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

ADUNC

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

As an opener, it rules out about 91.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈæ.dʌnk/

Adjective

Curved inward, hooked.

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

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

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

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

How ADUNC performs as a guess

Wordle accepts ADUNC 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 78.8% of games, misses completely in 21.2%, and leaves about 209 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,264 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.66 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.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

First-turn measures

All four describe ADUNC 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.

4.46 Entropy (bits)
209 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
91.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 49% of evaluated openers
1.49 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ADUNC 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.

3.66 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.66 Spread of game lengths
#4,264 Rank among openers
Opening with ADUNC left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.66 means those games clustered within about 0.66 of a guess of the 3.66 average. It ranks #4,264 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
46
3 guesses
904
4 guesses
1,226
5 guesses
163
6 guesses
14
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ANU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
79%
Green tile
20%
All gray
21%

Feedback distribution

ADUNC can come back 81 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

503 answers
360 answers
134 answers
131 answers
124 answers
124 answers
120 answers
77 answers
73 answers
72 answers
61 answers
59 answers
32 answers
30 answers
29 answers
26 answers
25 answers
24 answers
22 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
17 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

A1D2U1N1C3
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Strategy after playing ADUNC

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ADUNC:

21% chance
Suggested:
TORSE
15% chance
Suggested:
TARSE
6% chance
Suggested:
SIREN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.2%
TORSE 6.21 bits
15.2%
TARSE 5.78 bits
5.6%
SIREN 5.35 bits
5.5%
SOLER 5.02 bits
5.2%
DRIED 5.42 bits
5.2%
CHARE 4.92 bits
5.1%
CHORE 5.29 bits
3.2%
SOREL 4.63 bits
3.1%
BLORE 4.97 bits
3.0%
LEARY 4.65 bits

Research on ADUNC

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

Optimal play

Opening with ADUNC, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #5,187 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 ADUNC can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.66, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, 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.

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the second syllable Say it UHDUHNGK. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model.