Opener Lab

GROOM vs SLANE

See which word leaves you with the easier game.

SLANE 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. SLANE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.54 guesses to 3.76 for GROOM.

Looking only at the opening row, SLANE has higher entropy (5.77 bits versus 3.93). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.

MetricGROOMSLANE
Elimination85.2%96.8%
Information3.93 bits5.77 bits
Avg remaining349 words76 words
Avg turns3.763.54
Win rate100.0%99.9%
TierFA

What to expect from the first guess

OutcomeGROOMSLANE
First-turn solve* 0.04% 0%
At least one green 27.4% 46.3%
Any green or yellow 66.5% 90.0%
Whole row gray 33.5% 10.0%
Worst case answers left 791 235

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

A fully gray row is rarer with SLANE: it happens 10.0% of the time, against 33.5% for GROOM.

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

GROOM and SLANE have no letters in common. Played back to back they test 9 different letters, the most any two openers can manage.

Played back to back, GROOM then SLANE earns 8.66 bits of information in total, 2.89 bits more than the better word manages alone.

Past Wordle answers

  • GROOM: Answer to the puzzle on June 4, 2024.
  • SLANE: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.