5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

BALSA

Yes, BALSA was the Wordle answer on June 9, 2023 (Wordle #720).

As an opener, it rules out about 88.9% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BALSA Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈbɔːl.sə//ˈbæl.sə//ˈbɑlsə/

Noun

A large tree, Ochroma pyramidale, native to tropical America, with wood that is very light in weight.

Noun

The wood of this tree.

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: June 9, 2023 (#720).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How BALSA performs as a guess

BALSA is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 72.3% of games, misses completely in 27.7%, and leaves about 261 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #8,595 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 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.

Useful pattern pages

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

B___A B in the 1st position and A in the 5th position B__S_ B in the 1st position and S in the 4th position _A__A A in the 2nd position and A in the 5th position

Try next

TRONE RUOTE GOIER CRONE TRICE TRACE
Words starting with B Words ending with A

First-turn measures

4.23 Entropy (bits)
261 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
88.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 34% of evaluated openers
1.72 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How BALSA 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.

3.73 Avg guesses
100.0% Win rate
0.69 Volatility
#8,595 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, BALSA ranks #8,595 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
42
3 guesses
807
4 guesses
1,258
5 guesses
229
6 guesses
17
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ALS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
72%
Green tile
31%
All gray
28%

Example solver route

R O A T E
N A S A L
B A L S A

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BALSA in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

80 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

652
224
191
184
149
125
88
82
60
52
47
32
31
29
29
25
25
22
20
16
14
13
13
13
13
11
11
10
10
10

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BALSA:

28% chance
Suggested:
TRONE
9% chance
Suggested:
RUOTE
8% chance
Suggested:
GOIER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

27.7% →
TRONE 6.09 bits
9.5% →
RUOTE 5.24 bits
8.1% →
GOIER 5.04 bits
7.8% →
CRONE 5.54 bits
6.3% →
TRICE 4.89 bits
5.3% →
TRACE 4.53 bits
3.7% →
PEART 4.59 bits
3.5% →
RUOTE 5.07 bits
2.5% →
TRONE 5.06 bits
2.2% →
TUILE 4.20 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3A1L1S1A1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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