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

BOOST

Yes, BOOST was the Wordle answer on January 2, 2022 (Wordle #197).

As an opener, it rules out about 87.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BOOST Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /buːst//bʉst/

Noun

A push from behind or below, as to one who is endeavoring to climb.

Noun

Something that helps, or adds power or effectiveness; assistance.

“The controversy gave a boost to the author's sales.”

Verb

To lift or push from behind (one who is endeavoring to climb); to push up.

Verb

To help or encourage (something) to increase or improve; to assist in overcoming obstacles.

“This campaign will boost your chances of winning the election.”

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 2, 2022 (#197).

See the full page for that puzzle: January 2, 2022 (#197).

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

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How verification and withdrawal work

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How BOOST performs as a guess

BOOST 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 69.2% of games, misses completely in 30.8%, and leaves about 294 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,730 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.70 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___T B in the 1st position and T in the 5th position B__S_ B in the 1st position and S in the 4th position _O__T O in the 2nd position and T in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe BOOST 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.

4.22 Entropy (bits)
294 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
87.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 34% of evaluated openers
1.73 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BOOST 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.

3.70 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#6,730 Rank among openers
Opening with BOOST left 2 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 3.70 average. It ranks #6,730 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
57
3 guesses
853
4 guesses
1,199
5 guesses
225
6 guesses
17
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
OST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
69%
Green tile
39%
All gray
31%

Example solver route

R O A T E
C U M I N
H O T L Y
B O O S T

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BOOST in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

BOOST can come back 91 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

731 answers
222 answers
199 answers
131 answers
114 answers
95 answers
85 answers
81 answers
81 answers
79 answers
41 answers
38 answers
37 answers
29 answers
25 answers
19 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3O1O1S1T1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

RAILE TARTE CARLE ARIEL MANOR IRATE

Strategy after playing BOOST

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BOOST:

31% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
9% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
8% chance
Suggested:
TARTE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

30.8% →
RAILE 6.26 bits
9.4% →
RAILE 5.35 bits
8.4% →
TARTE 5.58 bits
5.5% →
CARLE 4.79 bits
4.8% →
ARIEL 5.13 bits
4.0% →
MANOR 5.25 bits
3.6% →
RAILE 5.27 bits
3.4% →
IRATE 4.52 bits
3.4% →
CRANE 4.97 bits
3.3% →
PHARE 4.94 bits

Research on BOOST

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

Optimal play

Opening with BOOST, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #8,069 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.90 guesses at best and is rank #4,159 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.70, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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 BOOST.

Rhymes with ROOST

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BOOST is a kind of help or increase.

Synonyms further rise advance promote encourage hike

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
BOOST sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 26 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: 30 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.3 of 5).

In a sentence

Can you please give me a boost?
© tatoeba.org contributor Miktsoanit (CC BY 2.0 FR)
This gave her a bit of a boost.
© tatoeba.org contributor Nuel (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).