Opener Lab
CRANE vs TALON
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. CRANE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.46 guesses to 3.51 for TALON.
Looking only at the opening row, CRANE has higher entropy (5.73 bits versus 5.34). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.
| Metric | CRANE | TALON |
|---|---|---|
| Elimination | 96.6% | 95.7% |
| Information | 5.73 bits | 5.34 bits |
| Avg remaining | 81 words | 102 words |
| Avg turns | 3.46 | 3.51 |
| Missed in six | 0 | 0 |
| Win rate | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Tier | A | B |
What to expect from the first guess
| Outcome | CRANE | TALON |
|---|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0.04% | 0.04% |
| At least one green | 43.6% | 29.9% |
| Any green or yellow | 88.5% | 88.0% |
| Whole row gray | 11.5% | 12.0% |
| Worst case answers left | 271 | 284 |
*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.
Both openers come back completely gray at almost the same rate, so the difference between them lies in how much their hits actually tell you.
How these two openers fit together
CRANE and TALON share 2 letters (A, N). Played as a pair they cover 8 distinct letters, which still gives the second word room to do useful work.
Played back to back, CRANE then TALON earns 8.52 bits of information in total, 2.79 bits more than the better word manages alone.
Past Wordle answers
- CRANE: Answer to the puzzle on June 21, 2023.
- TALON: Answer to the puzzle on February 14, 2024.