BADLY
Yes, BADLY was the Wordle answer on November 12, 2021 (Wordle #146).
As an opener, it rules out about 89.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈbæd.li/
- Adverb
-
In a bad manner.
“Things are going badly for her: she did badly in her exams owing to a badly designed studying schedule.”
- Adverb
-
Very much; to a great degree.
“I want it so badly.”
- Adjective
-
Ill, unwell.
“He's never badly.”
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: November 12, 2021 (#146).
See the full page for that puzzle: November 12, 2021 (#146).
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 BADLY performs as a guess
BADLY 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 73.0% of games, misses completely in 27.0%, and leaves about 249 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,198 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.67 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 BADLY 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 BADLY 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 BADLY in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
BADLY can come back 104 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 BADLY; 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 BADLY
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BADLY.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing BADLY:
Research on BADLY
Game-tree analysis and word research for BADLY, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with BADLY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,740 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 BADLY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, at or below the proven-optimal 3.68, 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.
Related meanings
Synonyms bad seriously ill poorly severely gravely
Opposites well
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- BADLY sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 28 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 internal bodily sensation (3.0 of 5).
In a sentence
I want you so badly.
Don't think badly of me.
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).