BLEED
Yes, BLEED was the Wordle answer on September 1, 2021 (Wordle #74).
As an opener, it rules out about 88.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈbliːd/[ˈblɪi̯d]
- Verb
-
To shed blood through an injured blood vessel.
“If her nose bleeds, try to use ice.”
- Verb
-
To menstruate.
- Noun
-
An incident of bleeding, as in haemophilia.
- Noun
-
A system for tapping hot, high-pressure air from a gas turbine engine for purposes such as cabin pressurization and airframe anti-icing.
“When taking off at high altitude or at near-maximum weight, the bleeds have to be turned off temporarily, as they decrease engine power somewhat.”
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: September 1, 2021 (#74).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 1, 2021 (#74).
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 BLEED performs as a guess
BLEED 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 71.5% of games, misses completely in 28.5%, and leaves about 272 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,799 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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 BLEED 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 BLEED 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 BLEED in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
BLEED can come back 95 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 BLEED; 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 BLEED
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BLEED.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing BLEED:
Research on BLEED
Game-tree analysis and word research for BLEED, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with BLEED, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #6,839 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 BLEED can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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
In WordNet's sense inventory, BLEED is a kind of release or treat.
Synonyms run LEECH hemorrhage melt
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- BLEED sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 5 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.6 of 5).
In a sentence
I bleed when I make love.
You won't bleed to death.
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).