How this Wordle solver works
Type the word you played, tap each tile until it matches the colours Wordle showed you, and press Enter. The solver lists every word that still fits and ranks the next guesses two ways: the guess that splits the remaining words the most, and the guesses that could be the answer right now.
It knows all 14,855 words the New York Times accepts as guesses and learns from 1,942 past answers (through Oct 12, 2026): which words from the original answer list are still unused, how often answers repeat, and how often the NYT picks a word that was never on that list. Once a few dozen words are left it plans the last moves exactly, so you don't run out of guesses.
What is the best starting word?
SALET. An exhaustive search by Alex Selby found it averages 3.42 guesses with perfect play, ahead of REAST, CRATE, TRACE, SLATE and CRANE. The differences are tiny, so any of these is a great opener.
Does it work in hard mode?
Yes. Switch on Hard Mode and it only suggests guesses that keep every green letter in place and reuse every yellow one, warns you when a guess breaks the rules, and avoids traps like BOUND, FOUND, HOUND, MOUND, POUND and WOUND where you would run out of guesses.
How many guesses does it need?
Replaying the last 365 NYT puzzles, it averaged 3.2 guesses in both normal and hard mode, without losing a game.