ALARM
Yes, ALARM was the Wordle answer on May 21, 2025 (Wordle #1432).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /əˈlɑːm//əˈlɑɹm//əˈlɑ(rə)m/
- Noun
-
A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
- Noun
-
Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
- Verb
-
To call to arms for defense.
- Verb
-
To give (someone) notice of approaching danger or necessary action; to rouse to vigilance; to put on the alert.
“The sudden drop in temperature should alarm you into taking precautions.”
Alternative forms: alarum
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Use ALARM in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 91.0% of possible answers.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: May 21, 2025 (#1432).
See the full page for that puzzle: May 21, 2025 (#1432).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How ALARM performs as a guess
ALARM is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,375 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 78.3% of games, misses completely in 21.7%, and leaves about 213 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,970 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe ALARM 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How ALARM 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches ALARM in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
ALARM can come back 92 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for ALARM; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing ALARM
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ALARM.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing ALARM:
Research on ALARM
Game-tree analysis and word research for ALARM, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with ALARM, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,777 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.88 guesses at best and is rank #3,651 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, at or below the proven-optimal 3.76, 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 UHLAHRM.
Related meanings
Synonyms ALERT dismay
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- ALARM sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 19 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A2); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sound (4.1 of 5).
In a sentence
What was that alarm for?
I don't want to alarm you.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).