BLUFF
Yes, BLUFF was the Wordle answer on July 30, 2022 (Wordle #406).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /blʌf//blɐf//blʊf/
- Noun
-
An act of bluffing; a false expression of the strength of one’s position in order to intimidate or deceive; braggadocio.
“That is only bluff, or That is only a bluff.”
- Noun
-
An attempt to represent oneself as holding a stronger hand than one actually does.
“John’s bet was a bluff: he bet without even so much as a pair.”
- Verb
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To make a bluff; to give the impression that one’s hand is stronger than it is.
“John bluffed by betting without even a pair.”
- Verb
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To frighten, deter, or deceive with a false show of strength or confidence; to give a false impression of strength or temerity in order to intimidate or gain some advantage.
“The government claims it will call an election if this bill does not pass. Is it truly ready to do so, or is it bluffing?”
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
Probably from Dutch bluffen (“to brag”), from Middle Dutch bluffen (“to make something swell; to bluff”); or from the Dutch noun bluf (“bragging”). Related to German verblüffen (“to stump, perplex”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it BLUHF.
Rhymes with STUFF TOUGH ROUGH FLUFF SNUFF
Related meanings
Synonyms bold SHEER direct STEEP
Opposites indirect gradual
In a sentence
What if he didn't bluff?
We can't call their bluff.
Use BLUFF in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 75.0% of possible answers.
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: July 30, 2022 (#406).
See the full page for that puzzle: July 30, 2022 (#406).
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 →BLUFF in Connections
5 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #1028
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BLUFF appeared in COASTAL LANDFORMS (blue group).
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· Puzzle #988
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BLUFF appeared in POSE (blue group).
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· Puzzle #588
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BLUFF appeared in LANDFORMS (blue group).
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· Puzzle #400
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BLUFF appeared in FACADE (green group).
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· Puzzle #160
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BLUFF appeared in DECEIT (green group).
How BLUFF performs as a guess
BLUFF is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 53.2% of games, misses completely in 46.8%, and leaves about 597 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #14,084 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.91 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 BLUFF 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 BLUFF 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 BLUFF in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
BLUFF can come back 55 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 BLUFF; 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 BLUFF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BLUFF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing BLUFF:
Research on BLUFF
Game-tree analysis and word research for BLUFF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with BLUFF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.93 guesses and ranks #14,222 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 4.04 guesses at best and is rank #6,652 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.91, at or below the proven-optimal 3.93, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- BLUFF sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 4 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 10, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 33 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
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); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).