The Most Common Letters in Past Wordle Answers
S is the most common first letter in past Wordle answers, while E and Y are the two most common endings. J, Q, X and Z are scarce. The practical lesson is to begin with several common letters, then let your actual feedback take over.
Raw frequency is useful context, not a complete opener strategy: the way letters occur together matters as much as their individual totals.
How we tested this
We counted every letter position across 1,840 distinct answers recorded from 19 June 2021 to 20 July 2026. This describes published history, not future selections. A repeated letter in one word counts once for each appearance.
Where the letters land
In the first slot, S leads with 272 answers, or about 14.8% of the set. C follows on 162, then B on 139. At the end of the word, E appears 363 times (19.7%) and Y appears 254 times. Together they account for 33.5% of the final slots in the archive.
Ignoring position, the five most frequent letters are E (997 appearances), A (799), R (698), O (616) and T (598). There are 9,200 letter slots in all, and E occupies nearly 11% of them.
The least common letters are scarce by the same count. V appears 126 times, Z 36, X 32, Q 27, and J 21 times.
| Letter | Appearances | Share of letters |
|---|---|---|
| E | 997 | 10.8% |
| A | 799 | 8.7% |
| R | 698 | 7.6% |
| O | 616 | 6.7% |
| T | 598 | 6.5% |
| L | 576 | 6.3% |
| I | 525 | 5.7% |
| S | 504 | 5.5% |
| V | 126 | 1.4% |
| Z | 36 | 0.4% |
| X | 32 | 0.3% |
| Q | 27 | 0.3% |
| J | 21 | 0.2% |
What it means for your guesses
Letter counts are a useful starting point, but they are not a recipe for an opener by themselves. A strong first word normally combines several common letters without repeats and places them where they can earn useful green or yellow feedback. Full opener scores also account for how those letters occur together, which this simple count does not.
J, Q, X and Z are poor early targets unless the board gives you a reason to test them. Each appears fewer than 37 times across 9,200 slots in this archive. Later in a game, of course, the actual feedback matters more than the historical average.
These totals explain why common-letter guesses tend to cover more ground. The Opener Lab measures complete feedback patterns, while the word finder lets you inspect words matching the clues you already have.
Explore which words fit any set of letters.
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