Opener Lab
ALTER vs SLANE
See which word leaves you with the easier game.
Both words are in the current screen of 182 openers, tested against 2,358 answers. Exact misses rank first; average guesses among wins break ties.
The same solver played from both openers. SLANE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.46 guesses to 3.50 for ALTER.
Looking only at the opening row, SLANE has higher entropy (5.77 bits versus 5.71). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.
One thing ALTER does better is damage control. Its worst feedback pattern leaves 204 possible answers, while SLANE can be left staring at 235.
| Metric | ALTER | SLANE |
|---|---|---|
| Elimination | 96.9% | 96.8% |
| Information | 5.71 bits | 5.77 bits |
| Avg remaining | 72 words | 76 words |
| Avg turns | 3.50 | 3.46 |
| Missed in six | 0 | 0 |
| Win rate | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Tier | A | A |
What to expect from the first guess
| Outcome | ALTER | SLANE |
|---|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0.04% | 0% |
| At least one green | 31.8% | 46.3% |
| Any green or yellow | 91.3% | 90.0% |
| Whole row gray | 8.7% | 10.0% |
| Worst case answers left | 204 | 235 |
*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.
A fully gray row is rarer with ALTER: it happens 8.7% of the time, against 10.0% for SLANE.
SLANE is not on the possible-answer list, so it cannot solve the game on turn one here. It can still be a useful guess.
How these two openers fit together
ALTER and SLANE share 3 letters (A, E, L). Played as a pair they cover 7 distinct letters, which still gives the second word room to do useful work.
Played back to back, ALTER then SLANE earns 7.95 bits of information in total, 2.18 bits more than the better word manages alone.
Past Wordle answers
- ALTER: Answer to the puzzle on January 20, 2023.
- SLANE: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.