Accepted guess Not a possible answer B tier for first-turn info

ACTIN

ACTIN is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈæktɪn/

Noun

A globular structural protein that polymerizes in a helical fashion to form an actin filament (or microfilament).

Noun

One of the six isoforms of actin.

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀκτίς (aktís, “ray”), based on the shape of the filament formed, + -in.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it AKTUHN.

Rhymes with ACTON

In a sentence

Actin is a protein very important to the health of a cell.
© tatoeba.org contributor 58mph (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Use ACTIN in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 93.9% of possible answers.

Wordle status

A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

How ACTIN performs as a guess

Wordle accepts ACTIN as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 83.6% of games, misses completely in 16.4%, and leaves about 146 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #562 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.59 guesses in games solved within six turns.

Try your feedback pattern

Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe ACTIN used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.

4.97 Entropy (bits)
146 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.9% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ACTIN performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.

3.59 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#562 Rank among openers
Opening with ACTIN left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.59 average. It ranks #562 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
73
3 guesses
1,015
4 guesses
1,085
5 guesses
168
6 guesses
10

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AINT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
22%
All gray
16%

Feedback distribution

ACTIN can come back 114 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

391 answers
276 answers
157 answers
154 answers
111 answers
99 answers
96 answers
90 answers
78 answers
72 answers
57 answers
55 answers
39 answers
36 answers
31 answers
31 answers
29 answers
29 answers
25 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
22 answers
22 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
16 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

Base letter-value totals for ACTIN; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.

Scrabble

A1C3T1I1N1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.

Strategy after playing ACTIN

What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ACTIN.

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ACTIN:

16% chance
Suggested:
SOLER
12% chance
Suggested:
SLYER
7% chance
Suggested:
SIDLE

Follow-ups for common patterns

Ranked follow-up guesses for the 10 most common feedback patterns.

16.4% →
SOLER 6.01 bits
11.6% →
SLYER 5.43 bits
6.6% →
SIDLE 5.29 bits
6.5% →
SHOER 5.68 bits
4.7% →
SERAL 4.98 bits
4.2% →
CHORE 5.30 bits
4.0% →
DORSE 5.19 bits
3.8% →
CRAME 4.84 bits
3.3% →
SHIRE 4.75 bits
3.0% →
GRISE 4.39 bits

Research on ACTIN

Game-tree analysis and word research for ACTIN, with an explanation for each figure.

Optimal play

Opening with ACTIN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #1,977 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with ACTIN can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.59, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, because the two figures score different answer lists.

These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
ACTIN sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0).