ALLOW
Yes, ALLOW was the Wordle answer on March 19, 2022 (Wordle #273).
As an opener, it rules out about 87.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /əˈlaʊ/
- Verb
-
To let one have as a suitable share of something.
“to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest”
- Verb
-
To present something as possible or reasonable.
“The event allows of only one interpretation.”
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
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: March 19, 2022 (#273).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 19, 2022 (#273).
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 ALLOW performs as a guess
ALLOW is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 74.7% of games, misses completely in 25.3%, and leaves about 290 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #11,746 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.80 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 ALLOW 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 ALLOW 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 ALLOW in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
ALLOW can come back 72 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 ALLOW; 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 ALLOW
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ALLOW.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing ALLOW:
Research on ALLOW
Game-tree analysis and word research for ALLOW, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with ALLOW, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.85 guesses and ranks #12,577 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 ALLOW can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.80, at or below the proven-optimal 3.85, 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 UHLOW.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, ALLOW is a kind of make or accept.
Synonyms let LEAVE provide appropriate GRANT reserve
Opposites deny forbid
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- ALLOW sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 102 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.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 24 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
In a sentence
How can we allow this?
How could you allow it?
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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).