group is its size divided by 1,705, and you are left with that many words. Averaged over all answers, the score is the sum of every group size squared, divided by 1,705. Lower is better. We also report two simpler numbers: how many distinct color patterns an opener can produce (more is better, because each pattern is a different clue) and the worst case, the biggest group you could get stuck in.

Our data is our own. The answers come from the Daily Word answer bank: 1,705 common, everyday five-letter words with no names, no plurals and nothing offensive. Allowed guesses come from the public-domain ENABLE word list, which has 8,636 five-letter words. We did not use the New York Times answer list, so our figures are not the NYT's. The rankings, though, look a lot like other published analyses of the same idea, because common English words share the same letter habits whichever list you use.

Letter statistics: why the winners look alike

Before ranking words, it helps to see the raw letter counts. In our answer bank, E appears in 44.9% of all words, A in 41.6%, R in 36.7% and T in 30.2%. Then come O (28.6%), I (27.9%), S (27.6%) and L (27.4%). At the other end, J, Q, Z and X each turn up in less than 2% of answers. Vowels make up 35.5% of all letters in the bank (39.0% if you count Y), and the typical answer has two vowels: 976 words have exactly two, 553 have one and only 171 have three.

Position matters just as much. The table shows, for the twelve most common letters, how often each one sits in each of the five slots.

Letter	In % of answers	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
E	44.9%	3.0%	10.1%	7.6%	12.3%	19.4%
A	41.6%	6.6%	13.6%	15.0%	7.0%	2.8%
R	36.7%	4.5%	11.3%	7.3%	7.0%	8.8%
T	30.2%	6.9%	3.8%	4.6%	6.4%	11.4%
O	28.6%	1.5%	11.7%	10.1%	5.9%	2.6%
I	27.9%	1.3%	8.9%	11.6%	6.8%	0.4%
S	27.6%	16.4%	0.7%	3.4%	7.7%	1.8%
L	27.4%	3.8%	9.1%	4.6%	6.3%	6.7%
N	22.5%	1.6%	3.5%	6.0%	7.4%	5.0%
C	20.2%	9.0%	1.6%	2.5%	6.9%	1.5%
U	19.3%	1.1%	8.3%	6.8%	3.3%	0.1%
Y	17.4%	0.5%	0.5%	1.1%	0.1%	15.4%

A few patterns jump out. S opens 16.4% of answers but almost never sits in second place. E is the single most likely last letter (19.4% of answers end in E) and Y is close behind at 15.4%. A and O love the second and third slots, while C, B and T are strong starters. Here are the top five letters for every position:

Position	Most common letters in our answers (count of 1705 words)
1	S (279), C (153), B (122), T (117), A (113)
2	A (232), O (200), R (192), E (172), L (155)
3	A (255), I (197), O (173), E (130), R (124)
4	E (210), S (132), N (127), R (120), A (120)
5	E (330), Y (262), T (195), R (150), L (115)

Now look at RAISE again. It has the three most common consonant-like letters (R, S and, through ARISE and STARE, T), two of the top vowels, and an E in the slot where E is most likely. That is why the top of the table is crowded with anagrams of the same few letters: A, E, R, S, T, I, L, C and O.

The top 20 Wordle starting words in our data

These are the 20 accepted guesses with the lowest expected number of answers left, out of 8,493 words we ranked (we skipped a handful of words that read like names or are not family-friendly). The last column says whether the word could itself be a Daily Word answer, which matters if you like a small chance of winning on the first try.

Rank	Opener	Distinct color patterns	Expected answers left	Worst case left	Can be an answer
1	RAISE	131	43.1	115	yes
2	ORATE	120	44.2	130	no
3	IRATE	119	44.3	128	yes
4	ARISE	118	45.0	115	yes
5	AROSE	114	47.0	139	no
6	STARE	129	48.1	157	yes
7	CRATE	141	48.2	161	yes
8	TALER	129	48.4	137	no
9	CARTE	138	48.5	161	no
10	ARTEL	125	48.6	137	no
11	TARES	123	48.9	157	no
12	TRACE	144	48.9	161	yes
13	SLATE	145	49.4	158	yes
14	ALERT	129	49.5	137	yes
15	RATEL	129	49.8	137	no
16	URATE	118	50.2	135	no
17	TEARS	124	50.3	157	no
18	CARSE	131	50.5	161	no
19	RATES	115	50.5	157	no
20	CARET	135	50.6	161	no

RAISE wins on average and ties ARISE for the smallest worst case in the top 20: even with bad luck you are left with 115 words. ORATE and IRATE are next, followed by AROSE and STARE. Several entries, like TALER, ARTEL, RATEL and CARSE, are real but obscure words that the game accepts as guesses and will never pick as an answer. They score well because they pack the right letters into the right slots, but you give up any chance of an instant win.

If you only want openers that are also common answers, here is the same ranking limited to words from our answer bank:

Rank	Opener	Distinct color patterns	Expected answers left	Worst case left	Can be an answer
1	RAISE	131	43.1	115	yes
2	IRATE	119	44.3	128	yes
3	ARISE	118	45.0	115	yes
4	STARE	129	48.1	157	yes
5	CRATE	141	48.2	161	yes
6	TRACE	144	48.9	161	yes
7	SLATE	145	49.4	158	yes
8	ALERT	129	49.5	137	yes
9	SNARE	126	50.6	161	yes
10	LATER	125	50.6	137	yes

Patterns or average: which number should you trust?

SLATE produces 145 different color patterns, more than any other word in the top 20, and TRACE produces 144. Yet RAISE, with only 131 patterns, has a lower average. The reason is group size. RAISE spreads the answers more evenly, while SLATE has more patterns but a few of them are crowded. The expected-remaining score accounts for both effects at once, so it is the better single number. In practice the difference between 43 and 49 words left is small, and any word in the top 20 is a fine habit.

How famous openers score: SLATE, CRANE, ADIEU, STARE, RAISE, AUDIO

Every Wordle player has heard of a few classic first words. We ran the most talked-about ones through the same test. The frequency score in the last column is a quick rule of thumb: for each letter, we add the chance it is green in that spot plus half the chance it is somewhere else, counting each letter once.

Opener	Rank of 8493	Distinct patterns	Expected answers left	Worst case left	Frequency score
SLATE	13	145	49.4	158	1.19
CRANE	60	136	56.1	186	1.14
TRACE	12	144	48.9	161	1.16
CRATE	7	141	48.2	161	1.17
ADIEU	1513	75	95.2	223	0.90
STARE	6	129	48.1	157	1.21
RAISE	1	131	43.1	115	1.18
ARISE	4	118	45.0	115	1.18
AUDIO	4170	87	140.9	340	0.80
TARES	11	123	48.9	157	1.11
LEAST	40	131	53.4	158	1.10
IRATE	3	119	44.3	128	1.17
ABOUT	2998	90	120.0	281	0.82
HOUSE	1300	101	91.4	220	0.93
FUZZY	8489	30	654.5	1021	0.38

• RAISE is our number one opener, with 43.1 answers left on average.
• STARE ranks sixth (48.1) and has the highest frequency score of any word with five different letters, 1.21.
• SLATE ranks 13th (49.4) and gives the most distinct patterns of the famous group, 145.
• CRANE ranks 60th (56.1). It is still in the top 1% of all 8,493 ranked words, so it is a perfectly good choice.
• ADIEU ranks 1,513th (95.2). Four vowels sound clever, but almost every common word has an A or an E, so learning about U and I tells you less than learning about R, S or T.
• AUDIO ranks 4,170th (140.9), almost exactly at the median of all openers (142.9). It finds vowels, but it leaves you with three times as many candidates as RAISE.

For contrast, the worst opener in our test is FUZZY, which leaves 654.5 answers on average and up to 1,021 in the worst case. Repeated rare letters are the fastest way to waste a turn.

Best two starting words for Wordle

Many players like a fixed pair of openers: two words with 10 different letters, played one after the other no matter what the first colors say. It is not the most efficient way to play (a second word chosen after you see the colors is usually better), but it is simple, and it works. To find the best pairs, we combined the color patterns of both words and computed the same expected-remaining score. We searched pairs whose first word comes from our top 80 single openers.

Best pairs using common words

These pairs use only words from our answer bank, so both are easy to remember and both could be the answer.

Rank	First + second word (10 different letters)	Distinct pattern combinations	Expected answers left
1	CLOSE + TRAIN	899	3.46
2	STAIR + CLONE	861	3.49
3	TRAIL + SCONE	871	3.54
4	TRAIN + SLOPE	860	3.74
5	SLATE + MINOR	834	3.77
6	CRATE + SOLID	840	3.78
7	SNARE + PILOT	840	3.79
8	CRANE + SPLIT	889	3.80
9	TRACE + SOLID	838	3.80
10	TRIAL + SCONE	849	3.81

CLOSE then TRAIN is the best pair of everyday words, leaving 3.46 answers on average. STAIR plus CLONE and TRAIL plus SCONE are almost as good. Notice that RAISE, our best single word, does not lead the pair table. Its best common partner, CLOUT, gets to 3.99, while CLOSE and TRAIN cover the same strong letters more evenly between them. The best opener and the best start of a pair are not always the same word.

Best pairs using any accepted word

Rank	First + second word (10 different letters)	Distinct pattern combinations	Expected answers left
1	ROAST + CLINE	913	3.39
2	TOILE + CARNS	894	3.45
3	CRANE + TOILS	893	3.47
4	TRONE + SALIC	872	3.47
5	CRATE + NOILS	879	3.49
6	RANCE + TOILS	883	3.51
7	TOILE + NARCS	868	3.52
8	CRATE + LOINS	883	3.53
9	TRACE + NOILS	876	3.53
10	CARTE + NOILS	867	3.53

Allowing any accepted guess lowers the score only slightly. ROAST plus CLINE is the overall winner at 3.39, and CRANE plus TOILS comes in at 3.47. Words like NOILS, CARNS and SALIC are valid but unusual, so for most people the common-word pairs above are the practical choice.

If you already have a favorite first word, here is its best common second word in our data: SLATE then MINOR (3.77), CRANE then SPLIT (3.80), RAISE then CLOUT (3.99), STARE then CLING (4.40), ADIEU then SNORT (5.85) and AUDIO then CREST (6.27).

Best 3 starting words for Wordle

A three-word set uses 15 different letters before you start solving. We took the ten best pairs from each table above and searched for the third word that cuts the remaining answers the most.

Rank	Three-word set (15 different letters)	Distinct pattern combinations	Expected answers left
1	CRANE, SPLIT, BOUGH	1447	1.42
2	CRANE, SPLIT, DOUGH	1453	1.42
3	CRANE, SPLIT, GUMBO	1438	1.44
4	CLOSE, TRAIN, BUMPY	1426	1.47
5	STAIR, CLONE, BUMPY	1402	1.50

CRANE, SPLIT and BOUGH (or DOUGH in its place) leaves just 1.42 answers on average, which means that after three fixed words you usually know the answer outright and solve on the fourth guess. The well-known set SLATE, CRONY, HUMID does nearly as well in our data at 1.53. The best set with any accepted words is ROAST, CLINE, BUMPH at 1.41, a negligible gain for a much stranger word.

Rank	Three-word set (15 different letters)	Distinct pattern combinations	Expected answers left
1	ROAST, CLINE, BUMPH	1453	1.41
2	CRANE, TOILS, BUMPH	1437	1.43
3	ROAST, CLINE, BUMPY	1437	1.44
4	ROAST, CLINE, DUMPY	1441	1.44
5	TRONE, SALIC, BUMPH	1428	1.44

A warning about fixed three-word sets: they spend half your guesses on letters before you use any clue. If your first word already shows two greens, keep solving instead of playing the full set. The sets are a safety net for days when the first two words come back mostly gray.

How to use these openers in a real game

1. Pick one opener and stick with it. RAISE, STARE, SLATE or CRATE are all within a few words of each other. Using the same first word every day helps you read its colors faster.
2. Choose the second word after you see the colors. If RAISE shows a yellow A and a gray everything else, the best next guess is a word that tests new letters (C, L, N, O, T, U) and moves A to a new slot.
3. Keep the fixed pair for bad days. If your opener comes back all gray, play a second word with five fresh, common letters, the way TRAIN follows CLOSE or SPLIT follows CRANE in the pair table.
4. Remember repeated letters. In our answer bank, 546 words (32.0%) have at least one repeated letter, such as SPEED or ALLEY. If you are stuck with few vowels left, consider a double.
5. Use endings. Since E and Y end 34.7% of answers between them, a final E or Y in your guess is often worth a slot.

Want more practice with endings and starting letters? Our lists of 5-letter words ending in E, 5-letter words starting with S and 5-letter words starting with A come from the same word lists. If you are new to the game, start with how to play Wordle.

Does the best starting word matter for Daily Word?

Yes, for the same reason it matters in any game of this kind. Daily Word is our free daily five-letter puzzle: one secret word a day, the same for everyone, six guesses, and a new word at midnight New York time. Green means the right letter in the right spot, yellow means the letter is in the word somewhere else, and gray means it is not in the word. The on-screen keyboard colors letters too, so you can see which ones are still unused.

Because our tables were computed against the actual Daily Word answer bank, they fit our game directly: answers are always common everyday words, never names, plurals or offensive words, while guesses can be any word from the ENABLE list. That last point is useful. A plural like TOILS or a rare word like CARSE can still be a great probe, even though it will never be the answer. After each game you see the word with a short meaning, your stats and streak, and a share button that copies only the colored grid, so you can compare openers with friends without spoilers.

If you want a change of pace after your daily word, try the daily crossword or a round of sudoku, or browse all our puzzles.

Methodology notes and limits

• Answer bank: 1,705 common five-letter words from the Daily Word answer list. Every answer is treated as equally likely.
• Guesses: 8,636 five-letter words from the ENABLE word list (public domain). We ranked 8,493 of them after removing words that look like names or are not family-friendly.
• Colors: computed the standard way, greens first and then yellows only for letters still unmatched in the answer, so double letters are handled correctly.
• Frequency data: word commonness for sorting comes from wordfreq, an open-source word frequency dataset.
• Limits: a different answer list (such as the NYT's) gives slightly different numbers and can reorder words that are close together. Expected-remaining is a one-step measure; the best opener for solving in the fewest total guesses can differ a little.

Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company. 77.today and Daily Word are not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times.