Opener Lab

CARLE vs LARNT

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 2,358 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 3.50 for LARNT.

Looking only at the opening row, CARLE has higher entropy (5.76 bits versus 5.49). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.

One thing LARNT does better is damage control. Its worst feedback pattern leaves 217 possible answers, while CARLE can be left staring at 258.

MetricCARLELARNT
Elimination96.7%96.3%
Information5.76 bits5.49 bits
Avg remaining77 words88 words
Avg turns3.463.50
Missed in six00
Win rate100.0%100.0%
TierAA

What to expect from the first guess

OutcomeCARLELARNT
First-turn solve* 0% 0%
At least one green 43.9% 36.9%
Any green or yellow 89.1% 90.8%
Whole row gray 10.9% 9.2%
Worst case answers left 258 217

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

A fully gray row is rarer with LARNT: it happens 9.2% 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

CARLE and LARNT share 3 letters (A, L, R). Played as a pair they cover 7 distinct letters, which still gives the second word room to do useful work.

Played back to back, CARLE then LARNT earns 7.66 bits of information in total, 1.90 bits more than the better word manages alone.

Past Wordle answers

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