ASPEN
ASPEN is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈæspən/
- Adjective
-
Pertaining to the aspen tree.
- Noun
-
A poplar tree, especially of section Populus sect. Populus, of medium-size trees with thin, straight trunks of a greenish-white color.
“Above a certain elevation, the aspens gave way to scrubby, gnarled pines.”
- Noun
-
The wood of such a tree; usually pale, lightweight and soft.
“She claimed that aspen was the only "proper" material from which to make a wicker basket.”
- Adjective
-
Tremulous, trembling.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English aspen, from Old English æspen, Old English æspan (combining form), from Old English æspe (“aspen”). More at asp.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it ASPUHN.
In a sentence
They shook like aspen leaves.
He's trembling like an aspen leaf.
Use ASPEN in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 95.0% 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
NoThe solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.
Past Wordle answer
No completed appearanceNo 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.
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Add your result and a quick difficulty rating to help explain how this puzzle played.
See the public dataThank you. Your result now helps describe this puzzle.
See what the public sample says →How ASPEN performs as a guess
Wordle accepts ASPEN 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 87.7% of games, misses completely in 12.3%, and leaves about 120 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,820 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.63 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 ASPEN 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 ASPEN 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
Feedback distribution
ASPEN can come back 106 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 ASPEN; 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 ASPEN
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ASPEN.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing ASPEN:
Research on ASPEN
Game-tree analysis and word research for ASPEN, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with ASPEN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,813 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 ASPEN can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.63, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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
- ASPEN sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.3 of 5).
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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).