BRUSH
Yes, BRUSH was the Wordle answer on September 22, 2023 (Wordle #825).
As an opener, it rules out about 90.6% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /bɹʌʃ//bɹɐʃ//bɹʊʃ/
- Noun
-
An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
- Noun
-
The act of brushing something.
“She gave her hair a quick brush.”
- Verb
-
To clean with a brush.
“Brush your teeth.”
- Verb
-
To untangle or arrange with a brush.
“Brush your hair.”
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
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: September 22, 2023 (#825).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 22, 2023 (#825).
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 →How BRUSH performs as a guess
BRUSH 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 76.0% of games, misses completely in 24.0%, and leaves about 222 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,456 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.66 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 BRUSH 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 BRUSH 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 BRUSH in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
BRUSH can come back 95 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 BRUSH; 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 BRUSH
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BRUSH.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing BRUSH:
Research on BRUSH
Game-tree analysis and word research for BRUSH, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with BRUSH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.72 guesses and ranks #6,195 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 #2,663 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.66, at or below the proven-optimal 3.72, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, BRUSH is a kind of vegetation or implement.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- BRUSH sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 17 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: 87 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
In a sentence
I just brush it off.
Put the brush on the table.
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).