Opener Lab

ALURE vs CARLE

See which word leaves you with the easier game.

CARLE leads in the current bounded six-turn policy

Both words are in the current screen of 182 openers, tested against 2,360 answers. Exact misses rank first; average guesses among wins break ties.

The same solver played from both openers. CARLE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.46 guesses to 3.54 for ALURE.

Looking only at the opening row, CARLE has higher entropy (5.76 bits versus 5.59). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.

One thing ALURE does better is damage control. Its worst feedback pattern leaves 203 possible answers, while CARLE can be left staring at 258.

MetricALURECARLE
Elimination96.7%96.7%
Information5.59 bits5.76 bits
Avg remaining78 words77 words
Avg turns3.543.46
Missed in six00
Win rate100.0%100.0%
Tier (first turn only)AA

What to expect from the first guess

OutcomeALURECARLE
First-turn solve* 0% 0%
At least one green 37.6% 43.9%
Any green or yellow 91.4% 89.1%
Whole row gray 8.6% 10.9%
Worst case answers left 203 258

*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.

A fully gray row is rarer with ALURE: it happens 8.6% of the time, against 10.9% for CARLE.

Neither word is on the possible-answer list, so neither can solve the game on turn one here. Both can still be useful guesses.

How these two openers fit together

ALURE and CARLE share 4 of their 5 letters (A, E, L, R), so as a pair they only cover 6 distinct letters. Treat them as alternatives rather than partners, because playing both wastes most of the second guess.

Played back to back, ALURE then CARLE earns 6.98 bits of information in total, 1.22 bits more than the better word manages alone.

Past Wordle answers

  • ALURE: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.
  • CARLE: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.