5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

APPLE

Yes, APPLE was the Wordle answer on February 7, 2023 (Wordle #598).

As an opener, it rules out about 92.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with APPLE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈæpəl/[ˈæpəl] ~ [ˈæpl̩]/ˈæː.pɘl/

Noun

A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

Noun

A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree.

Verb

To make (something) appear like an apple (noun sense 1.1).

Verb

To become like an apple.

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

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: February 7, 2023 (#598).

See the full page for that puzzle: February 7, 2023 (#598).

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

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How APPLE performs as a guess

APPLE 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 81.5% of games, misses completely in 18.5%, and leaves about 189 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,454 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.77 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

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

A___E A in the 1st position and E in the 5th position A__L_ A in the 1st position and L in the 4th position _P__E P in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in APPLE.

First-turn measures

All four describe APPLE 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.

4.49 Entropy (bits)
189 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 51% of evaluated openers
1.46 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How APPLE 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.

3.77 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#10,454 Rank among openers
Opening with APPLE left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.77 average. It ranks #10,454 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
57
3 guesses
736
4 guesses
1,264
5 guesses
270
6 guesses
23
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

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AEL

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
82%
Green tile
32%
All gray
18%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S M I L Y
C A D G E
A N K L E
A P P L E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches APPLE in 5 guesses. See the trap-family guide for similar endgames.

Feedback distribution

APPLE can come back 84 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

439 answers
282 answers
281 answers
171 answers
109 answers
104 answers
103 answers
79 answers
77 answers
68 answers
63 answers
50 answers
46 answers
33 answers
31 answers
29 answers
28 answers
28 answers
26 answers
24 answers
22 answers
19 answers
18 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
12 answers
10 answers
10 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

A1P3P3L1E1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Try next

SNORT CAIRN DETER SIREN CLOUT SETER

Strategy after playing APPLE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing APPLE:

18% chance
Suggested:
SNORT
12% chance
Suggested:
CAIRN
12% chance
Suggested:
DETER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

18.5% →
SNORT 5.89 bits
11.9% →
CAIRN 5.11 bits
11.8% →
DETER 5.45 bits
7.2% →
SIREN 4.54 bits
4.6% →
CLOUT 4.62 bits
4.4% →
SETER 4.41 bits
4.3% →
SONAR 4.44 bits
3.3% →
REBEL 4.29 bits
3.2% →
STAIR 4.05 bits
2.9% →
POUTY 4.78 bits

Research on APPLE

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

Optimal play

Opening with APPLE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,626 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 APPLE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.77, at or below the proven-optimal 3.78, 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 first syllable Say it APUHL.

Rhymes with APPEL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, APPLE is a kind of produce.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
APPLE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 58 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 97 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with taste (4.8 of 5).

In a sentence

The apple is for you.
© tatoeba.org contributor shekitten (CC BY 2.0 FR)
This apple is for you.
© tatoeba.org contributor shekitten (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).