Opener Lab
RATES vs SLANE
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. SLANE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.46 guesses to 3.53 for RATES.
Looking only at the opening row, SLANE has higher entropy (5.77 bits versus 5.66). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.
| Metric | RATES | SLANE |
|---|---|---|
| Elimination | 96.8% | 96.8% |
| Information | 5.66 bits | 5.77 bits |
| Avg remaining | 75 words | 76 words |
| Avg turns | 3.53 | 3.46 |
| Missed in six | 0 | 0 |
| Win rate | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Tier | A | A |
What to expect from the first guess
| Outcome | RATES | SLANE |
|---|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0% | 0% |
| At least one green | 31.2% | 46.3% |
| Any green or yellow | 90.1% | 90.0% |
| Whole row gray | 9.9% | 10.0% |
| Worst case answers left | 234 | 235 |
*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.
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
RATES and SLANE share 3 letters (A, E, S). Played as a pair they cover 7 distinct letters, which still gives the second word room to do useful work.
Played back to back, RATES then SLANE earns 8.00 bits of information in total, 2.24 bits more than the better word manages alone.
Past Wordle answers
- RATES: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.
- SLANE: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.