Opener Lab

BIDER vs SLANT

See which word leaves you with the easier game.

SLANT leads in the previous complete six-turn benchmark

These game-length figures come from the previous complete opener benchmark against its 2,354-answer snapshot, ranked by average guesses among games solved within six. Its answer snapshot and continuation policy are separate from today's solver recommendations.

The same solver played from both openers. SLANT has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.51 guesses to 3.62 for BIDER.

Looking only at the opening row, SLANT has higher entropy (5.49 bits versus 4.91). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.

BIDER does keep one card: in full solver playouts it finishes inside six guesses 100.0% of the time, a shade ahead of SLANT at 99.9%.

MetricBIDERSLANT
Elimination93.2%95.7%
Information4.91 bits5.49 bits
Avg remaining160 words101 words
Avg turns3.623.51
Win rate100.0%99.9%
TierBA

What to expect from the first guess

OutcomeBIDERSLANT
First-turn solve* 0% 0.04%
At least one green 31.3% 41.5%
Any green or yellow 82.5% 86.2%
Whole row gray 17.5% 13.8%
Worst case answers left 413 326

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

A fully gray row is rarer with SLANT: it happens 13.8% of the time, against 17.5% for BIDER.

BIDER 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

BIDER and SLANT have no letters in common. Played back to back they test 10 different letters, the most any two openers can manage.

Played back to back, BIDER then SLANT earns 9.32 bits of information in total, 3.83 bits more than the better word manages alone.

Past Wordle answers

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