Opener Lab

Compare PANKO

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91.1%

of words eliminated

Or compare with a top opener:

SLANT A SLART A CARLE A TRACE S ROAST A SLANE A

How PANKO performs

Played first, PANKO removes about 91.1% of the possible-answer list on average and scores 4.43 bits of information. Its first-turn information ranks #7,874 out of 14,855 Wordle guesses tested. It is not on the possible-answer list, but it can still be useful because of the feedback groups it creates.

Tried against 1,876 past Wordle answers, PANKO left an average of 209 possible answers standing after the first guess. Its largest group in that replay came on August 1, 2026, when the answer was SLUSH and 492 candidates survived.

First-guess odds

Outcome	PANKO
First-turn solve*	0%
At least one green	25.7%
Any green or yellow	79.2%
Whole row gray	20.8%
Worst case answers left	492

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

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Understanding results

Elimination %: How much of the possible-answer list the guess rules out on average.
Avg turns: Average guesses needed by the same solver in games it finished within six.
Win rate: Share of answers the solver finished within six guesses.
Information: First-turn entropy in bits; higher means more informative feedback on average.
Tier: A band for first-turn information only: S is 5.8 bits or more, A 5.4, B 4.8, C 4.0, F below that. It describes the opening row, so a tier A word can still lead the six-turn table below.

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How PANKO performs

First-guess odds