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

BRAIN

Yes, BRAIN was the Wordle answer on September 28, 2024 (Wordle #1197).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BRAIN Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈbɹeɪ̯n//ˈbɹæ̝ɪ̯n//ˈbɾen/

Noun

The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.

Noun

Mind.

“I have too much on my brain today.”

Verb

To dash out the brains of; to kill by smashing the skull.

Verb

To strike (someone) on the head.

Alternative forms: brayne

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: September 28, 2024 (#1197).

See the full page for that puzzle: September 28, 2024 (#1197).

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

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How BRAIN performs as a guess

BRAIN 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 85.8% of games, misses completely in 14.2%, and leaves about 128 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,153 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.60 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___N B in the 1st position and N in the 5th position B__I_ B in the 1st position and I in the 4th position _R__N R in the 2nd position and N in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe BRAIN 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)
128 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 88% of evaluated openers
0.85 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BRAIN 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.

3.60 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#1,153 Rank among openers
Opening with BRAIN 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 3.60 average. It ranks #1,153 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
69
3 guesses
998
4 guesses
1,091
5 guesses
181
6 guesses
12
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:
AINR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
86%
Green tile
36%
All gray
14%

Example solver route

R O A T E
C H I L D
B R A I N

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BRAIN in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

BRAIN can come back 119 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

338 answers
202 answers
200 answers
175 answers
126 answers
116 answers
107 answers
84 answers
77 answers
64 answers
53 answers
45 answers
44 answers
42 answers
40 answers
38 answers
28 answers
28 answers
27 answers
24 answers
24 answers
24 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
18 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3R1A1I1N1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Try next

STOLE SALET SORER STILE SHULE PALET

Strategy after playing BRAIN

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BRAIN:

14% chance
Suggested:
STOLE
9% chance
Suggested:
SALET
8% chance
Suggested:
SORER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.2% →
STOLE 6.03 bits
8.5% →
SALET 5.46 bits
8.4% →
SORER 5.28 bits
7.4% →
STILE 5.37 bits
5.3% →
SHULE 5.15 bits
4.9% →
PALET 4.73 bits
4.5% →
TOUSE 5.01 bits
3.5% →
SEITY 4.48 bits
3.2% →
SCOTE 4.61 bits
2.7% →
SALET 4.16 bits

Research on BRAIN

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

Optimal play

Opening with BRAIN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,942 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.78 guesses at best and is rank #864 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.60, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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 BRAYN.

Rhymes with TRAIN PLANE CHAIN SPAIN PLAIN

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BRAIN is a kind of structure or intelligence.

Synonyms head mind wonder genius wit mentality

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
BRAIN sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 87 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 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 85 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.4 of 5).

In a sentence

He has a good brain.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I need a new brain.
© tatoeba.org contributor shekitten (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).