Best 5-letter starting words
We tested every word WordsGuess accepts as a guess, all 2,309 of them, against every possible answer. The best opener is RAISE: on average it cuts the 2,309 possible answers down to about 61.
Last updated: 25 October 2026
Best first guess: RAISE, leaving 60.7 answers on average.
Best two-word start: SLATE then MINOR, leaving 4.9.
Overrated: AUDIO ranks #1,091 of 2,309.
The top 20 starting words
"Answers left" is how many possible answers remain, on average, after you play the word and see its colours. Lower is better. The last column is the average number of green and amber tiles the word earns.
| Rank | Word | Answers left | Green / amber |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RAISE | 60.7 | 0.55 / 1.21 |
| Uses R, A, I, S, E: five of the eight most common letters. A is the most common second letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 2 | ARISE | 63.5 | 0.55 / 1.21 |
| Uses A, R, I, S, E: five of the eight most common letters. E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 3 | IRATE | 63.5 | 0.51 / 1.27 |
| Uses I, R, A, T, E: five of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 4 | AROSE | 65.8 | 0.54 / 1.23 |
| Uses A, R, O, S, E: five of the eight most common letters. E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 5 | ALTER | 69.8 | 0.42 / 1.35 |
| Uses A, L, T, E, R: five of the eight most common letters. E is the most common fourth letter. | |||
| 6 | SANER | 70.0 | 0.58 / 1.14 |
| Uses S, A, E, R: four of the eight most common letters. S is the most common first letter; A is the most common second letter; E is the most common fourth letter. | |||
| 7 | LATER | 70.0 | 0.45 / 1.33 |
| Uses L, A, T, E, R: five of the eight most common letters. A is the most common second letter; E is the most common fourth letter. | |||
| 8 | SNARE | 71.0 | 0.58 / 1.14 |
| Uses S, A, R, E: four of the eight most common letters. S is the most common first letter; A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 9 | STARE | 71.0 | 0.57 / 1.19 |
| Uses S, T, A, R, E: five of the eight most common letters. S is the most common first letter; A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 10 | SLATE | 71.3 | 0.62 / 1.06 |
| Uses S, L, A, T, E: five of the eight most common letters. S is the most common first letter; A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 11 | ALERT | 71.5 | 0.40 / 1.38 |
| Uses A, L, E, R, T: five of the eight most common letters. | |||
| 12 | CRATE | 72.8 | 0.58 / 1.12 |
| Uses R, A, T, E: four of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 13 | TRACE | 73.9 | 0.56 / 1.13 |
| Uses T, R, A, E: four of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 14 | STALE | 75.3 | 0.58 / 1.11 |
| Uses S, T, A, L, E: five of the eight most common letters. S is the most common first letter; A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 15 | AISLE | 76.1 | 0.44 / 1.24 |
| Uses A, I, S, L, E: five of the eight most common letters. E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 16 | LEARN | 76.7 | 0.40 / 1.33 |
| Uses L, E, A, R: four of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter. | |||
| 17 | LEANT | 77.1 | 0.46 / 1.19 |
| Uses L, E, A, T: four of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter. | |||
| 18 | ALONE | 77.2 | 0.51 / 1.14 |
| Uses A, L, O, E: four of the eight most common letters. E is the most common last letter. | |||
| 19 | LEAST | 78.0 | 0.46 / 1.23 |
| Uses L, E, A, S, T: five of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter. | |||
| 20 | CRANE | 78.7 | 0.60 / 1.05 |
| Uses R, A, E: three of the eight most common letters. A is the most common third letter; E is the most common last letter. | |||
Every word in this table is on the WordsGuess word list, so the game will accept it as a guess.
Popular openers, checked
Lists elsewhere often recommend words like SALET, SOARE or ROATE. Those come from solvers built for games that accept a much larger list of guesses. WordsGuess only accepts words from its own list of 2,309 common words, so here is how the usual suggestions really do:
| Word | Rank | Answers left |
|---|---|---|
| ARISE | #2 | 63.5 |
| STARE | #9 | 71.0 |
| SLATE | #10 | 71.3 |
| CRATE | #12 | 72.8 |
| TRACE | #13 | 73.9 |
| CRANE | #20 | 78.7 |
| ROAST | #32 | 82.8 |
| AUDIO | #1,091 | 183.2 |
| ADIEU | Not accepted: it isn't in the WordsGuess word list | |
| OUIJA | Not accepted: it isn't in the WordsGuess word list | |
| ROATE | Not accepted: it isn't in the WordsGuess word list | |
| SALET | Not accepted: it isn't in the WordsGuess word list | |
| SOARE | Not accepted: it isn't in the WordsGuess word list | |
Why AUDIO and other vowel-heavy words disappoint
Openers packed with vowels are popular advice, but in WordsGuess they test the wrong letters. AUDIO ranks #1,091 of 2,309 and leaves about 183 answers on average, three times as many as RAISE. U appears in only 20% of answers and D in 16%, while R, S and T each turn up in more than a quarter of them.
Finding vowels is rarely the hard part: 83% of answers contain an A, E or O, and you'll uncover those soon anyway. The consonants and where they sit are what split the list apart. The best openers mix two or three vowels with R, S, T, L or N. Words like ADIEU and OUIJA don't help either, because WordsGuess won't accept them as guesses at all.
The best second guess
Your second guess should usually depend on the colours you got. But if you like a fixed routine, these pairs work well: play the first word, then the second, no matter what. After both, only about 5 answers are left on average, so your third guess often wins.
| Opening pair | Answers left after both |
|---|---|
| SLATE then MINOR | 4.9 |
| ALTER then SONIC | 5.0 |
| CRANE then PILOT | 5.0 |
| RAISE then CLOUT | 5.1 |
| IRATE then SCOLD | 5.2 |
| ARISE then CLOUT | 5.5 |
| AROSE then GLINT | 5.5 |
| STARE then LOGIN | 5.7 |
Letter frequency in WordsGuess answers
The share of the 2,309 answers that contain each letter at least once. The top openers are built almost entirely from the first eight.
At the other end, X, Z, Q, J each appear in fewer than 3% of answers, so leave them for later.
Most common letters in each position
| Position | Most common letters |
|---|---|
| First | S 16%, C 9%, B 7% |
| Second | A 13%, O 12%, R 12% |
| Third | A 13%, I 12%, O 11% |
| Fourth | E 14%, N 8%, S 7% |
| Last | E 18%, Y 16%, T 11% |
Patterns worth knowing
- 32% of answers repeat a letter, as in SPEED or ROBOT. If you're stuck with few letters left, try a double.
- Only 2% end in S. The list has almost no plurals, so don't spend a guess on one.
- 18% end in E and 16% end in Y, the two most common last letters.
- 16% start with S, far more than any other first letter.
Score your starting word
Type any five-letter word to see how it ranks among all 2,309 words WordsGuess accepts.
How we measured
For each word the game accepts, we worked out the colours it would get against each of the 2,309 possible answers, using the same rules as the game, including repeated letters. Answers that would give the same colours can't be told apart yet, so they form a group. "Answers left" is the average size of the group the real answer lands in, treating every answer as equally likely.
The figures are recalculated from the game's word list every time the site is built, so they always match the words you can actually play.