Puzzle Cottage
Top 30 openers (pre-computed)
Ranked by expected information (bits of entropy) against the curated Wordle answer pool used in our calculation. Top 5 are essentially tied — pick whichever you remember.
| # | Word | Bits | Avg. guesses |
|---|
How the score works
Each candidate opener is tested against every word in the answer pool. For each pair, the response (greens/yellows/grays) is computed. The opener’s entropy is the Shannon entropy of the response distribution — how evenly the opener splits the answer space.
Higher entropy means the opener narrows the answer set more on average, regardless of which answer the puzzle picks. That translates directly to fewer expected guesses to solve.
The full WordleBot-style analysis (used by 3Blue1Brown to identify SALET as optimal) considers two-step lookahead. This tool does single-step entropy, which gives the same top-7 ranking but slightly different absolute numbers. The difference between SALET and CRANE on either metric is < 1 puzzle in 20.
Things this tool ignores
- Hard mode rules — the calculation assumes free play. In Hard Mode you have to use known greens/yellows in subsequent guesses, which slightly favors CRANE over SALET.
- NYT’s removed answers — we use the original ~2,315-word Wardle list, not the NYT-curated current list. Differences are small.
- Personal preference — the math says SALET wins by an inch. If you remember a 0.05-bits-worse word better, use that.
Related
For the full strategy guide, see best Wordle starting words 2026 — SALET, CRANE, SLATE math. For the underlying data, see Wordle word list and Wordle statistics.
Practice the strategy on today’s Word Scramble (Wordle-style, 6 letters, free, full archive).