Daily Word Strategy: Openers and Logic

Letter frequency: what to test first

In five-letter English words the most common letters are, roughly in order, E, A, R, O, T, L, I, S, N and C. Vowels matter because almost every word has at least one and most have two; R, S, T, L and N matter because they combine with anything. A good first guess tests several of these at once with no repeated letter.

Position matters too. S is the most common first letter of five-letter words and a very common last letter (though words ending in S that are simple plurals are left out of many answer lists, including ours). E and Y are common final letters; A and O like the second and third spots. A starting word that places common letters where they tend to live gets more ticks, not just more arrows.

Good starting words

There is no single best opener, but there are families of good ones. Any of these tests five distinct common letters:

If your first guess finds nothing (all letters out), the second guess should test a fresh set: after SLATE try CORNY or POUND, which bring in O, U, N, R, D, Y and P. Two guesses that between them cover ten different letters leave very few possible words.

Reading the marks properly

• A tick fixes a letter in place. Keep it there in every later guess.
• An arrow tells you two things: the letter is in the word, and it is not in that spot. Move it, and do not put it back there.
• No mark means the letter is not in the word, with one exception: if you guessed a letter twice and it appears once in the answer, only one copy is marked. The on-screen keyboard dims letters that are ruled out, so trust it.

Write the pattern out in your head as a template with blanks: for ticks on letters 1 and 5 and an arrow on A, you are looking for S _ _ _ E with an A somewhere in positions 2, 3 or 4.

The second guess: information, not a lucky hit

Beginners try to win on guess two by using all their found letters. Strong solvers often do the opposite: they play a second word of entirely new letters to find out more, then solve in three. Which is right depends on how much you learned.

• If guess one gave three or more marks, you are close: use them and try to solve.
• If guess one gave one mark or none, play a second scouting word of five new letters.
• With two ticks in place and many words still possible, a scouting guess that tests the letters that differ between your candidates is usually better than guessing one of them.

Double letters and awkward words

Letters can repeat. Words such as SPEED, LLAMA, PUPPY and ERROR catch out solvers who assume every letter is different. Two signs that a double is likely: you have four letters placed and no common letter completes the word, or an arrow keeps appearing for a letter you have already placed once. When stuck late in a game, try the doubles: EE, OO, LL, SS, TT and RR are the most common.

Words with few vowels (NYMPH, CRYPT, LYMPH) use Y as the vowel; if your first two guesses find no vowel at all, test Y and try consonant clusters.

Hard mode in your head

Some players only ever guess words that fit every mark so far. That is a fine discipline for learning, because it forces you to read the marks, but it is not always the fastest. The site does not enforce it. Use scouting guesses when they save a guess; use fitting guesses when you have narrowed the word to two or three.

Common mistakes

1. Reusing a ruled-out letter. The dimmed keyboard shows what is out. Check it before each guess.
2. Putting an arrowed letter back in the same place. It is in the word, but not there.
3. Guessing the first word that fits. Count the candidates first. If there are more than three, scout.
4. Forgetting doubles. When four letters are placed and nothing fits, double one of them.
5. Guessing names or abbreviations. Every guess must be a real word from the list, which leaves out names.

Glossary

• Tick: the letter is in the right spot.
• Arrow: the letter is in the word, in another spot.
• Scouting guess: a guess chosen to test new letters rather than to solve.
• Candidate: a word that fits every mark so far.
• Letter frequency: how often a letter appears in words of the answer length.