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

BLADE

Yes, BLADE was the Wordle answer on December 21, 2024 (Wordle #1281).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BLADE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /bleɪd/

Noun

The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.

Noun

The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.

Verb

To skate on rollerblades.

“Want to go blading with me later in the park?”

Verb

To furnish with a blade.

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: December 21, 2024 (#1281).

See the full page for that puzzle: December 21, 2024 (#1281).

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

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How BLADE performs as a guess

BLADE 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 83.4% of games, misses completely in 16.6%, and leaves about 139 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,811 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.62 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.

B___E B in the 1st position and E in the 5th position B__D_ B in the 1st position and D in the 4th position _L__E L in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe BLADE 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.

5.10 Entropy (bits)
139 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 88% of evaluated openers
0.84 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BLADE 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.

3.62 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#1,811 Rank among openers
Opening with BLADE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.62 average. It ranks #1,811 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
90
3 guesses
918
4 guesses
1,154
5 guesses
183
6 guesses
7
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

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AEL

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
39%
All gray
17%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L U M P
B A D G E
B L A D E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BLADE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

BLADE can come back 125 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

393 answers
229 answers
185 answers
164 answers
99 answers
98 answers
83 answers
76 answers
69 answers
64 answers
62 answers
50 answers
48 answers
41 answers
37 answers
30 answers
29 answers
28 answers
23 answers
22 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3L1A1D2E1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Try next

HOIST RESET CARAT SIREN SILLY SHART

Strategy after playing BLADE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BLADE:

17% chance
Suggested:
HOIST
10% chance
Suggested:
RESET
8% chance
Suggested:
CARAT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.6% →
HOIST 6.02 bits
9.6% →
RESET 5.37 bits
7.8% →
CARAT 5.12 bits
6.9% →
SIREN 4.67 bits
4.2% →
SILLY 4.95 bits
4.1% →
SHART 4.81 bits
3.5% →
TAPER 4.40 bits
3.2% →
TONAL 4.32 bits
2.9% →
SETER 4.19 bits
2.7% →
DROIT 4.80 bits

Research on BLADE

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

Optimal play

Opening with BLADE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.64 guesses and ranks #1,394 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 BLADE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.62, at or below the proven-optimal 3.64, 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

One syllable Say it BLAYD.

Rhymes with TRADE GRADE SHADE EVADE SPADE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BLADE is a kind of leaf or youth.

Synonyms BRAND STEEL SWORD vane

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
BLADE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 15 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
Learner level
Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 8, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 92 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

In a sentence

How long is this blade?
© tatoeba.org contributor Amastan (CC BY 2.0 FR)
His blade broke on that.
© tatoeba.org contributor Miktsoanit (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).