Opener Lab
Compare STALE
Pick a word to compare against.
How STALE performs
Played first, STALE removes about 96.7% of the possible-answer list on average and scores 5.74 bits of information. Its first-turn information ranks #35 of 14,855 Wordle guesses tested. Roughly 42% of the time at least one letter lands in the right spot.
Tried against 1,858 past Wordle answers, STALE left an average of 76 possible answers standing after the first guess. Its largest group in that replay came on July 19, 2026, when the answer was CHURN and 228 candidates survived. It has been the daily answer once.
First-guess odds
| Outcome | STALE |
|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0.04% |
| At least one green | 42.3% |
| Any green or yellow | 90.3% |
| Whole row gray | 9.7% |
| Worst case answers left | 228 |
*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.
Planning the second guess
All five letters miss 9.7% of the time, leaving 228 words in play. Of the 728 follow-ups checked here, IRONY leaves the fewest possible answers on average (6.9).