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

BLOCK

Yes, BLOCK was the Wordle answer on January 25, 2024 (Wordle #950).

As an opener, it rules out about 86.7% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BLOCK Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /blɒk//blɑk/

Noun

A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

“a block of ice; a block of stone”

Noun

A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.

“a block of text; a block of colour; a block of land”

Verb

To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass.

“The pipe was blocked by leaves.”

Verb

To prevent (something or someone) from passing.

“A broken-down car is blocking the traffic.”

Alternative forms: blocke

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: January 25, 2024 (#950).

See the full page for that puzzle: January 25, 2024 (#950).

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

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How BLOCK performs as a guess

BLOCK 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 68.3% of games, misses completely in 31.7%, and leaves about 315 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,124 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.

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___K B in the 1st position and K in the 5th position B__C_ B in the 1st position and C in the 4th position _L__K L in the 2nd position and K in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe BLOCK 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.

4.11 Entropy (bits)
315 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
86.7% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 28% of evaluated openers
1.83 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BLOCK 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.

3.72 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#8,124 Rank among openers
Opening with BLOCK solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.72 average. It ranks #8,124 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
44
3 guesses
837
4 guesses
1,218
5 guesses
232
6 guesses
22
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
1 vowels
Common:
LO

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
68%
Green tile
29%
All gray
32%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I N K
B E E F Y
B L O C K

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BLOCK in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

BLOCK can come back 83 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

753 answers
255 answers
230 answers
129 answers
120 answers
80 answers
66 answers
66 answers
59 answers
50 answers
46 answers
37 answers
32 answers
25 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
22 answers
21 answers
20 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
10 answers
9 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3L1O1C3K5
Total: 13 points

Words With Friends

Total: 16 points

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

Try next

TIARE RAILE RONTE IRATE PRATE ARISE

Strategy after playing BLOCK

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BLOCK:

32% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
11% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
10% chance
Suggested:
RONTE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

31.7% →
TIARE 6.29 bits
10.7% →
RAILE 5.38 bits
9.7% →
RONTE 5.41 bits
5.4% →
IRATE 5.62 bits
5.1% →
PRATE 4.90 bits
3.4% →
ARISE 5.00 bits
2.8% →
TIARE 4.80 bits
2.8% →
LOYAL 4.04 bits
2.5% →
IRATE 5.11 bits
2.1% →
CANER 4.70 bits

Research on BLOCK

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

Optimal play

Opening with BLOCK, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #7,126 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.84 guesses at best and is rank #2,425 of the 7,453 openers that can still 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.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it BLAHK.

Rhymes with STOCK SHOCK CLOCK KNOCK BROCK

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BLOCK is a kind of artifact or country.

Synonyms stop STUFF forget bar jam blocking

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
BLOCK sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 76 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 69 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.5 of 5).

In a sentence

Don't block the way out.
© tatoeba.org contributor sundown (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Why did you block me?
© tatoeba.org contributor DJ_Saidez (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).