5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier opener

BRAKE

Yes, BRAKE was the Wordle answer on December 20, 2021 (Wordle #184).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BRAKE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /bɹeɪk/

Noun

A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.

“She slammed the brakes when she saw a child run in front of the car.”

Noun

An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.

Verb

To operate a brake or brakes.

Verb

To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.

Alternative forms: break

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: December 20, 2021 (#184).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How BRAKE performs as a guess

BRAKE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 83.8% of games, misses completely in 16.2%, and leaves about 139 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #6,573 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.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

B___E B in the 1st position and E in the 5th position B__K_ B in the 1st position and K in the 4th position _R__E R in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Try next

SOILY NATAL INLET TENOR COURT CAROL
Words starting with B Words ending with E

First-turn measures

4.99 Entropy (bits)
139 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 83% of evaluated openers
0.96 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How BRAKE 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
100.0% Win rate
0.73 Volatility
#6,573 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, BRAKE ranks #6,573 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
74
3 guesses
850
4 guesses
1,163
5 guesses
246
6 guesses
19
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AER

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
40%
All gray
16%

Example solver route

R O A T E
C R I S P
V O D K A
B R A K E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BRAKE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

108 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

383
213
185
149
147
110
86
78
70
68
53
52
49
43
43
40
33
32
31
27
23
22
21
19
16
16
15
15
14
12

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BRAKE:

16% chance
Suggested:
SOILY
9% chance
Suggested:
NATAL
8% chance
Suggested:
INLET

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.2% →
SOILY 5.67 bits
9.0% →
NATAL 5.12 bits
7.8% →
INLET 5.06 bits
6.3% →
TENOR 3.99 bits
6.2% →
SOILY 4.66 bits
4.7% →
COURT 5.02 bits
3.6% →
CAROL 4.46 bits
3.3% →
SLANT 4.65 bits
3.0% →
CLEAN 4.46 bits
2.9% →
PRINT 4.08 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3R1A1K5E1
Total: 11 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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